First Australians

Photo by katyhutch

Since it was mentioned in class and also suggested to me by one of the Dymocks staff when researching for the first assignment, I decided to buy the First Australians DVD this morning. It's supposed to be a really comprehensive documentary about the history of Aboriginal people since the colonisation period and so I thought it would be a good dvd worth watching for this course. I started watching the first part this afternoon and although  it was longer than suspected, it was really insightful and also enjoyable especially as the documentary was really narrative in the way it was presented, so you felt like you were being told a story instead of being given information after information. The paintings and quotes of several European settlers at that time also gave the documentary some depth and it was far from being boring at all, it was really nice to have pictures accompanying the "story."

What I found most interesting of the first episode "They have come to stay" was seeing the progress of how the European settlers came to Australia and how they interacted with the Aboriginal people and then seeing how a relationship between them was formed and shaped and I guess also reflecting how this has affected the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people today. This episode just reveals to you the origin and the place where it all started and have grown and transformed since.


Surprisingly what the documentary showed was that there was mix of relationships between Aboriginal  and non-Aboriginal people. There were violent ones but there were also friendly and some even intimate ones. It wasn't just a story about war and murder, it was also about trying to create friendship and understanding. Unfortunately though, most relationships ended with conflict. Aboriginal people were relatively calm and more shocked and surprised to see the European settlers taking over their land rather than immediately resolving to violence - only doing so when they feel the new settlers have crossed the line. The European settlers did not understand what the land meant to the Aboriginal people, that is was sacred but they just took it away from them, building their own living places and made farms. They saw it as terra nullius, as land that has not been used but was actually used efficiently by the Aboriginal people. It was sad to see how the land was just stripped away from them and how it was considered as if they didn't even exist. As anyone would be if someone just took something of their belonging, I think it was normal that the Aboriginal people resisted. However, on the other hand, for the settlers to simply disregard their existence was I think very inhumane. It just point out how we're living in a very Westernized world that define who we are, our place in it and everything else. In the end, an Aboriginal man called Bennelong who was accepted by many settlers and even went to the UK but then returned to his previous way of living, was still viewed through a Western perspective, as being a "savage". At the same time, European settlers ignore their existence if Aboriginal people stood in their way or resisted, they would almost immediately resolve to eradicating them. Basically, in the end it was a war between who had the most power and at that time, the new settlers who had guns and weapons had the greater advantage. To survive, Aboriginal people were forced to accept or more, to live with, the new inhabitants, their culture and their way of life.


When you really look back at the past, I think alot of terrible things have happened and there are some very sad stories. I guess, as anyone would hope today, we all wish the past was different. While being sorry may never be enough to erase the wounds of the past I think as an Aboriginal man in the documentary said:

It's not a blame-game thing anymore, we need to heal and then move on.

Bill Allen, Windardyne descendant

We may never be able to rewind the past but I think it's important that we should work together to bring that healing to those who have suffered and to move on together, becoming a soceity that understands and acknowledges each and every member of it.


Anyways, with a good start of the first episode, I really recommend this documentary and I'll definitely post more info when I get about watching the other episodes.


Until next time!


Reference:

First Australians: The Untold Story of Australia. DVD. 2008. Directed by Rachel Perkins and Beck Cole. Australia: Madman Entertainment, 2008.