'A presence on our terms': the Aboriginal Memorial is artwork and political statement | Paul Daley

Submitted by Paul Daley on Wed, 17/10/2018 - 4:00am

Thirty years after its creation the memorial is more important than ever in its service of national memory

It is three decades since white Australia threw an exclusive party for itself to celebrate a bicentenary of European invasion and settlement that trampled on the sensibilities of this continent’s Indigenous people.

While debate around the celebration of Australia Day (Invasion Day) on 26 January intensifies yearly amid momentum for inevitable change, the nation is still remiss when it comes to officially commemorating the many tens of thousands of Indigenous people killed in frontier wars intrinsic to European “settlement” and expansion.

The beauty of the memorial is at odds with the horror of the experiences and events it connotes