Author and historian Bruce Pascoe says Prime Minister Scott Morrison's claim there was no slavery in Australia is wrong, while Labor's Indigenous Australians' spokeswoman has called for more truth-telling in the country's history.
Asked on radio on Thursday morning whether he supported the removal of Captain James Cook statues, Mr Morrison said "[Cook] was one of the most enlightened persons on these issues, you could imagine".
Bruce Pascoe at his property in Gipsy Point. He says slavery existed in Australia post-colonisation.Credit:Rachel Mounsey
"Australia when it was founded as a settlement, as New South Wales, was on the basis that there'd be no slavery," the Prime Minister told Ben Fordham on 2GB. "And while slave ships continued to travel around the world, when Australia was established yes, sure, it was a pretty brutal settlement."
"My forefathers and foremothers were on the First and Second Fleets. It was a pretty brutal place, but there was no slavery in Australia," he said.
Pascoe, the 72-year-old author of award-winning book Dark Emu, and adjunct professor at UTS' Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research, said slavery was present in Australia post-colonisation.
"When you capture people, and put chains around their necks, and make them walk 300 kilometres and then set them to work on cattle stations, what's that called?" Pascoe said. "That's what happened in Western Australia and in the [Northern] Territory and in Queensland."
"It doesn't matter what you call it," he added. "It's brutality and I think a lot of Australia are in denial about the real history of the country."
Shadow minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney said Mr Morrison needed a better understanding of Australian history.
"The Prime Minister's comments demonstrate a need for a greater understanding and awareness of our nation's history," Ms Burney said. "We cannot achieve meaningful progress on matters such as Reconciliation if, as a nation, we are not aware of the historical context of the challenges we face in the present. One of the crucial elements of the Uluru Statement was a national process of truth-telling."
From early colonisation up to the 20th century, Indigenous Australians often worked on farms for rations instead of wages. They were traded amongst settlers, with some children being taken from their families and moved across the country to work.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders also sometimes illegally worked for no income up until 1972. Roughly 10,000 Indigenous Australian workers received $190 million from the Queensland government in a settled class action lawsuit on the matter, known as the Stolen Wages.
At least 60,000 South Sea islanders were taken, often against their will, to Australia from 1857 to 1908, where they worked in largely in cotton, sugar and pastoral industries in a process named blackbirding.
"It's just denial," Pascoe said. "And it's about time we grew up and called a spade a spade."
"It's an insult to all those old people with chains around their necks."
Pascoe added that while Captain Cook was "enlightened" for his time, "that wasn't good enough to stop slavery" in colonies.
"What happened under their administration was slavery and murder," he said.
Get our Morning & Evening Edition newsletters
Max is a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Most Viewed in Politics
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiiwFodHRwczovL3d3dy5zbWguY29tLmF1L3BvbGl0aWNzL2ZlZGVyYWwvaXQtcy1qdXN0LWRlbmlhbC1icnVjZS1wYXNjb2UtbGFib3ItY29uZGVtbi1wbS1zLW5vLXNsYXZlcnktaW4tYXVzdHJhbGlhLWNsYWltLTIwMjAwNjExLXA1NTFqby5odG1s0gGLAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnNtaC5jb20uYXUvcG9saXRpY3MvZmVkZXJhbC9pdC1zLWp1c3QtZGVuaWFsLWJydWNlLXBhc2NvZS1sYWJvci1jb25kZW1uLXBtLXMtbm8tc2xhdmVyeS1pbi1hdXN0cmFsaWEtY2xhaW0tMjAyMDA2MTEtcDU1MWpvLmh0bWw?oc=5
2020-06-11 02:03:09Z
52780844803233
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "'It's just denial': Bruce Pascoe, Labor condemn PM's 'no slavery in Australia' claim - Sydney Morning Herald"
Post a Comment