Antinuclear

Australia’s frontier war killings still conveniently escape official memory

Paul Daley ‘But change is inevitable.
The commemoration of the Myall Creek massacre is emblematic of a broader push for recognition’
@ppdaley  8 Jun 2018 
‘This weekend it is 180 years since white stockmen murdered 
28 unarmed Aboriginal men, women and children at Myall Creek 
in northern New South Wales.

‘The Myall Creek massacre was part of a pattern of violence against Indigenous people; 
hundreds of such massacres happened across the continent from 1788 
as British soldiers, settlers and pioneering explorers clashed with Indigenous people 
resisting pastoral expansion. 
By some credible accounts at least 60,000 Indigenous people 
– roughly the same number as Australians killed in the first world war – died.

‘Myall Creek was, however, remarkable for another reason. 
It was the only time on the colonial frontier that non-Indigenous men 
were successfully prosecuted for murdering Aboriginal people. 
Seven perpetrators were eventually hanged. … 

‘Meanwhile, the NSW Labor opposition has pledged $3m towards 
the construction of a Myall Creek Education and Cultural Centre 
that would be dedicated to public education of the massacre and frontier war. … 

‘But as yet there is no official Commonwealth memorial to the dead 
of the frontier wars in Canberra, the capital, whose monuments and 
institutions also serve as a national memory.

‘But it will happen, just as inevitably as the date of Australia Day 
is bound to change from the day of invasion, 26 January.’

www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2018/jun/08/australias-frontier-war-killings-still-conveniently-escape-official-memory

June 8, 2018 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL