Journal 1 – Vicki Anderson
I really enjoyed this Episode of "Women of the Sun – Alinta the Sun". 1724
I,m looking forward to learning more about the traditional Aboriginal Culture in this course. A lot of what you hear about the Aboriginal way of life is negative, for example the child abuse issues currently in the media or the alcohol and drug abuse which are all huge problems, especially in the Northern Territory Remote areas.
One thing I did really notice is the way the tribe interacted together, they worked well as a team to do what had to be done to survive. They respected and listened to the older people in the tribe including the women, which is something a lot of the cultures had a problem with. When the older woman in the tribe spoke you could tell everyone wanted to hear what she had to say. She advised "Their coming will bring danger and sorrow" and she was right.
I found it amusing they thought the white men (convicts) were ghosts, they felt sorry for them and gave them food, protection and water. One of the men (red hair) really worked hard to fit in with the tribe and was accepted. The other man was useless and preyed on the women so the tribe eventually killed him, in my opinion he got what he deserved.
When the white settlers came it was almost insulting to see them trying to give the aboriginal people gifts for their land. The whites had no understanding that the aboriginal people had everything they needed and had no use for their gifts. Still to this day I think this is an issue between the two cultures.
It was hard to watch when the white settlers came and executed the tribe, you knew it would happen but it was still such a waste of life. It was so sad to see a whole peaceful tribe just wiped out so quickly all because of the greed of the white man for the land.
1 comment:
Hi Vicki
I guess that fact that you have lived in the Northern Territory means that you have seen some more of the lives of Indigenous people than those of us who have lived in the suburbs of Adelaide. I agree that we here so much negative stuff about Aboriginal culture, and yet there is so much that is fascinating and that we could learn from. You point out that it was insulting for white men to give the Aboriginal people gifts in exchange for their land. It indicated such a complete ignorance of the culture and way of life, and sometimes I think that 200 years later we haven't made that much progress in our understanding. I enjoyed reading your journal entry.
Karen
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