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Published: June 26th 2006
I have promised a few people this so hopefully I now understand enough to be able to write it. I’m sure some of this is still opinionated and that other people may have had a totally different perception but this is mine.
When I came to Australia I knew virtually nothing about the Aboriginal people and it was not until I left New South Wales and Victoria behind and headed into South Australia that I started to become aware of these people. Unfortunately my first encounter with Aboriginal People was not very pleasant. I was in Coober Pedy. Large groups would spend their days walking round the small town do what appeared to be nothing apart from looking very intimidating. I took a local tour with a white Australian who lived in Coober Pedy. He told us that these people don’t work and won’t look for work. They live quite nicely on government handouts that give them enough money for their beer and cigarettes. Apparently alcohol is relatively new to Aboriginal people and their bodies can’t take any kind of quantity which is why they always appear so drunk.
I was told not to go out at night in Coober Pedy and this was reiterated again and again as I traveled up the centre of Australia. It was obvious at times that there was friction between these people although I never saw any aggression towards tourists. As I traveled up the centre of Australia the tour guides views were repeated again and again.
I finally tracked someone down in a local Aboriginal centre that was able to tell me in a bit more detail what the real deal was. It seems that all these people I had come into contact with were dishonored from their original tribes. True Aboriginal tribes keep themselves very much to themselves and ban all cigarettes, drugs and alcohol. They often live hundreds of miles out of the towns in their own communities.
It is a shame that most tourists who are in Australia for a few weeks and months won’t see past the annoying drunks and pestering drug addicts. They also won’t see beyond the intimidating groups that spend their days wandering the streets harassing tourists for money. It is these groups that cause problems in towns and cities so you won’t find a good word spoken by local white Australians.
There are many Aboriginal groups that now work with the government and councils negotiating land access as much of the National Parks are on Aboriginal owned land. In the last 6 weeks I have met a handful of Aboriginal people working in shops and one as a park warden in Katherine Gorge. They are perfectly normal people who live their lives like we all do and they themselves have no time for the people who tarnish their background and culture.
Every community, nationality and creed has their drop-outs, but here they would rather exclude them than help them.
This has been a really quick summary of what I’ve found out. There are many more complex underlying reasons for the divide in Australian society but if I can take one thing away it’s this: True Aboriginal people have a colourful, interesting culture and way of life. They live their lives sheltered away from western people and influence. There are others who choose to continue their culture and beliefs while working with western people in an attempt to educate and inform, and then there are the ones that have chosen to leave their original communities and live a life that tarnishes their entire existence. These people take drugs on street corners, sit in petrol stations so they can get high on the fumes and make tourists uncomfortable with their request for money.
99% of travelers will only see this last group.
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L.George Alexander
non-member comment
Aboriginal Culture
It was interesting that the writer took the time to look beyond the people he found walking around the street corners and petrol stations in Australia. Aboriginal Culture has been widely written about and is considered the oldest continual culture in the world. There are outstanding examples of art and music that is currenly available to interested people. Even such popular books as Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country devotes space to Aboriginal Culture and the presence of anti-Aboriginal feelings in Australia. I hope the writer continues his interests in these fascinating people.