Gather 'Round, People: part II (FIXED)
How we tell ourselves about our histories goes a long way to how we form our senses of identity. As societies and as individuals, we work through events and issues, and how we look at them later helps us define who we say we are. But what happens when we cannot agree on our past? Why do we feel the need to fight over statues, and how can we deal with it?
This episode is about dealing with this problem - dissonant heritage - and about the on-going pursuit by both indigenous and non-indigenous Australians to re-define Australian history. How have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians struggled to recover a rightful role in modern Australia and Australian history; a role that recognises their journey, their resistance and their achievements, as well as what they've gained and what has been lost throughout?
The History Wars
This is an articulate article which constitutes a critique of the approach of leftist-historians, written by Associate Professor of History and Politics, Gregory Melleuish. It was published in the Quadrant magazine in April, 2017. It's worth reading, if slightly tedious. We're pretty sure he would not think much of our podcast.
The Blokes Up Top
Since Whitlam had poured sand through the hand of Vincent Lingiari, regressive steps had been taken by successive government that ensured the indigenous struggle would have to continue.
When Paul Keating made his Redfern address, it seemed that the wind had now changed direction, and was blowing towards proper reconciliation.
Alas, it was not to be. In 1996, Australia entered 11 years of governance under the conservative Howard regime. Nothing in their indigenous policies would reflect the sentiment inherent within Keating's speech.
When Howard was outed in 2007, his opponent Kevin Rudd had campaigned strongly on making a federal apology to the Stolen Generation. This he got to do in February, 2008.