:: Wog Blog ::
:: WHAT AM I THINKING ABOUT? ::
:: Wednesday 30 April 2008 ::
Acknowledging Aboriginal Tribes
Bin busy today, a part of which was spent in the company of politicians (do not ask, I have only just washed off the stink of it). Anyhoo, opening remarks by politico number 1 was an acknowledgement that the Four Seasons hotel in the Rocks in Sydney "is on original tribal land of the somethingorother people", no disrespect, I just could not understand the names.
Look, I am not having a go at Aboriginals, I am not. Sweet heavenly Lord, surely they do not think the mezzanine at the Four Seasons is connected in any way with tribal land much less with any tribes. Back in 1776 the land, the earth on which it is built, it definitely was. By 1788 it was not - it was all Brit, Irish and wog (I am including everyone who was not Brit or Irish, so yeah, Chinese etc) built.
And 230 years later in 2008 the tribe(s) has even less to do with modern Sydney.
I am with Bolt on this - the bullshit "recognition" of tribes of people in places where they have very obviously not contributed to the modernity that now appears there (like the Four Bloody Seasons Hotel in the Rocks in Sydney) is sad.
It is "acknowledging" the happenstance of folks who lived someplace before others came along. They lived someplace without impacting on it before other folks came along and did some serious impacting like building on it, irrigating it, powering it up etc, all the things that make it possible and even desirable for wogs to come from far and wide into the place and start new lives, which, as you might gather from the name of this blog, is something rather dear to my heart.
The "acknowledgement" of Aboriginal tribes of some place into public speech to my ear highlights all the people who are going unacknowledged - every skippy and every wog who has actually built that place into a modern lively place in Oz.
It very politely and with sincere deference commits Aboriginals into the national language and psyche as nothing more than a bunch of pre-1776 boomeranging tribesmen.
Damn sad shit this. Cos Aboriginals are around right now, and they can be as modern as anyone else.
:: WB 4:39 am [link+] ::
