The film Jindabyne, is a story about death, marriage, and race in an Australian town in New South Wales called Jindabyne. In the film, four men go fishing, and one of them discovers the dead body of a young indigenous girl. Instead of reporting what they found to the police immiditely they decide to stay and continue fishing. They decide that there is nothing they could do for her, so they tie her legs to a wood and continue with their fishing, reporting the death only when they return home. After they are done with their weekend of fishing and report the incident, the conflict started as the men are slander for not respecting the dead. The movie shows Australia to be fragmented and divided over white-indigenous relations. Using Auguste Isabelle …show more content…
The men just arrived after a long trip from home and found a dead woman and there is nothing that can be done for her. Also one of the men Carl, the oldest of the men, is injured give them another reason why they should all stay. Their decision and reason to stay satisfied the people in the town like the police, Stewart wife Claire and specifically the Aborigines. The Aborigine people accuse Stewart and his friends for racism because of their action to the dead woman and they have superiority over them the indigenous Australia people. This shows the audience to remember the country Australian past and the country is divided over white-indigenous …show more content…
But the reconciliation is not enough to make things right but a treaty should be done in other to amend the fragmentation and division over white-indigenous relations. In Auguste’s article In February 2008, Australian government apologized to the Stolen Generations, the Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families on racial grounds. This speech was done by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, he said “the responsibility of the government, of the parliament of the nation in what he described ‘the darkest chapter’ of the history of the country” (Rudd, 2008). “He recognized the difficulty of forgiveness, but called for reconciliation” (425). The apology is one of the major steps taken by the Australian government to amend the division in the nation over white-indigenous relations. The Australian government coming to admit to what they did to the lost generation was good but is not enough because the Indigenous deserve better. This is why a treaty needs to be done between the Australian government and its indigenous communities. The treaty would really help to amend the division in the nation over white-indigenous relations in the long run. According to Auguste’s, “more than 200 years after the colonization of Australia and 37 years after the Larrakia’s petition, the treaty moved from being a legal instrument to becoming a sort of moral nation-building tool that would
The film Jindabyne, is a story about death, marriage, and race in an Australian town in New South Wales called Jindabyne. In the film, four men go fishing, and one of them discovers the dead body of a young indigenous girl. Instead of reporting what they found to the police immediately, they decide to stay and continue fishing. They decide that there is nothing they could do for her, so they tie her legs to a tree and continue with their fishing, reporting the death only when they return home. After they are done with their weekend of fishing and report the incident, conflict starts, as the men are criticized for not respecting the dead. Through the story of the town’s reaction to the four fishermen’s response to the dead girl, the movie shows Australia to be fragmented and divided over white-indigenous relations.
“The Inner Circle”, written by Gary Crew is a novel based on two juvenile boys, Joe Carney and Tony Landon. Tony is a white teenager, ignored by his divorced parents and given money instead of love, whereas Joe Carney is a black Aboriginal teenager, who wants to overcome racism and social exclusion. Joe and Tony do not have anything in common except their age and emotional confusion, but they become friends after meeting in the old abandoned power station regardless of their racial difference. Gary Crew wrote the novel in Joe and Tony point of view, which a chapter for Joe and a chapter for Tony is given to provide the readers an understanding of how the European settlement has a big impacts of how Indigenous Aboriginal are treated in today’s society. The white settlers changed Indigenous lives forever, where now Aboriginal people are experiencing racism, poor living condition and unemployment because of their skin colour. Gary Crew showed this through Joe’s Carney point of view. This essay will analyse the issue of racism, social exclusion, racial discrimination, family and child relationship and the friendship that is conveyed between Tony and Joe throughout the novel.
With a war against the Japanese was the trigger for racism in Australia. All throughout the novel elements of separation are presented. The Japanese are somewhat divided from white Australians. First of all Broome has a “Register of Aliens”, this was a register or list that kept track of foreign people. This implied that foreigners were seen as aliens and that they didn’t really belong in Australia. The Sennosukes’ names had to be changed because their original names seemed “…too foreign to our ears.” The Japanese living area is Chinatown shows the reader that perhaps whites have put the Japanese into their own little area. Chinatown contains houses that are far smaller and in general with little fortunes unlike the white Australians. It is the broad attitude towards the Japanese that creates a war and endlessly kills Alice.
Before we look at whether James Moloney effectively uses characterisation to convey Aboriginal issues we must look at the issues themselves. In Dougy, the issue of black and white prejudice is strongly present in the plot. The stereotyping of Aborigines and white Europeans play an important role in the events and the outcome of the story, as is individuality and the breaking of the stereotypes. The book also touches on the old Aboriginal superstitions that are still believed in by some today, though one of such superstitions plays an important role in creating the mood of the resolution. These issues impact most heavily on the character Gracey.
“We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.”
Terra Nullius was once apparent in Australian society, but has now been nullified with the turn of the century and the changes of societal attitudes. With the political changes in our society, and the apology to Indigenous Australians, society is now witnessing an increase in aboriginals gaining a voice in today’s society. Kevin Rudd’s apology as described by Pat Dodson (2006) as a seminal moment in Australia’s history, expressed the true spirit of reconciliation opening a new chapter in the history of Australia. Although from this reconciliation, considerable debate has arisen within society as to whether Aboriginals have a right to land of cultural significance. Thus, causing concern for current land owners, as to whether they will be entitled to their land.
David Garneau’s article on “Imaginary Spaces of Conciliation and Reconciliation” offers a refreshing outlook on the term and implantation of reconciliation in post-colonial culture. He argues that conciliation would evoke an individual transformation of the settler if Aboriginal history was accepted as independent yet in union with the history of Canada. Garneau’s vison of conciliation is centered on this idea of an imaginary space between the settlers and Aboriginals and, within this space, settlers are separated from Aboriginals to naturally reflect on the Aboriginal’s experiences of colonialism. However, the implications of this space also created a void in society because the residential schools are the imaginary spaces in which settlers are reconciling. The direction of Garneau’s article is insightful to understanding how reconciliation has failed in countries and how it’s practice, in accordance with religious connotations, has created an underlying tone of “charity” and “pardon” opposed to restorative justice (35).
The goals and visions behind my reconciliation action plan was to bring the two sides of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians together in equality and harmony. Since the colonisation of Australia there has been a vast divide between the two sides that has caused many serious outcomes for Aboriginal people. My way of contributing to this is to create a better understanding, restore trust and eradicate racism as a positive way to help close the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia’s.
Australia has the terrible condition of having an essentially pointless and prefabricated idea of “Aussiness” that really has no relation to our real culture or the way in which we really see ourselves. We, however subscribe to these stereotypes when trying to find some expression of our Australian identity. The feature film, The Castle, deals with issues about Australian identity in the 1990’s. The film uses techniques like camera shots, language and the use of narration to develop conflict between a decent, old fashioned suburban family, the Kerrigans and an unscrupulous corporation called Airlink. Feature films like The Castle are cultural products because they use attitudes, values and stereotypes about what it means to be Australian.
The HREOC’s began a process called the Bringing Them Home report to help Indigenous families and victims of the Stolen Generation reconnect and to bring focus to the discrimination and illegality of stealing a child away from their family. The report suggested that the authorities should apologise for what they’ve done to the Indigenous people, help them reunite with their family, publically
The Stolen Generation has had a profound impact on every aspect of the lives of Indigenous communities. It has jeopardised their very survival. It has impoverished their capacity to control and direct their future development. The Stolen Generation has corrupted, devastated and destroyed the souls, hopes and beliefs of many Australian lives through damaging assimilation policies established in an attempt to make a ‘White Australia’ possible. Discrimination, racism and prejudice are some of the many permanent scars upon Indigenous life that will never be repaired. However, recently Rudd and the Australian public have sincerely apologised for the detrimental effects the Stolen Generation had caused. The Stolen Generation has dramatically shaped Australian history and culture.
“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human History. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians” (apology by Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, 16th November 2009, Parliament House, Canberra.)
This traumatising experience ultimately shape her future view on the white community and develop a strong sense of Aboriginal identity. The conjunction of ‘but’ in ‘They might be drinkers, but they’re still our people’ represent her connection to the Aboriginal culture and reveals her pride in her Aboriginal identity. However, Nan Dear is provoked by Dolly boyfriend, Errol Fisher which leads her to reflect on her past experience of rape by who may be related to Errol, ’The lad- he took advantage of me.. his name was Clem Fisher’. During the petition, Nan Dear discovers the truth ‘my (Errol) dad changed our surnames..
In August 2008 a ‘Statement of Reconcilliation’ was released by the Hornsby Shire and Council in conjunction with the local traditional custodians. The statement discusses the policies in which the community alleges to follow including; education to all those within the Hornsby district on the topic of Aboriginal history, to respect the survival of the indigenous and protect all indigenous sites. The reconciliation statement concludes with a an apology to the Guringai people and acknowledges the lost and trauma in which they all went through. This in conjunction with the national apology by Kevin Rudd in 2008, displays a major change within society. The country and local communities were educated in the statement “this was their land and water and that they remain its spiritual custodians.” (NSW Reconciliation Council, 2008).
Summary of Text: ‘The Redfern Address’ is a speech that was given to a crowd made up of mainly indigenous Australians at the official opening of the United Nations International Year of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in Redfern Park, New South Wales. This text deals with many of the challenges that have been faced by Indigenous Australians over time, while prompting the audience to ask themselves, ‘How would I feel?’ Throughout the text, Keating challenges the views of history over time, outlines some of the outrageous crimes committed against the Indigenous community, and praises the indigenous people on their contribution to our nation, despite the way they have been treated.