Option 1 Historical Analytical Reflection.

Australian Indigenous history is about both the past and present and the two are inseparable.
Australian Indigenous history is very much about the past and the present and how the two are
inseparable. After visiting the Koorie Heritage Trust Centre in Melbourne, the breathtaking paintings,
photographs, artefacts, videos and journals convinced me that the past and present are equally as
significant to the Aboriginal community. The Koorie Heritage Centre is aimed to protect, preserve,
and promote the living culture of Aboriginal people of south-eastern Australia. (Koorie Heritage
Trust, 2012) They aim to raise awareness and appreciation of the Koorie culture through education
and promotion to aim for the larger goal of reconciliation for all Australians.
Upon entering the doors of the Koorie Heritage Trust Centre, youre welcomed by the peaceful
sounds of the bush and birds, and your eyes drawn to the beautiful artworks of water and ships that
line the walls. This exhibition was the Kuurnong Turong exhibition created by the students and
Elders of the RMIT Indigenous Arts Unit. Kuurnong Turong meaning small ships in Gundjitmara
dialect. The paintings feature Aboriginal people on land and in hand crafted canoes and the great
masted ships belonging to Captain James Cook and the First Fleet as they charted the east coast,
giving it the name New South Wales and possessing it for the British. (HIST106 Lecture Week 1:
Narrative and Counter-Narrative) These paintings and accompanying descriptions reflected on their
ancestors past, how significant it is as part of their cultural history, but also how this time resonates
within them. The contemporary artworks of the historic First Fleet arrival displays clearly how
Indigenous history is important to their people and that the past and the present are interlocking.
The most confronting of the displays was the oral history recordings of members of the stolen
generation. These videos and displays containing stories and quotes of members of the stolen
generation showed just how the past and the present are important for the Aboriginal people.
Aboriginal children were removed from their families from 1910 to as recently as 1970. (HIST106
Lecture Week 6 Child Removal) These people still to this day are affected by the discriminatory
regimes for dealing with Indigenous families. The removal of children was based on the decision that
the Aboriginal family was deemed to be a neglectful and unsafe place and children were taken to be
trained into a white society future. (Haebich, 2011, p1036)
Through the 1990s and into the 2000s, there was a public campaign for a formal government
apology. Thousands of Australians signed sorry books and took place in a march across Sydney
Harbour bridge on Sorry Day 1997 in support of a government apology however Prime Minister John
Howard resisted. (HIST106 Lecture Week 11 Reconciliation and Apology to Intervention)
To address these issues, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd offered a public apology to the Aboriginal
people to say sorry for their profound grief, suffering and loss in regards to the stolen generation
in 2008. The apology was intended to remove a great stain from the nations soul and in the true
spirit of reconciliation to open a new chapter in the history of this great land Australia (Rudd, 2008).
On the anniversary of the Apology, Rudd wrote that the journey of reconciliation between the first
Australians and we later Australians has only just begun. (2011) This shows that the past has not
been forgotten with the apology, but this is the first step in creating a better present and future for
Aboriginal Australian people.

While the overwhelming displays of artefacts and videos upstairs captured my attention, it was the
darkness of Elizabeth Liddles Flora and Fauna exhibit that intrigued me. The room was all black
except bright spotlights on a number of photographs. Each photograph featured a foil wrapped
Easter egg, a silver trophy cup and a number of toy figurines. The significance of these I did not
understand until reading the photography descriptions. Each piece of the photograph symbolised
something, such as the emu egg or the rabbit figurine for the settlers. The display captured the
Aboriginal people as they were historically perceived and the relationships and interactions between
Aboriginal and European with respect to Land, Disease, Exploitation of Women and Violence.
(HIST106 Lecture Week 3: The Myth of Peaceful Settlement) The question asked by this exhibit is;
have these historical perceptions carried through into modern times? This question that is posed by
Liddles exhibit correlates to how Aboriginal Australians history is about the past and present. The
early perceptions of Aboriginals depicted them as savages (Broome, 2010, p20) to the first settlers,
but has that view changed as time has progressed?

After finishing the tour of the Koorie Centre, it was evident to myself and fellow students that the
purpose of the displays in the Koorie Centre is to connect the past and present of Aboriginal
Australians in a positive way that will better the future. They aim to educate all people of any age or
background, of the significance of the land we live on, and the history of the people of this land,
because knowledge of the past is vital to create a better future. Each exhibit or display, painting,
artefact or photo showed how significant the past is to the Aboriginal community, but also how it is
a part of who they are today, and they cannot be separated from their past.


References
Haebich, Anna. "Forgetting Indigenous Histories: Cases from the History of Australia's Stolen
Generations." Journal of Social History 44.4 (2011): p1033-1046

Broome, Richard. Aboriginal Australians: A History since 1788. 4
th
ed. Crows Nest, NSW:
Allen & Unwin, 2010, Chapter 2, The Eora Confront the British

Rudd, Kevin. (February, 2008) Apology to Australias Indigenous peoples. Retrieved October
25
th
, 2012 from http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-
australias-indigenous-peoples

Rudd, Kevin. National Indigenous apology anniversary. Indigenous Law Bulletin, v.7, no.23,
Mar-Apr 3011: 35.

HIST106 Lecture Week 1: Narrative and Counter-Narrative
HIST106 Lecture Week 6 Child Removal
HIST106 Lecture Week 11 Reconciliation and Apology to Intervention
HIST106 Lecture Week 3: The Myth of Peaceful Settlement

Koorie Heritage Trust. (2012) Koorie Heritage Trust. Retrieved on October 25
th
, 2012 from
http://www.koorieheritagetrust.com/