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https://theconversation.com/long-before-politicians-called-to-stop-the-boats-first-nations-people-welcomed-arrivals-from-indonesia-228614>
"Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the
military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders to
unauthorised maritime arrivals”.
It’s a proven line of attack from the Coalition, who claimed to have “stopped
the boats” – almost all of which originate from Indonesia – during their
tenure. The trope of a northern coastline in need of protection from a foreign
“other” has resonated with many Australians for some time.
In the course of producing
Waŋgany Mala (2024) – a documentary made in
collaboration with Anindilyakwa and Gumatj people in northeast Arnhem Land – we
learned that many First Nations peoples don’t typically subscribe to a land-sea
distinction.
Instead, the land-seascape is crisscrossed with songlines that transcend this
division. Margo Neale and Lynne Kelly, authors of the book
Songlines: The
Power and Promise, explain that songlines can act as navigational paths in the
cartographic sense – but more fundamentally they encode knowledge of country,
art and ceremony that is shared across generations.
Furthermore, the Knowledge Holders with whom we worked celebrated the time when
boats from across the Indonesian archipelago weren’t intercepted."
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
