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In 1967 Australia voted in a landmark referendum to finally include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in its census. But, as Paul Daley reports, the fight for genuine equality for the country’s first people is far from over
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Jimmy Clements and John Noble’s presence at the opening of the provisional parliament house in 1927 was a precursor to a history of Indigenous activism
Two old blackfellas, Jimmy Clements and John Noble, made a big effort to turn up for the opening of the provisional parliament house in Canberra nine decades ago.
But, for 50 or 60 years, many historians seemed to think – despite their very different appearances, the photographs of them together, separately and with their dogs – that Clements and Noble might have been the same old bloke.
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Frontier wars almost certainly claimed more Indigenous lives than the Australian death toll in the first world war. If settler Australia is ever to deal properly with the legacy of frontier conflict, that comparison would be a good place to start
I know the spirits are out here. And when the wind starts to howl across the plain in great booming gusts, it might just be the sound of them crying.
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As the remains of Ngadjon elder, Narcha, are repatriated from Berlin, I’m drawn again to the connection between he and Douglas Grant
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The Indigenous elder revered by some as ‘Australia’s Dalai Lama’ is the spiritual keeper of the didgeridoo. A new exhibition honours his legacy and the immense significance of the Yolngu instrument that is helping to heal a divided country
The old man with straggly hair, long wispy grey beard and wraparound sunglasses sits at the back of the grandstand overlooking the verdant expanse of Alberton Oval – the traditional base, if no longer the home ground, of the historic Port Adelaide football club.
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John Batman, Lachlan Macquarie, Angus McMillan – some of the colonial leaders we eulogise and commemorate despite being deeply unworthy
It’s well beyond time we rethought who, as a nation, we’ve eulogised in statuary, bricks, mortar and nomenclature.
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The South Australian Museum wants to take a global lead in connecting its enormous collection with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
John Carty stands on a platform inside a vast warehouse on Adelaide’s outskirts. On the floor below and behind him are rack after rack of shelves and drawers housing tens of thousands of Australian Indigenous artefacts.
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Enough of Closing the Gap. It only shows how governments of all persuasion can get away with fatal incompetence when it comes to the First Australians
Enough. This yearly political charade, Closing the Gap, is not saving Indigenous lives, getting more First Nations kids through school or keeping more young black people out of prison. Indeed, the very arbitrary determinants of “the gap” do not even include a measure on the number of incarcerated Indigenous Australians.
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The inclusion of the Warlpiri drawings in a Unesco collection links thousands of years of pre-colonial Australia to the modern desert Indigenous art movements
Indigenous Australian art, from the magical barks of the Yolngu to the mesmerising dot paintings of the Western Desert, grace the walls of opulent homes and legislatures, galleries and boardrooms from Sydney to New York City and beyond.
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Two things are certain about Australia Day: the debate around it will continue, and it will eventually mark as a commemoration for military resistance
One of the more wondrous things about moving cities is exploring the new terrain. The possibilities seem endless as I walk the well-established trails and paths around the water, run my hands over bulging rock formations that form the foundations of colonial buildings, and catch the ferry up-river along ancient trade routes and fishing grounds.