Friday essay: ‘killed by Natives’. The stories – and violent reprisals – behind some of Australia’s settler memorials

Wed, 8 Mar 2023 18:33:15 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-killed-by-natives-the-stories-and-violent-reprisals-behind-some-of-australias-settler-memorials-198981>

"Some commemorations across this continent, despite their original intentions,
inadvertently testify to the fact that Aboriginal peoples did, in fact, “fight
back” and that colonisation was, in fact, violent. These commemorations
typically consist of graves, memorial monuments and even place names, and they
are dedicated to white settlers who were “killed by Natives”.

These commemorations serve to uphold the pioneer legend that honours the brave
settler and the characteristic representation of the “Natives” as being savage
and vengeful, and their attacks unmotivated and unpredictable.

Typically, the events are decontextualised; there is no account of what led up
to an incident, what actions by the settlers prompted the attacks made by
Aboriginal peoples on them.

There is also usually no account of the retaliatory attacks that followed,
where settlers sought retribution through the indiscriminate brutal massacre of
Aboriginal peoples that went unpunished and largely undocumented."

Cheers,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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