Privilege In The Secret River

The Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander people are Australia’s first people. They’re the Indigenous and traditional owners of our beautiful land. However, until the last few decades, this hasn’t always been recognised. The Indigenous people of Australia have faced colonization, oppression, the Stolen Generation, and all kinds of disrespect to their cultural heritage.

The discourse of whiteness began at Colonisation when Indigenous Peoples were dehumanised. To legitimise the colonisation Moreton Robinson (2004) and Phillips (2005) state the traditional owners of the land needed to be ‘othered’, thus lacking innately human characteristics and, therefore, of unequal civil status. Othering of Indigenous Peoples enabled Australia to be defined as ‘Terra Nullius’, and according to McGrath (1995) and Crowley (1980), the myth of Terra Nullius is central to the discourse of whiteness and the white epistemology of Australia. The invasion and subsequent Colonisation

Describe and explain Australian Indigenous people’s historical and contemporary connections to land and sea and the resources derived from them. How have settler discourses associated with colonization affected these connections to country?

Explain the way that narrative devices have been employed by an author to construct a representation of people or places in at least one text that you have studied. You must make specific reference to “The Secret River.”

During the Frontier period, Indigenous peoples resisted the non-Indigenous settlement of Australia, throughout 1770-1890. During approximately throughout the 1890’s to 1970’s, the non-Indigenous retaliations occurred, resulting in protection, segregation and the stolen generations. Which initiated an ongoing impact on Indigenous communities.

Characters in the text The Secret River by Kate Grenville represent a variation of attitudes and views towards the colonisation of Australia and the Aboriginal Australians. While many characters are indecisive about their opinion on the natives, some characters have a clear mind-set on how they are to be treated. The characters of Thomas Blackwood and Smasher Sullivan represent the two very different sides of the moral scale, and the other characters fit between these sides. Smasher is a vicious, cold-hearted man who shows no respect or humanity towards the Aboriginals. On the other hand, Blackwood’s character contrasts Smasher with his humanity and general respect to the original owners of their new home. The

The Mabo decision of 1992 was hailed as a landmark case in the history of indigenous-white relations in Australia. Overturning centuries of injustice, as well as the myth of right by ‘terra nullius’, the case prompted the passing of the Native Title Act of 1993, which affirmed native title and asserted that native Australians possessed their land under common law, and in doing so ushered in a new era of equality in Australian society. However, though correctly lauded as a milestone in recognition of aboriginals as valid legal entities, the act was not without its problems, and in truth has had little impact on Australian society as a whole. As we shall see, the trend of positive reform existent in the act was not supported in practice, and aboriginal Australians remain at the mercy of Western courts when it comes to their land. Though the Mabo decision and the subsequent Native Title Act went some way to correcting past injustices, its actual impact on Australian society has been negligible.

Since the beginning of white colonisation in the late 1700s, Indigenous Australians have been systematically and deliberately discriminated against by European settlers. In his 1986 play ‘No sugar’, renowned Indigenous Australian playwright Jack Davis explores with striking depth and honesty the extensive oppression and violence that enslaved indigenous Australians for centuries under the control of dominant white Australians. Through the Millimurra- Munday family, Davis not only examines the consequences of marginalisation and the enforcement of racist government policies, and how they impact on already deprecated communities, but he also emphasises that it is only through endurance and the strength of family, that individuals can survive

The Indigenous land rights was a significant social justice issue in modern Australian History because indigenous people were treated very unfair because they couldn’t use their own land for what they wanted to such as the Tent Embassy. The Aboriginal Land Rights Act in 1976 was the first attempt by an Australian government to legally recognise the Aboriginal system of land ownership and put into law the concept of inalienable freehold title. “Terra Nullius was how James Cook described Australia and how it was officially viewed up until the last decades of the 20th Century.” When the First Fleet arrived in 1788 the British took over the land without a second thought as to its ownership. They discounted the fact that there were original inhabitants

The construction of Aboriginality in Australia has been achieved through a variety of processes, in various places and at various levels of society, giving rise to a complex interaction between the constructions. At the local level, the most striking line of tension may seem to lie between what Aboriginal people say about themselves and what others say about them. But crosscutting this is another field of tension between the ideas of Aboriginality (and non-Aboriginality) that people of all kinds construct and reproduce for themselves, and the constructions produced at the national level by the state in its various manifestations, the mass media, science, the arts and so on (Beckett, 1988).

In 1788 the first Fleet arrived in Australia bringing European soldierse, convicts and settlers. This bought aboriginals in contact with white people for the first time. Some aboriginal groups tried to resist this occupation and they used violence and force the archive it. This essay will explain why that resistance was justified by examining the causes, identifying some examples of Indigenous resistance and will assess short and long term effects of this conflict.

The Australian novel The Secret River by Kate Grenville discusses in depth the violent history of Australia. It exposes areas of history that have been hidden or silenced by Australians to protect the reputations of the European colonists. The novel was later on adapted into a play by Andrew Bovell. He has used stage techniques such as dialogue, characters, structure and genre to assist in depicting the violent history in a way that will create an emotional response from the audience. The play also creates a sense of guilt, as the audience is re-living the colonial history of Australia. This makes the audience feel responsible for the violent actions of the colonists. By analysing the play from a Marxist perspective, it is evident that

Racism has played a central role in Australia's history, firstly, in the relationship between Indigenous people and the Europeans. Aborigines endured a long history of social injustice through the Europeans invasion, which saw demographic, spiritual catastrophe and cultural dispossession. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were disposed of their land and were discriminated against by the first British and European settlers. Colonisation meant local populations lost their traditional

This essay identifies the primary factors which led to the colonisation of Australia and Indigenous Australian peoples while explaining how ‘race’ theories were used to justify colonising Australia. Many factors led to the colonisation of Australia including British Imperialism, but the penal colony was very important so the British pushed on, whether they had the right to or not. ‘Race’ was a theory and using sources, this essay explores different opinions and perspectives of the ‘race’ theories. The Indigenous Australian people were on the lower end of the Great Chain of Being and therefore, were treated as inferior to the Europeans.

In “Black, Red, and White Wars” and “Settler Societies and Indigenous People,” the treatment of Indians and the Australian Aboriginals by the Anglo settlers and the Australian Government was probably the worst treatment of any people to be known in history. This history that is known by Indians and Aboriginals could affect race relation and government policy in a drastic way in Australia and America today.