<
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-im-an-aboriginal-farmer-but-a-romanticised-idea-of-agriculture-writes-black-people-out-of-the-farming-story-256588>
"I grew up with Dorothea Mackellar and
The Man from Snowy River, where ragged
mountain ranges met the colt from Old Regret. I grew up with the idea that the
Australian bush meant endless possibility to breed livestock and find gold in
every rock overturned. But these practices of clearing and marking ownership
through decree of unproductive agricultural land pushed mob further from their
traditional lands. It discredited their voices and their connection to Country.
Indigenous culture is viewed as something that is static, unable to move with
the times. It’s one of many stereotypes in Australia, from the deemed
requirement of dark skin to “be Aboriginal”, to the assumption that our
participation in society only occurred in the time prior to colonisation.
Indigenous people and our culture continue to be romanticised and therefore
fixed in time.
I want to broaden the story and build a new reality for the future. But to do
this I need to break down the stereotypes.
After a yarn about climate change, or my family’s farming legacy, or my
Aboriginal heritage, it doesn’t take long before I get asked the same old
questions. Questions about the size of our properties, the number of cows, or
the length of time we’ve been farming. I find this a bit uncomfortable, given
the way Aboriginal land was taken, and the actions made to remove our people
from this Country.
More uncomfortable are some of the questions I’m asked in other circles. You
aren’t really
that Aboriginal, are you? Or, what percentage Aboriginal are
you?
Instead of answering, I usually spin a yarn that I believe is more relevant,
more representative of my views. I try to challenge the fearful motivations
behind these attempts to minimise or negate my voice and my identity.
Indigenous people have more than enough experience on these lands to give
things a go and we’re more than capable of working as hard as non-Indigenous
people. I’m the fourth generation of my family to raise cattle with humps – the
drought-hardy
Bos indicus breed – on British-type cattle country. We know how
to deal with the floods and the droughts and the pests that creep a little
further south each year.
I didn’t have to answer these sorts of questions when I was a kid; these
conversations were hidden when my grandparents or great-grandparents were
farming and supporting their families. But now they seem to matter."
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
