Tuesday 1 January 2013

Who writes for Indigenous people within Social Media?

OUR WIRADJURI NEWS Facebook page has a question from one of our readers. They ask:

"Do you know if Tent Embassy (F.B.) is affiliated with our Tent Embassy & if it is indeed operated by an Aboriginal person & not some white bloke taking a position of paternalism by providing a page for us poor blackfellas? I am suspicious of this page for several reasons & whilst I DID look to page for news, am unwilling to do further until ethnicity is qualified. Appreciate prompt answer."

I think it raises some good questions. How do we trust the information on FB, what/where it comes from and by whom? As blackfullas, there is a tone and knowledge within the community, linked by generations, that allow us to sus out "the vibe" as they said in that movie "The Castle". Does that make sense? We sort of know by the sounds of the conversation if its coming from a Koori or not. There are many good non-Aboriginal people out there working on, in and with Aboriginal people, causes, issues but should be supporters of the major voice and not the leaders. It has false hope of succeeding and the blame goes back to the community if it fails, with common comments of "..that blackfullas did not want change so leave them with it"  or "..do not know that is good for them" often said about mislead campaigns. The sentiment is good but the drive behind it is not there. So if someone can clarify if an important information source, such as the Tent Embassy Facebook page is not Aboriginal derived and administered, then such should be known. If no one knows, I might just have to ask them directly. Its not just this page though. There is a very racist page, "should Aboriginals get the apology" or something like that, which I'm not sure if its a racist related to Aboriginal people or just an ignorant black person without a brain? They say they are related to Noongars in areas of WA but the slop that comes from that page can only be described as racist. It opens so many racist arguments and is a platform for rants from smart ass racists. That is a page that should be closed, despite the admin trying to say that it does not support racist comments and deletes them. Why have this page ("Should the pm apologies to the Aboriginal people?") if you don't want to have a page devoted to racist debate? Back to the issue on this question, has anyone any information regarding the owners of the page? Cheers,  David Towney.

Tuesday 14 February 2012

Scott Towney Aboriginal Artist

Wiradjuri artist Scott Towney has some amazing art. A 'backyard' artist, specialising in drawing and pyrography, Scott has an delivered brilliance in his own style, creating art from an Indigenous perspective.  His art is on show around Australia as part of the NSW Premiers Indigenous Art Awards Finalists and in various other commissioned work Scott has completed. This is a wood-burning piece or best referred to as pyrography, Scott did for the NSW Premiers Art Awards in 2011. It is still 'raw' at this early stage and not fully complete. NSW Aboriginal artists have a contemporary style to their artwork, evident in this style of pyrography. The technique Scott uses is simply different pressures to get lighter or darker strokes by the wood-burner onto the selected wooden 'canvas'.


Monday 13 February 2012

Apology by PM 4 Years on Means Nothing

‎4 Years after the "Apology" and the chorus of "Sorry" is now an excuse to say "Move On!" The Apology came with no changes, no policy, no repatriation or re-connection plan, no convictions, no funding & no planning for the future. Words mean nothing if there is no action to support it. MAJOR FAILURE! It is terrible to continue such a degrading policy. Since the Intervention, the suicide rates in females has doubled. That is since the so called protection of our females in the community. Something is not right and the continued oppression of people in all communities will cause further harm, not good.

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Wiradjuri News & Views: Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the ALL Sta...

Wiradjuri News & Views: Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the ALL Sta...: Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the ALL Stars Footy game on the Gold Coast this weekend. Boots are being presented to the...

Wiradjuri News & Views: Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the ALL Sta...

Wiradjuri News & Views: Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the ALL Sta...: Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the ALL Stars Footy game on the Gold Coast this weekend. Boots are being presented to the...
Footy Boots painted by Darren Dunn for the 
ALL Stars Footy game
 on the Gold Coast this weekend. 

Boots are being presented to the NRL INDIGENOUS players by artist, 
Daren Dunn, Wiradjuri man

 


 This boot by Daren Dunn is for Corey Patterson
 This boot is for Scotty Prince
This boot by Daren Dunn is for Ben Barber

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Hypocrites

I love the way Australians try to justify the invasion of Australia as a natural thing, it is a progression of culture and migration; it is the developement of a nation etc etc. Yet they hate boat people coming here, a flag being changed, a republican movement gaining strength, make racist laws to protect the nationality of those in power etc etc. Australians defend such changes out of fear of such change. Yet they still support such hypocritical behaviour in relation to Indigenous people, taking land that was never theirs, taking minerals that was never theirs, selling resources that was never theirs and dis-empowring Indigenous people at every stage of the past 200 years to gain political power to exploit us once again. Hypocrites. Liars. Patronising. Just some of my descriptions when venting my opinion of non-Indigenous behaviour towards us.