AustLit

'The word Aborigine is best used the way the dark people of southeastern Australia themselves use It: to include any person of Aboriginal ancestry, To be Aboriginal, in their own view, is to belong to, to be loyal to, the small closed communities of kin and friends who are fellow Kooris, scattered enclaves in a world of whites,' (Introduction)

'For the Dhan-gadi people of the Macleay Valley, European domination has been a constant feature of their lives since occupation of the valley in the mid nineteenth century, The historical specificities of this colonial domination-the kinds of Aboriginal-European interaction and the mechanisms of cultural, political and economic subordination-have changed continually through time. The aim of this chapter is to examine one of these moments of domination, It explores the way a changing configuration of power has in part structured Dhan-gadi responses, while itself being subject to subversion by continuous attempts by the Dhan-gadi to resist incorporation into an encompassing state system. In the period I am considering, namely the era 1936-68, during which the Aborigines were subject to Institutionalisation, one sees the emergence of subtle, non-violent forms of resistance.' (Introduction)

'The purpose of this chapter Is to discuss how Aboriginal people deal with the negative cultural labels given to them by wider society in Aboriginal communities shows that derogatory phrases (for example, 'black bastard' or 'lazy blackfella') are frequently found in.conversations between children and adults, and indeed it would appear that negative descriptions are embraced rather than shunned.' (Introduction)

'In traditional Aboriginal societies identity was rarely ambiguous. Each individual's identity was constituted in the social realm through kinship ties and passage through a variety of distinct roles and statuses. In the spiritual realm through fundamental responsibilities and direct linkages to the Dreaming, and even geographically in binding associations with particular places and regions. When Europeans began to arrive, the traditional social systems, which so clearly established the Identities of Aborigines, were elastic enough to account for (and often Include) these new arrivals, thus overcoming the ambiguity-at least temporarily-of the Europeans' positions In the Aboriginal social order' (Introduction)

'Growing numbers of people in 'settled' Australia who identify as Aboriginal , speak varieties of English as their first language. The fact that such people speak little or none of their traditional Aboriginal languages is often used by non-Aboriginal people as evidence that these people are 'not really Aboriginal'. Thus the choice of language variety plays an important role In questions of Aboriginal Identity, and therefore in Issues of needs and rights in areas such as politics, land rights and education.' (Introduction)

'The setting of this chapter is the far west of New South Wales of the late 1950s, a region of semi-arid plains, mainly given over to sheep grazing and supporting only a sparse population. The region's only large town is Broken Hill, a mining centre of about 30,000 inhabitants; the rest are small commercial and servicing centres for the pastoral hinterland: only Bourke, Cobar and Condobolin exceed 2,000, while the three townships of the Corner (the extreme northwest of the State), together boast no more than 250, East of the Bogan and south of the Lachlan Rivers, sheep grazing gradually gives way to wheat farming, while at Mildura and Griffith there is fruit growing, The population of these areas is less sparse and the towns are larger; however, they figure only marginally in the present account.'  (Introduction)

'...The extent of Nyungar success in maintaining their identity and their distinct style of life may be measured in part by their capacity to retain their own form of social structure within the towns and their adopted country. hundreds of kilometres distant from their traditional regions in the southwest. It is the purpose of this chapter to examine the bases of social identity and the form of kinship organisation that have enabled the Nyungar people to maintain themselves as a distinct socio-cultural group within the wider Australian society.' (Introduction)

'The modality for exchange, which Aborigines promote in the fringe camps of Darwin and in camps of that city's hinterland, is no new creation. It belonged to the hunter-gatherer forebears of the fringe dwellers of today. Handed down through generations, the modality is a heritage preserved intact. Hence I deal with cultural continuities in a world of material change. Furthermore, the Aborigines I know are well acquainted with whitefella notions that govern the use of cash, promote the work ethic and turn labour into a creature of the market. I have taped long conversations in which speakers take turns to produce a recitative of comparison, dealing point by point with differences between whitefella practice and their own. Well supported by argument, the conclusion to one such conversation was issued thus: 'You see Basil, you jus work for wages. You always jus workin for wages. We fella got that money blackfella style:'  (Introduction)

'In the old days there always used to be fights up at the gates. I asked some of my companions, two sisters, which fights they remembered:...'  (Introduction)

'The Aboriginal people of Australia suffer the highest recorded imprisonment rate in the world, and It has long been recognised that dispossession, racism and cultural misunderstanding are the most significant contributors to the disproportionate rates of arrest, conviction and penalty for Aboriginal people (Clifford 1981; Tobin 1976; Eggleston 1976). Little information Is available on the types of offences for which Aborigines are imprisoned, but the figures available indicate that drunkenness and alcohol-related offences are the highest In Incidence of charges and imprisonment for Aborigines. As well as being locked up overnight for drunkenness or until bail is paid, Aborigines prefer to serve prison sentences in default of fines imposed for other offences. Across three states, it seems that charge and imprisonment rates for Aborigines are highest for the following three categories of offences In descending order: disorderliness (which includes swearing and fighting); breaking and entering; and unlawful use of motor vehicles'  (Introduction)

'Until recently the southwest Aboriginal people, who usually speak of themselves as Nyungars, have been considered to be a people who have lost their Aboriginal spiritual heritage or whose knowledge of things of the spirit is a diluted (or worse still, made-up and inauthentic) tradition. This chapter is premised on the understanding that all people continually generate and maintain meaning. A loss of meaning and knowledge was not presumed when I first sat down with Nyungar people. Rather I simply asked them to share with me and teach me how they made sense of their existence. I have sought to show here how Nyungar people read country and see themselves in relation to their ancestors and to the land, in the context of the attempt to prevent the desecration of a small brook on the edge of the city of Perth in Western Australia.'  (Introduction)

'In this chapter I discuss a particular aspect of the role of myth in the older Aboriginal traditions, and the role of history in the construction of cultural identity by present-day Aboriginal people, particularly those in urban and rural centres. This is followed by an analysis of conflict between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal historians over the domain of Aboriginal history. Finally, the chapter shows in what ways traditional myth and urban Aboriginal history both resemble each other and differ, a theme touched on by Gaynor Macdonald (Chapter 10).'  (Introduction)