Filed under: reading | Tags: First Australians, Germaine Greer, Marcia Langton
An amazing series that charts the colonisation of Australia through the perspective of the first Australians. The stories of individuals, both natives and colonisers, allows the impact of empire to unfold. If you have a few hours to spare all seven documentary episodes can be watched on SBS’s video player – go to ‘watch full episodes’ and select First Australians on the menu to the right.
Episode two covers Darwin’s theory that Australian Aborigines were a dying race. This allowed whites to absolve themselves of the guilt of genocide. The repercussions of this theory are still clearly felt in many of the attitudes to issues tsurrounding the current living standards of remote Aboriginal communities. These undercurrents can be felt in the writings of academics such as Germaine Greer. I highly recommend Marcia Langton’s retaliation to Greer’s writing and the debate between the two.
Marcia Langton is an indomitable woman.
