'Country Gave Them Nothing'
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ABORIGINAL dig gers from World War I through to Vietnam will feature in an exhibition at Parra matta City Library from November 5 through to 30. Titled Too Dark for The Light Horse, the collection of documents and photo graphs includes the story of the strategic French town of Villers- Bretonneux where, among S' I the graves of almost 11,000 Australians, there 2 - I are 13 Aborigines. Australia’s original in- jhabitants were at first |barred from military ser vice, but when World War I broke out, a significant number tried to enlist and some succeeded. At least one Aborigine was in Aboriginal Corporal Brisbane’s famous 9th Bat talion which was the first Charles Mene and unit to land at Gallipoli. his mates (top left) enjoying a break In The battle of Pozieres in the Ebisu Camp can July 1916 saw Australia teen in Tokyo suffer 23,000 casualties and when Billy Hughes’ Corp Mene (right) Government failed to win receives a military the conscription issue, medal for bravery in standards for voluntary 'Country gave action in Korea enlistment were relaxed Private Wallie and there were 18 Aborigi Johnson, (left) 47 nes in one reinforcement Battalion AIF, killed unit for the 11th Light them nothing' Horse. in action in 1917 Villers-Bretonneux, it “The Aboriginal popu “While 13 dead Aborigi must be remembered at lation in 1911 was only nal soldiers may not seem the time. Aborigines in about 80,000, so an enlist many out of nearly 11,000 Australia were denied the ment of more than 400 Australians who died at vote, the invalid and old men was a significant per age pension and the Com capita effort for a country monwealth’s Maternity Al which at the time denied lowance,” said author Aboriginal people basic David Huggonson, who is human rights,” he said. compiling the exhibit. — CHRIS FXYNN fH b o H i G\ n ^ Majorie Woodrow with Sydney Cunningham at the launch of her book One of the Lost Generation Clan set to gather for big reunion PARRAMATTA author Marjorie Woodrow is finalising what promises to be one of the nation’s biggest reunions and certainly one of the most emotional. It’s a gathering for the Aboriginal Ybuwgn people of the Wonboora clan to be held at the Nanima reserve on the outskirts of Wellington in central NSW from September 27 to 29. Invitations went out last month in a typically Aboriginal way. Letters were sent to just 21 land councils in surrounding towns and then spread by word of mouth. The RAAF in Dubbo is lending marquee tents, tables and chairs and lighting for the event. Wellington Shire Council will have the reserve and its surrounds in pristine condition and Wellington Police Sgt Neil Scarr said Aboriginal liaison officers would be on hand to smooth any organisational bumps. Mrs Woodrow said Nanima, on the banks of the Macquarie River, was the oldest reserve in NSW. “We thought of the reunion in March,” she said. “These get-togethers are pretty common for Aborigines. The clans would meet every now and then to sort out any problems.” Mrs Woodrow said the reserve would be “dry” for the weekend. “It’s a ‘families’ reunion, so there’s plenty of food and drink, but no grog,” she said. Organisers are still trying to get everybody’s favorite. Slim Dusty to appear, while the double award-winning Aborigi nal dance troupe, Bah-Ta-Bah is set to perform. There’s also talk of a song and dance talent quest. Reserve chairman Neville Barwick said everyone was welcome to attend. Those who were planning to stay overnight should bring sleeping gear. Money raised on the weekend goes to the reserve. Nanima is on (068) 45 3390. • Book shows p IS native links PARRAMATTA’S early dealings with its native people are in the book The Parramatta Native Institution and the Black Town launched in Parramatta on September 12. Co-written by Blacktown historians Jack Brook and Jim Kohen, the 290-page book describes how well-meaning, but bumbling, authorities annexed the Aborigines’ land and then sought to “civilise” them. There was a native school in Parramatta as early as 1814 and the city of Blacktown gained its name because the area’s native people were herded into another institution there. “If the lessons had been learned by the teachers rather than by the pupils, perhaps the outcome would have been different — there was a failure to recognise an Aboriginal culture existed,” the authors say. Mr Kohen said the book-writing project started 11 years ago. “Libraries can be marvellous places for delving for information, but when you hear of Aboriginal descendants who have a working knowledge of 500-600 of their family — it’s a goldmine,” he said. The authors will be at Parramatta author Marjorie Woodrow’s Wonboora clan reunion at Nanima Reserve in Wellington this weekend (Septeniber 28-29). PARRAMAHA CITY COUNCIL LIBRARY SERVICES DIVISION LOCAL HISTORY SERVICE - Vertical File Collection SUBJECT: ^eoAz<s>x/oBS SOURCE: Ady/e.p- i PAGE NO: DATE: CLASS. NO: We’ve nothing to fear from Mabo AS controversy continues to rage, often verging on hysteria, over the High Court M ab o ruling, Parramatta solicitor David Bdnnerman looked at its application here PEOPLE in the Parramatta Mr Bannerman said it was area have nothing to fear significant the judges did from the controversial not decree native title to two M abo ruling by the High acres on the island which Court, solicitor David w ere leased, in 1880, to the Bannerman says. London Missionary Society “The ruling means native for a church and store. title can'only exist where Granting of that lease had there have been no land extinguished native title to grants inconsistent with it," those two acres. he said. “ In a sim ilar way, granting land to the pioneers of Early land grants in the Parramatta extinguished Parramatta area to John title to that land; native title Macarthur, Darcy only exists so long as there Wentworth, James Ruse and has been no action such as a others would extinguish any grrant or some legislation native title to land subject of inconsistent with it,” Mr the grants. Bannerman said. The Parramatta-based He believed M abo was only solicitor of the Supreme a precedent where a C ourt believed a m ajority of situation sim ilar to the Australians would agree island o f .Mer existed. with the High Court ruling “I can think of no land on once they understood the the mainland where the decision. situation was sim ilar to the T he ruling applied only to island of Mer," he said. the island of Mer (originally “There is no basis for claim s M urray) which was not against land in the Crown land under the P arram atta area or city ' David Bannerman .. early land grants would Queensland Crown Lands CBDs which could be based extinguish any native title Act. on the Mabo decision." Place of Eels: vborieinal Parramatta in Au^i;raiian Hi_->tor\ Michael Rynn ^ ’ HE Australian Bicentenary of manism. By using new perspectives many more trivialised a complex story 1988 was in many ways an which recognise the diversity of the with a few 1 ines about hapless or treach L orgy of self-congratulation past in ways which the writers of other erous blacks and depicted rock art as a puffed up by the false confidence of eras did not, it is possible to continue kitsch curiosity. Local history in Par that decade’s economic boom. Two of the process o f discover}^ in the same ramatta and the westem suburbs of the most enduring and contrasting im humanist tradition. This process began Sydney has not been free of these ten ages of Australia Day 1988 are the sails in the Australian context well over a dencies; in addition, the area has suf of the ships o f the First Fleet re-enact century ago with James Bonwick and, fered from being ignored as a backwa ment wafting into Sydney Harbour despite a few stops and starts, is still ter, far from the centres of power in bearing gigantic Coca-Cola logos and going on. Historians are reinterpreting Macquarie Street and the city. the exuberant Aboriginal march through the documents Bonwick used and lo The rise o f the Parramatta Central the streets of the city. The day finished cating others that he overlooked. As Business District, a more heritage-ori off the one dimensional stereotypes of Thucydides would tell you, a century is ented municipal council, the formation the sturdy Afrikaner-like pioneer and not a long time; at the beginning of the of an Aboriginal Darug Land Council the bakky-chewing ‘Native’, but found age of informafion technology Aus and the westward shift of Sydney’s Australia in a ferment of new ideas as tralian history presents a field as rich population centre have contributed to a the Cold War approached its tumultu and diverse as the natural world must new view of the history of Parramatta ous climax. Since 1988 a new sense of have seemed to the botanists of the and its hinterland which, in the half confidence in the emerging Australian eighteenth century. century after 1788, rivalled Sydney in identity has encouraged a more complex One of the most significantelements importance and hosted the second vice and critical view of the past. of this re-examination of identity has regal residence. The spotlight was The political modishness and post been the question of the place of Abo turned on Parramatta’s remarkable modernism of recent years have un riginal people and their heritage in the Aboriginal heritage by two recent doubtedly been carried to excess in broaderculture.