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https://theconversation.com/i-cant-argue-away-the-shame-frontier-violence-and-family-history-converge-in-david-marrs-harrowing-and-important-new-book-215050>
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Review: Killing for Country – David Marr (Black Inc.)
Cultural capital is a rare and precious commodity. It is earned by doing – with
wit, rigour and imagination. Being born to privilege may help in its
accumulation, but that is not sufficient. These days, especially, privilege can
be an impediment.
The advantages of David Marr’s birth proved more complicated than they first
seemed, but attuned him to hypocrisy and made him a better observer. For five
decades, he has honed his skills as an eloquent writer, dogged researcher and
witty interlocutor with a strong moral core.
As a journalist and author of acclaimed biographies of Sir Garfield Barwick and
Patrick White, he has become a trusted guide in the endless quest for public
sense-making. His journey from a privileged son of upper middle class Sydney to
wise national witness is captured in the 567 pages of
My Country, the
compelling collection of a “few” of his speeches and articles.
Over a lifetime, Marr has earned a fortune in cultural capital. He has now
decided to spend some of it.
The release of his harrowing and important book
Killing for Country was timed
to influence the nation-defining referendum on October 14. Four years ago Marr
discovered another complication of his privilege: his forebears’ role in
murdering scores of First Peoples during the land grabs that preceded the
creation of Australia.
When Marr learned of this history, it was as though he had stepped into
quicksand.
Killing for Country is not the generic “why weren’t we told?” cry
that has echoed around the continent for decades, and still resonates, but
something personal. And as Marr discovered over years of painstaking research,
the truth was much more brutal than he could have imagined. “I can’t argue away
the shame that overcame me,” he writes.
Like most Australians of his generation, Marr grew up in a family and a nation
that were good at secrets. Making your own life was a virtue, curiosity about
those who came before was neither encouraged nor rewarded. In this, as he
writes, “my blindness was so Australian”."
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
