WHATEVER the misgivings about the current Victorian government's lack of spine and philosophy, news from the Harbour City makes the Garden State's guardians seem resolute by comparison. Whatever his other sins, it is inconceivable Ted Baillieu or one of his ministers would turn the state's parliament into a pulpit for branding Captain Cook a genocidal racist.
But in NSW, the relevant minister actually thinks it is a bonza idea. From the Silly's report on the latest
take-an-artistic-white-blackfella-to-lunch cash handout:
The NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Victor Dominello, said the NSW
Parliament was the ideal venue to display provocative artworks.
"These are challenging issues that are being portrayed by artists who have the right to express themselves freely,'' he said.
The man whose skills are on display is Jason Wing (above),
a bona fide Aborigine of the modern kind. You know, the sort whose duskiness has been so bleached by colonialist oppression that only grant administrators and prize committees can recognise it.
(Thanks to Catallaxy commenter Tom for tracking down the picture)
.
He is about as black as the lot that went after Andrew Bolt. So much for integration into main stream society. If the "aboriginal industry" want to push Cook as an invader that's fine - so long as they admit they lost. In the meantime real aboriginals in shanty settlements miss out on the funds that may improve their lives.
ReplyDeleteMichael Kroger looks more aboriginal.
DeleteWhat a strange world we live in. Mr Wing's ancestors probably got off their ship at Robe SA to avoid the ten quid entry fee to Victoria, walked to the goldfields, worked their backsides off, watched their offspring assimilate and kick on. Said ancestors had a bit of local company on the long march and the resultant Mr Wing chooses not to identify with the winners. WTF.
DeleteNo, no. He's just faded.
ReplyDeleteFaded right away in the head department anyway. This is not a great original symbolic idea (balaclavas don't figure much as 1770 fashion or sporting apparel). They conjure up more immediate images of union thuggery to me. As it's Labor ideology that's been doing over aboriginal people for a long time now, and as the ALP is a branch office of the unions, perhaps that's appropriate after all.
DeleteWhy the O'Farrell Libs approve though is beyond me.
Beautiful kae, very droll.
DeleteI do wish these government ministers would do something valuable with their time instead of fussing about blokes marrying blokes and aborigines, such as economic policies which get more people into work and stuff relevant to the other 95% of Australians.
There are two groups of aboriginals. One group says "I am aboriginal". The other group says "I identify as aboriginal". I wonder which group our friend with 50% cantonese heritage identifies with?
ReplyDeleteQuickest way to find out would be to cut the gravy train funding to zero. Probably see a quick conversion to "I am Cantonese" though that wouldn't work in China. I have worked there and "mixed blood" is not an "in thing" in the Middle Kingdom.
DeleteI do believe that the final scoreboard in Cook vs Natives reads:-
ReplyDeleteCook ... nil
Natives .... 1
The Irish Lion
They should be happy that the Poms discovered Australia. It could have been the Spanish or the Dutch.
DeleteA new study of the Endeavour log demonstrates James Cook was one-sixteenth European Neanderthal.
ReplyDeleteCook's descendants claim Eurozone Indigenous Legal Aid and begin racism proceedings against one sixty-fourth Australian Aboriginal critics.
Appearances are often deceptive. A number of people may have mistakenly voted for Red Ted Baillieu under the mistaken belief he was a blue-blooded Liberal.
ReplyDeletePerhaps he identifies as a Liberal?
From Jason's blurb: "He has emerged in both Sydney and the national art scene as a versatile artist exploring issues of bi-cultural and Indigenous identity, environmental awareness and spirituality expressed through his street-wise style and the use of stencil printing."
ReplyDeleteJason seems to be a 100% parody of White Aboriginal Australia. The only cliche that seems to be missing in his life is gayness or some other form of multi-gender spiritual modality. Jason claims that his mother was an Aboriginal. Here I am guessing, but was she characterized by the self-indentification gene as well?
"the self-identification gene"
Delete*snort*
1. Purchase one bust of Captain Cook. (with somebody else's money)
ReplyDelete2. Purchase one black balaclava. (ditto)
3. Place balaclava on bust.
Congratulations, you are now in the running for a $40,000 art prize!
If these black people get any whiter they'll need a pair of sunnies to look in the mirror. What must real aborigines think?
ReplyDeleteWhy are we are afflicted by so many of those idiots and drones is Aus. Bloody hell, it makes one want to migrate back to where we came from. It is getting way past a joke. It really has.
ReplyDeleteOne wonders: Were there perchance wars in pre-Cookian Oz? Weren't the blackfellas all singing kumbya and dreaming of whirled peas, until the arrival of The Evil White Man?
ReplyDeleteBlacks killing blacks = cultural artifact.
ReplyDeleteBlacks killing whites = justified recompense
Whites killing blacks = genocidal hate.
Cheers
Another one here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage/ballet-gets-its-first-aboriginal-dancer/story-fn9d344c-1226488510974
The Life of Brian says:
ReplyDeleteJUDITH
I do feel, Reg, that any anti-imperialist group like ours must reflect such
a divergence of interests within its power base.
REG
Agreed. Francis?
FRANCIS
Yeah. I think Judith's point of view is very valid, Reg, provided the
movement never forgets that it is the inalienable right of every man...
STAN
Or woman.
FRANCIS
...or woman. To rid himself...
STAN
Or herself.
FRANCIS
...or herself.
REG
Agreed.
FRANCIS
Thank you brother.
STAN
Or sister.
FRANCIS
...or sister. Where was I?
REG
I think you'd finished.
FRANCIS
Oh, right.
REG
Furthermore, it is the birthright of every man...
STAN
Or woman.
REG
Why don't you shut up about women, Stan. You're putting us off.
STAN
Women have a perfect right to play a part in our movement, Reg.
FRANCIS
Why are you always on about women, Stan?
STAN
I want to be one.
REG
What?
STAN
I want to be a woman... from now on I want you all to call me Loretta.
REG
What???
LORETTA
It's my right as a man.
JUDITH
Well why do you want to be Loretta, Stan?
LORETTA
I want to have babies.
REG
You want to have babies?
LORETTA
It's every man's right to have babies if he wants them.
REG
But you can't have babies!
LORETTA
Don't you oppress me.
REG
I'm not oppressing you, Stan. You haven't got a womb. Where's the fetus
going to gestate? You going to keep it in a box?
--[Loretta starts crying.]
JUDITH
Here. I've got an idea. Suppose you agree that he can't actually have
babies, not having a womb, which is nobody's fault... not even the Romans',
but that he can have the RIGHT to have babies.
--[This seems to satisfy him.]
FRANCIS
Good idea, Judith. We shall fight the oppressors for your right to have
babies, brother! ... Sister, sorry.
REG
What's the point?
FRANCIS
What?
REG
What's the point of fighting for his right to have babies when he can't have
babies?
FRANCIS
It is symbolic of our struggle against oppression.
REG
Symbolic of his struggle against reality.
White is the new "Black".
ReplyDeleteThe NSW Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Victor Dominello, and the NSW "Aboriginal" "Artist" Jason Wing simply demonstrate their complete ignorance of Captain James Cook R.N.
ReplyDeleteCook was an excellent navigator and ship's captain, who established good relationships with indigenous populations wherever he went. He certainly was not a genocidal racist.
How did this Dominello fellow get a ministerial portfolio? Surely O'Farrell would have selected someone who knew even the most basic things about Australian history. I don't expect this Wing bloke to know anything.
It is also worth remembering that James Cook did not attain the rank of Captain until just before his third and final voyage. He was a Lieutenant on the first voyage of discovery and a Commander on the second.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was Matthew Flinders who first used the term 'Australia' to describe what was previously referred to as New Holland.
I feel sorry for all of you. It must be horrible living with such ignorance. The only reason why fair-skinned Indigenous people exist in this country is because for many years the Australian Government enforced policy which effectively aimed to 'breed out' Aboriginal people; their 'black' gene is recessive, unlike African people and therefore, is much more easily diluted. Perhaps you should think about how and why many Indigenous Australians look the way they do before you start accusing them of not being 'authentic' enough. The notion of a primitive native is naive and outdated. We live in a diverse country, where people should be free to identify and live as they see fit.
ReplyDeleteA friends daughter, like her mother, is white as white can be. Her father, however is very dark - a 'full blooded' Aboriginal. Does that make his child less Aboriginal simply because her genetics deemed her skin white?
I am a white Australian, for the record. And I think Wing's work is just telling the plain, simple truth. Australia was not settled peacefully, and was stolen from Aboriginal people. Please stop reading the Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph and develop some critical thinking skills, all of you.
Hear Hear Patricia! About tme someone spoke with a grasp of reality.
Delete