Problematising Aboriginal nationalism
Julia Martinez
The m od ern concept of nationalism is a highly contested phenom enon. It provokes
debate a t b oth a theoretical and an em otional level. The idea of an A boriginal national­
ism is no less complex. This article discusses a range of perspectives on Aboriginal
nationalism and relates them to theoretical debates. The w orks of Benedict A nderson
and A nthony Sm ith are discussed in som e detail. Both these theorists regard the nation
as a 'm o d e rn ' construct. They posit a range of conditions and processes w hich have ena­
bled different peoples to generate a sense of nationalism . These m odels are advanced as
useful tools for the ensuing discussion of A boriginal nationalism and w hether such a
phenom enon exists or has ever existed in the m odern sense. Their theories are necessar­
ily problem atic w hen view ed from a p ost-m odern perspective w hich highlights the p lu­
ral nature of identity, b u t the very gap betw een the 'm o d ern ' and the 'post-m odern'
allow s us to historicise nationalism . Thus, the period of the 1960s and 70s sees the
developm ent of a 'm o d ern ' pan-A boriginal nationalist, m ovem ent w hile in m ore recent
years w riters have highlighted the diversity of Aboriginal thought.
Any discussion of nationalism m u st begin w ith an attem pt to define this elusive
phenom enon. Benedict A nderson considers nationalism not as a political m ovem ent
nor as a synonym for racism, b u t as a sense of patriotism or 'love of country'. He seeks
the answ er as to w hy 'm o d e rn ' nations should 'com m and such profound em otional
legitim acy'.1 The nation, he defines as 'an im agined political com m unity' w hich is both
'inherently lim ited and sovereign'. The term ’im agined' refers to the w ay in w hich its
citizens are able to conjure up a m ental im age of their nation. It does not im ply that the
nation is false or unreal, b u t rather, that it is an abstract concept. H e describes the nation
as a com m unity because, 'regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that m ay
prevail in each, the nation is alw ays conceived as a deep, horizontal com radeship'.2
A ccording to A nderson, post-colonial nationalism s w ere n ot so m uch reactions
against colonialism , as extensions of the colonising process. He argues that colonialism
encouraged the spread of nationalism by introducing indigenous peoples to W estern
'm o d ern ity ' in the form of ad m inistration, education, increased mobility, and masscom m unication.3 M odernity b ro u g h t w ith it a new m ode of ap p rehending the w orld,
w here notions of tim e and history w ere reshaped. The m odern concept of history is 'an
1.
Anderson 1983, p. 4.
2.
3.
ibid., p. 6.
ibid., p. 4.
134
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
endless chain of cause and effect or of radical separations betw een past and present'.
M odern tim e is m arked by 'tem p o ral coincidence, and m easured by clock and calen­
d a r'. It w as this reshaping of tim e w hich enabled individuals to conceive of their 'im ag ­
ined com m unity', allow ing them to im agine the 'steady, anonym ous, sim ultaneous
activity’ of all the other m em bers of that com m unity '. 4 A nderson attributes this to the
ad v en t of m ass-com m unication in v ernacular languages m ade possible by print-capi­
talism and the dissem ination of novels and new spapers. These form s of com m unication
assum ed a collective body of readers w ho share a com m on language and a com m on
interest. In the m inds of the readers, the national com m unity becam e tangible .5
W estern education played a key role in the developm ent of nationalism outside
Europe. It introduced indigenous peoples to the trappings of nationhood: 'com m on cit­
izenships, po p u lar sovereignty, national flags and anthem s '. 6 It also provided an indig­
enous intelligentsia w ith a know ledge of v arious m odels of revolution and alerted them
to the grow ing international m ovem ent for universal self-determ ination. Colonial
adm inistrative system s instituted not only standardised education program m es but
also, in cases such as Indonesia, introduced a new lingua franca, w hich m ade it possible
for people from different language groups to com m unicate and so share their com m on
experiences of colonialism . It w as from this system that a young w estern-educated
nationalist leadership em erg ed .7
Three colonial institutions w hich A nderson highlights as the building blocks of
nationalism are: the census, the m ap, and the m useum . The colonial census categorized
the indigenous population, constructing identities that accorded w ith the preconcep­
tions and adm inistrative needs of the colonists .8 In Indonesia, for exam ple, the D utch
tended to represent all 'In donesians' as inlanders or natives, regardless of their ethnolinguistic b ack g ro u n d .9 The use of the colonial m ap as a logo for nationalists proved to be
a pow erful sym bol of the nation, w hile colonial m useum s through their attem pts to
capture and stu d y the indigenous culture, created a visual and w ritten representation of
’native’ cultural identity .10
A nderson's parad ig m of post-colonial nationalism is problem atic, however, as it
suggests that a nationalism form ed of heterogeneous peoples m ust necessarily be con­
trived and therefore w ith o u t legitimacy. H e does not allow that these nationalism s
m ight engender em otional loyalty from the people or that indigenous peoples m ight
reclaim the right to define their ow n cultural identity. It is here that A nthony Sm ith's
contribution is useful, as it concentrates on the notion of ethnie, the 'collective cultural
u n its' w hich m ake up natio n s .11 H is definition of ethnie is sufficiently broad to encom ­
pass linguistically heterogeneous com m unities. He argues th at ethnie need only be sim i­
lar 'in those cultural traits in w hich they are dissim ilar from nonm em bers'. These traits
m ay include food, m usic, and the arts or even sim ply pigm entation as in the case of
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
ibid., pp. 23-6.
ibid., p. 32.
ibid., p. 81.
ibid., pp. 116-121.
ibid., pp. 164-5.
ibid., p. 122.
ibid., pp. 175-8.
Smith 1986, p. 13.
PROBLEMATISING ABORIGINAL NATIONALISM
135
Black A m ericans.12 Smith suggests th at nationalism relies on the 'rediscovery and revi­
talization of ethnic ties and sentim ents'. This, he argues, involves tracing kinship ties,
p o p ular m obilisation, the elevation of religion, language and custom s and a rew riting
of history to em phasise a unique collective p ast and destiny.13
These theories posited by A nderson and Sm ith provide a useful fram ew ork
w ithin w hich the developm ent of 'm o d e rn ' A boriginal nationalism m ight be consid­
ered. A nderson points to the role of colonialism and the links betw een nationalism and
m odernity. In contrast, Sm ith takes the stance that post-colonial nationalism s rely on
cultural or ethnic ties w hich engender em otional loyalty from their people. He asks us
to consider the im portance of kinship, language, and historic links w ith the land. In the
case of A ustralia, A nderson's m odel ap pears relevant to the discussion of A boriginal
nationalism in the 1960s and 70s. The introduction of m ulticulturalism as a national pol­
icy proposed an alternative 'p o st-m o d ern ' form of the nation w hich did not rely on a
single hom ogeneous culture or heritage. Stephen Castles, in discussing the legitim acy
of the m o d ern nation-state, argues that w hile the state has m oved beyond national bor­
ders in response to dem ands of the global economy, in the face of hom ogenisation of
w orld culture, cultural difference has becom e increasingly valued as each ethnic group
seeks to reestablish their cultural heritage.14 This shift in em phasis has ram ifications for
the A boriginal peoples in A ustralia in that it has legitim ised the concept of nations
w ithin a nation and provided a less restrictive m odel for debate.
This pap er now turns to discuss the developm ent of A boriginal nationalism and
exploring these theoretical fram ew orks. As a non-indigenous A ustralian I have relied
upon the w ritings of various A boriginal activists and w riters to u n derstand the various
positions and perspectives on nationalism . The com plexity of this subject undoubtedly
renders it beyond the scope of any single article. My lim ited aim is to consider both
'm o d ern ' and 'po st-m o d ern ' forms of A boriginal nationalism in tw entieth century A us­
tralia. The term pan-A boriginal is used to refer to a 'm o d ern ' sense of the nation, in that
it is conceived of as an A ustralia-w ide phenom enon. This is contrasted w ith the idea of
'traditio n al' lands as the basis for the individual A boriginal nations and the sense of
com m unity attachm ent w hich is d em onstrated by those w ho identity them selves w ith
their people; N yungars, N angas, Yolngus, Kooris, M urris and others.15
Early notions of nationhood suggested th at the nation w as based on the com m on
heritage of a people. In this sense, p rio r to colonisation there w as no A boriginal nation
as the A borigines did not com prise an hom ogeneous group. There w ere som e 500 'se p ­
arate traditional com m unities', each speaking their ow n language or dialect.16 C ustom s
differed from region to region, accentuated by the diverse ecologies of the A ustralian
continent. Rather, one m ight argue, there w ere m any small A boriginal nations. A randa
m en in the 1930s em phasised the distinct territorial divisions betw een peoples, explain­
ing: 'O u r fathers tau g h t us to love o u r ow n country, and not to lust after the lands
belonging to other m en '.1' The kinship system w hich ordered relationships w ithin
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
ibid., p. 26.
ibid., p. 145.
Castles, et al. 1990, pp. 188,140.
Mudrooroo 1995, p. v.
Reynolds 1987, p. 8.
136
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
'tribal' groupings strengthened the sense that those in other 'tribal' groups w ere 'o u tsid ­
ers'. In this sense, there w as no pre-existing pan-A boriginal nation and no com m on his­
tory on w hich to base a sense of nationalism . A ccording to m odernists, how ever, this
construction’ of nationalism , is com m on to all nationalism s, including those of Europe
w hich w ere created by the suppression of regional differences, dialects and cultures.18
The d evelopm ent of a pan-A boriginal nation can be expressed in term s of the
colonial m odel presented by A nderson, w hich suggests that the com m on experience of
colonisation provided the catalyst for the developm ent of a pan-A boriginal identity.19
W hen the British arrived in 1788, A ustralia w as judged to be 'terra nullius' and the
Aboriginal people w ere not acknow ledged as the ow ners of their tribal land.20 W hilst
they w ere nom inally accepted as British subjects, they w ere not initially considered as a
potential w orkforce, as w as the case in m ost other colonies. A nderson assum es that col­
onisation brings the trappings of a m odern European culture to at least a portion of the
indigenous population, b u t this w as not initially the case in A ustralia. In the 1937 fed­
eral conference on A boriginal policy it w as decided that the destiny of A borigines w as
'their ultim ate absorption by the people of the C om m onw ealth' b u t this official state­
m ent of assim ilation w as nevertheless based on a narrow and lim ited form of citizen­
ship for those of A boriginal descent.21
Before that tim e, it w as assum ed that the A boriginal people w ould sim ply die out
and that it w as the d u ty of the state governm ents to ’sm ooth the dying pillow.'
Aborigines w ere to be 'protected', w hich in practice resulted in their losing all personal
freedom. Ironically, it w as the harshest aspects of this policy w hich produced the first
seeds of nationalism . In keeping w ith the W hite A ustralia policy, it enshrined the p rin ­
ciple of racism w hich gave the A borigines no choice b u t to consider them selves as a
'race ap art'. 'F ull-blood' A borigines w ere segregated from w hite society and deprived
of their civil rights. Their culture w as threatened by institutionalisation and an insist­
ence on C hristian values and codes of conduct. As Bain A ttw ood com m ented, 'th e m ore
consistently and rigorously authoritarian and oppressive colonial racial policy and
practice has been, the m ore the conditions for a com m on A boriginal identity have
g r o w n '22
Colonial oppression, however, according to A nderson, is not sufficient to account
for the developm ent of nationalism . It required the tools of m odernity: com m on lan­
guage to facilitate com m unication; the education of an intelligentsia to lead the nation­
alist m ovem ent; and a m eans of m ass-com m unication to allow the com m unity to
experience a sense of sim ultaneity and uniform purpose. In A ustralia, the first of these
conditions was achieved gradually, as m ore and m ore A borigines came to use English
as their lingua franca, taught, in m any cases in m ission schools. This enabled A borigines
from different language groups to com m unicate w ith each other. As for the other condi­
tions, one m ight argue that they w ere not fulfilled until the 1960s. The education of an
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Broome 1994, p. 14.
Hutchinson 1994, p. 4.
Broome 1994, p. 17.
Reynolds 1987, p. 12.
Broome 1994, p. 161.
Attwood 1989, p. 150.
PROBLEMATISING ABORIGINAL NATIONALISM
137
A boriginal intelligentsia w as linked w ith the governm ent policy w hich dictated that
'half-caste' children be separated from their parents and sent aw ay to be raised and
integrated into w hite society. O ne outcom e of this policy w as the presence in the 1960s
and 70s of a substantial g ro u p of w estern-educated nationalists.
Tracing the education of C harles Perkins, for exam ple, dem onstrates the link
betw een 'colonial' ad m inistrative policies and the creation of an A boriginal intelligent­
sia. At the age of nine, in 1945, he w as taken from Alice Springs to A delaide w here he
w as raised in a w hite, C hristian, m iddle-class atm osphere. His life there, according to
Peter Read, 'im b u ed in him a faith in pan-A boriginalism not shared by his com m unity
at the tim e'. Read notes that '[m ]any of today's national and com m unity leaders share
Perkin's background of cultural dislocation at an early ag e'.23 From A delaide, Perkins
m oved on to Sydney w here he com pleted a Bachelor of A rts at the U niversity of Syd­
ney. H is educational pilgrim age eventually led him to the capital, C anberra and the
D epartm en t of A boriginal Affairs. C harles Perkins' sense of A boriginal nationalism
resulted from his experience of the m odern A ustralian educational and adm inistrative
system . This gave him a view of A borigines that w as national rather than regional.
O ther A borigines w ho could sim ilarly be regarded as the vanguard of A boriginal
nationalism include Paul Coe, Michael A nderson, and K evin Gilbert.
G ilbert discusses the em ergence of an A boriginal intelligentsia in his book Because
a White M an'll Never Do It, published in 1973. H e quotes W ootten of the A boriginal
Legal Service as saying:
There is now a new breed of A boriginal— the angry, articulate young m en and
w om en, p ro u d of their Aboriginality, deeply concerned for their people all over
A u stralia...d eterm in ed to dem and justice n o w ...T h ey alone have the enthusiasm ,
the courage and the eloquence to overcom e the ap ath y and selfishness of w hite
A ustralians and to unite their ow n people all over A ustralian a great forw ard
m ovem ent. 24
This gro u p of A borigines m ost closely corresponds to A nderson's notion of a radical
young nationalist intelligentsia. W here the A ustralian experience differs from other
continents, is in the degree of acceptance of this pan-A boriginal message. Perkins
acknow ledged that his view s w ere not accepted by his hom e community. D uring the
1960s and 70s, how ever, there w as a tendency to attrib u te this resistance to a lack of
com m unication, or a failure on the p a rt of Aboriginal com m unities to take on the les­
sons of m o d ern education, rather than the inadequacy of the nationalist m odel.
W ith A borigines spread o u t over A ustralia's vast area, any form of pan-A boriginal
com m unication w as im possible w ithout m odern technology. Even so, com m unication
w ith rem ote A boriginal groups rem ains difficult. A n d erso n ’s discussion of m ass-com ­
m unication and the dissem ination of ideas via printed m aterial assum es a high level of
literacy and access to p rin ted m aterials. D uring the 1970s, how ever, w hen the national­
ists w ere engaged in prom oting their m ovem ent, these avenues of com m unication did
not exist in rural A ustralia. Gilbert, describing the situation in the 1970s wrote:
23. R e a d 1990, p p . x iii-x iv .
24. W o o tte n in G ilb e r t 1973, p . 130.
138
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
Very few blacks read regularly and consistently, even about their ow n m ovem ent.
O ne reason is that not a few are illiterate. It is this group w hom Bobbi Sykes tried
to reach and alert about the Em bassy w hen she did her trip through the N orthern
Territory last year. O thers, particularly the reserve and slum -dw elling blacks of
the south, can read because schooling w as enforced. But m any have never become
ad ep t enough at it to enjoy it and the content of an average new spaper is of no
interest anyway, because none of it has any apparent bearing on their lives...O nly
television has m anaged to crack this situation a little b it...25
He suggests that the spread of com m unications via the television will have a positive
effect on their m ovem ent. Again, the idea is raised that their cause w as not necessarily
perceived as having 'an y ap p aren t bearin g ' on the lives of A borigines as it fell outside
the scope of local concerns. Jerem y Beckett discussed this issue in relation to the elec­
tion of a N ew South Wales state representative for the Welfare Board. He com m ented
that: 'it has never been possible to find a candidate know n to everyone. The only one
w hose nam e is rem em bered and occasionally m entioned, Bill Ferguson, w as related by
m arriage through his brother to the C arow ra Tank people'.26 This suggests that the kin­
ship system w hich gives cohesion to A boriginal com m unities could be used to
strengthen the case for a national ’im agined com m unity’.
Viewed from a post-m odern perspective, this reluctance of som e sectors of the
A boriginal p opulation to em brace nationalism corresponds w ith the general question­
ing of nationalism in its m odern form. W hile A nderson claims that an intelligentsia
spread the ideology of nationalism , there is evidence that som e Aborigines w ere not
inclined to be led by intellectuals. Furtherm ore, other A boriginal intellectuals, such as
Pat O 'Shane, have criticised this form of nationalism .
One reason for the am bivalent position of Aboriginal intellectuals w as the percep­
tion that they had cast their lot w ith the 'w h ites' and that their w ork is led by 'w hites'.
In the early stages of its developm ent, the A boriginal intelligentsia w as aided by v ari­
ous w hite organisations w hich sought to advance the Aboriginal cause. The role of the
church w as crucial in providing an A ustralia-w ide netw ork of s u p p o rt27 Similarly,
C om m unists such as D onald M cLeod, and Frank H ardy w orked w ith A borigines,
encouraging them to unite in protest against the governm ent. Using M arxist rhetoric,
H ardy claimed: 'W hile black m en are in chains, no w hite m en can be free'.28 These
'w h ite' activists tended to regard the A borigines as one people, as 'black' thus giving
strength to a concept of A boriginal nationalism based on colour.
A boriginal activists of the 1930s prom oted not so m uch a separate A boriginal
nationalism as the inclusion of A borigines w ithin the A ustralian nation. W illiam F ergu­
son, for exam ple, the p resident of the A borigines Progressive Association, w rote in 1940
to the G overnor-G eneral, pleading for full citizenship for Aborigines. He wrote: 'w e do
not expect w ild A borigines living in the rem ote p art of A ustralia to be m ade citizens'.29
Ferguson appears to be advocating a form of citizenship based on 'civilisation'. This is
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
Gilbert 1973, p. 111.
Beckett 1988b, p. 134.
Franklin 1976, p. 137.
Hardy 1968, p. 49.
Ferguson in Franklin 1976, pp. 151-2.
PROBLEMATISING ABORIGINAL NATIONALISM
139
not to suggest that he regarded the exclusion of 'tribal' Aborigines as permanent. While
in 1938, anthropologist Dr Donald Thomson was arguing for 'inviolable reserves of
tribal lands' in order to prevent further 'detribalisation', Ferguson and Jack Patten were
arguing that 'uncivilised blacks' were 'willing and eager to learn when given a
chance'.30 Nevertheless, they were conforming to the criteria of citizenship imposed by
the Australian nation rather than seeking to promote a separate Aboriginal nationalism.
The criticism they expressed in the manifesto 'Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights!' reveals
their anger at the treatment of Aborigines under the so-called Protection system, but
focuses on the potential for improvement in the Australian nation. They ask that
Aborigines be allowed to claim 'ordinary citizen rights'.31 As the organisers of the 1938
Day of Mourning & Protest, they wrote representing 'The Aborigines of Australia'
appealing to the:
Australian Nation of today to make new laws for the education and care of
Aborigines, and we ask for a new policy which will raise our people to FULL CIT­
IZEN STATUS and EQUALITY WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.32
By the 1960s, however, there emerged a group of Aboriginal activists who were
more anti-colonial in their outlook. Following Anderson’s model, they took their inspi­
ration from overseas examples. In particular, Black Americans such as Malcolm X and
Martin Luther King provided role models. The American Black Panther Party which
began in 1966 with a message of militant ’Black Power’ inspired some Aborigines to fol­
low their lead. An Australian Black Panther Party was formed in 1972 in Brisbane.33
They copied the Marxist-Leninist rhetoric and like their American counterparts made
demands for: ’'and, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace'.34 Aboriginal
activists such as Gary Foley and Paul Coe showed that like the Americans they had con­
sidered the use of more aggressive tactics. Paul Coe said:
To me, the idea that the Aboriginal people will one day pick up the gun, to use it
perhaps, to build their own separate state or find some other way of ensuring that
the race does survive, is a just one. It’s something that I’m not frightened of because
it is something that’s just got to happen.35
Many were frightened by such a concept and it would be wrong to suggest, that all
Aborigines were influenced by the 'Black Power' movement. Ted Fields wrote: 'We
Aborigines do not identify with the colour black. Our identity is based on a much
deeper spiritual awareness of ourselves as a people'. Evonne Goolagong, he noted, does
not identify herself as black: 'She identifies as Aboriginal, which is more national and
specific'.36 These contrasting views demonstrate the nationalist push for 'state' power
on the one hand, and the search for a spiritual, or emotional sense of 'imagined commu­
nity' on the other.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
Horner 1974, pp. 56-58.
Ferguson cited in H om er 1974, p. 59.
H om er 1974, p. 199.
Franklin 1976, p. 207.
Marable 1984, p. 122.
Cited in Gilbert 1973, pp. 105-6.
Cited in Harris 1972, p. 103.
140
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
The stu d e n t Freedom Rides of the early sixties similarly were, in part, inspired by
the Black A m erican m odel. They w ere, according to Charles Perkins, a response to the
press coverage of the A m erican civil rights m ovem ent. M any students w ere cautious in
their approach to the tour, how ever, as nobody w ished 'to be seen aping A m erican stu­
dents'. N evertheless, in a letter describing the proposed tour, Perkins chose to enclose a
p am phlet w ritten by M artin L uther King w hich expressed his m ethod of 'non-violent
direct action'.37 Unlike the A m erican Freedom Rides however, those in A ustralia were
dom inated by w hite protesters.38 Chicka Dixon com m ented that:
Looking back on the m ovem ent, from the time we w ent on the 1966 Freedom
R ides...things have changed trem endously. In those days you could only get two
blacks involved— m e and C harlie Perkins—w ith a lot of w hite students on a bus.
Today w hen you ask blacks to m ove on a certain issue, you can get a heap of
them .39
A decade later, in 1972, the A boriginal m ovem ent dem onstrated its desire for independ­
ence w ith the A boriginal 'Tent E m bassy' w hich w as erected on the lawns of Parliam ent
H ouse in C anberra. The g ro u p of 'nationalists' appointed a H igh Commissioner,
Michael A nderson, and flew an A boriginal flag of green, red and black. The green sym ­
bolised the land, the red, b loodshed, and the black stood for the Aboriginal people.40
The use of sym bols such as the flag, the protesters suggested the possibility of creating
an A boriginal nation, w ith all the official trappings of other m odern nation states. This
differed conceptually from the 1938 vision of A borigines as citizens of Australia.
The Em bassy's central d em an d w as for land rights. Their protest took its inspira­
tion from indigenous peoples th ro u g h o u t the w orld w ho had fought for land rights.
Using the m edium of television, their cause w as able to gain su p p o rt from A borigines
all over A ustralia. The dem o n stratio n had a broad appeal and w as supported by con­
servatives such as Sir D ouglas Nicholls, A ustralia's first Aboriginal knight, w ho visited
the 'Em bassy' to show his ap proval of their w ork.41 This unity suggests an em erging
pan-A boriginal feeling in the 1970s. As Chicka Dixon declared: 'A s long as I breathe I'm
black...of course w e d o w n south haven't got our culture, w e haven't got our language,
b u t w e have the feeling that w e belong...w e’re black A ustralians'.42 At the time, some
suggested that the 'E m bassy' w as sim ply evidence of C om m unist interference, but G il­
bert confirm ed that, '[f]rom its inception to its dem ise, the Aboriginal Embassy w as a
totally A boriginal th in g '.43
W hile som e A boriginal intellectuals m ight have accepted w estern m odels of
nationalism , other saw this as a betrayal of the spirit of A boriginal culture. Pat O'Shane,
in discussing the proposed treaty betw een the A borigines and the A ustralian govern­
m ent, said that:
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
Read 1990, p. 100.
Franklin 1976, pp. 102-3.
Cited in Gilbert 1973, p. 32.
Franklin 1976, p. 210.
ibid.
Cited in Broome 1994, p. 184.
Gilbert 1973, p. 28.
PROBLEMATISING ABORIGINAL NATIONALISM
141
...th e prop o n en ts of the issu e...lo u d ly and persistently proclaim the Aboriginal
nation. To be honest, I do n 't know w h at constitutes a nation, b ut m y u n d erstan d ­
ing is that a nation is defined by territory and som e form of central governm ent. 44
This concept, she argued 'is entirely alien to A borigines '. 45 H er criticism has been taken
up by others w ho have sought to reconceptualise the Aboriginal nation in a w ay w hich
m ight allow for the diversity and plurality of the A boriginal peoples.
A nother criticism of the nationalist m odel w as that is did not take sufficient
account of the contrast betw een the A boriginal practice of 'finding the com m on m ind of
the group as against the self-assertion of individualistic European leadership '. 46 This
issue w as considered by G ilbert w ho wrote:
A borigines have not taken kindly to those in their m idst w ho have assum ed to be
'leaders'. A strong reason is a uniquely A boriginal individualism w hich does not
accept the right of anyone to speak for them w ithout long and exhausting prior
consultation 47
These argum ents, how ever, assum e that A boriginal nationalism m ust define itself in
term s of its 'trad itio n al' culture in order to be considered legitim ate. A m odern phe­
nom enon of A boriginal nationalism , how ever, did not need to be 'trad itio n al' in order
to inspire a sense of love and loyalty from its followers.
A nderson argues that in term s of creating a new national culture, one m ust take
into account the influence of colonial structures. His discussion of the colonial m ap,
census and m useum can be applied to the case of A ustralia. A boriginal nationalists did
take the colonial m ap of A ustralia as defining the b o undaries of their nation. This was
in contrast to the m any A borigines w ho identity them selves according to their ow n 'tra ­
ditional' land. Vincent Lingiari, for exam ple, said: 'M y people are G urindji, w ho live in
Wave Hill area. That me c o u n tr ' ’.48 This can be contrasted w ith the w ords of Coral
Edw ards, co-ordinator of Link-Up, w ho said:
A boriginality m eans to me that you com e from the land. It's your land, A ustralia,
the trees, the grass, the seas, the deserts, the rainforests, are all linked w ith your­
self. It's som ething nobody can take aw ay from y o u .49
This definition of the land has expanded the A boriginal territory to encom pass the
w hole of A ustralia. Instead of relating to one specific area, the nationalist identifies w ith
everything from deserts to rainforests. This im age of the A boriginal nation comes from
the representations of A ustralia produced b y the television and the tourist industry.
Ironically, these im ages have been produced as p a rt of an effort to encourage A ustralian
nationalism in general, and as such have becom e the 'im aginings' of m ulti-cultural
Australia.
British attem pts to create a census of A borigines, 'saw A borigines w herever they
w ere as being all the sam e, and the v arious clans, groups, tribes, and com m unities expe­
rienced colonisation in very sim ilar w ay s '. 50 Early tw entieth-century categorisations
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
O'Shane 1991, p. 154.
ibid.
Harris 1972, p. 109.
Gilbert 1973, p. 139.
Cited in Hardy 1968, p. 71.
Bowden & Bunbury 1990, p. 17.
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
142
tended to define A borigines purely in term s of race. They w ere either 'half-castes' or
'full-bloods', term s w hich carried connotations of 'sem i-civilised' or 'prim itive'. It was
not until the 1960s th at the C om m onw ealth governm ent decided against m aking 'd is­
tinctions am ong people of Aboriginal descent, opting instead for self-identification
a n d /o r recognition by a com m unity'.51 The choice rem ained, how ever, betw een
Aboriginal and non-A boriginal, im plying an acceptance by the state of a national
Aboriginal identity. D espite this, the choice for m any A borigines w as to designate 'their
people' as those belonging to their clan or local community.
A nderson's arg u m en t that the colonial m useum attem pted to capture the 'essence'
of the 'trad itio n al' culture is sim ilarly true of A ustralia. A ustralian w riters have por­
trayed the A borigine as p art of A ustralia, the 'tim eless land'. D esert Aborigines have
become a national em blem , 'represented as black, male, bearded and scantily dressed,
holding a spear and w ith his eyes fixed on som e distant object-all against a background
of scenic sp le n d o u r'.52 E uropean representations of A boriginal culture have tended to
concentrate on the im age of the noble savage. A boriginal artifacts such as the boom er­
ang have becom e item s for sale by the tourist industry, along w ith perform ances of corroborrees and 'b u sh tu ck er' restaurants. This issue has recently becom e an im portant
focus for A boriginal activists w ho have reclaim ed the right to define their ow n identity,
to w rite their ow n history and to resum e custody of their culture.53
A nother im p o rtan t aspect of nationalism is the role of language. According to
A nderson, the language of the colonial adm inistration allow ed heterogeneous peoples
to develop a com m on language. The use of English as the lingua franca by A borigines
has provided the m eans for com m unication across A ustralia. In som e cases urban
A borigines w ho use English as their first language have ad ap ted the language to suit
their ow n needs. In A delaide, for exam ple, 'th e Lingo', w hich is m ade up of a lim ited
num ber of A boriginal w o rd s and phrases interw oven w ith English, serves as a sym bol
of Aboriginal identity.54 O n the other hand, those w ho are attem pting to regain their
com m unity ties, have been su p p o rted by institutions such as the C entral A ustralian
A boriginal M edia A ssociation (CAAMA) w hich broadcasts in A boriginal languages to
the people of C entral A ustralia. One A borigine com m ented: 'there is no doubt that
hearing your ow n language on radio and television contributes to a sense of identity
and p r i d e '55 A nother explained: 'You have to know your language because y o u ’ll never
be able to learn y o u r D ream ing and if you d o n 't know your D ream ing you can't identify
w here you belong'.56 W hile this sense of identity em phasizes the tribal over the
national, the prom otion of languages such as Pitjatjanjara and W arlpiri need not w ork
against a sense of pan-A boriginality.57 A post-m odern und erstan d in g of nationalism
w ould suggest that there is no need to elim inate cultural diversity in order to achieve a
sense of nationalism . This form of pan-A boriginal nationalism is expressed by
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
57.
O’Shane 1991, p. 148.
Beckett 1988a, p. 207.
ibid., pp. 205-6.
Pam Johnston in Langford Ginibi 1994, p. 49.
Beckett 1988b, p. 83.
Bowden & Bunbury 1990, p. 29.
ibid., pp. 32-3.
ibid., p. 35.
PROBLEMATISING ABORIGINAL NATIONALISM
143
M udrooroo w ho wrote: Us Mob are m any m obs, b u t w e all come from that great tree
w hich is A u stralia'.58
The im portance of land is a them e w hich recurs in all discussions of nationalism .
A 'love of country' can be operate sim ultaneously at both a continent-w ide phenom e­
non and in a m ore local sense. Sm ith writes: 'nations need hom elands...historic territo­
ries in w hich 'o u r ancestors' lived and w hich w e carry in our h earts'.59 In the case of
pan-A boriginal nationalism this is particularly apt. W hile individual com m unities have
laid claim to their traditional lands, the issue of Land Rights has been a unifying force
precisely because land is a sym bol w hich carries m eaning for all indigenous A ustral­
ians. Patriotism is often expressed in term s of being 'o f the Ian". This sentim ent w as
conveyed by Banjo W oorunm urra w ho declared: 'We d on't w ant money, w e w an t our
land. O u r spirits are in our land. O ur old people are still in the land, our m otherland,
our dusty old la n d '.60
A ccording to Sm ith, another factor w hich engenders a sense of national pride is
the w riting of nationalist histories and the creation of national heroes. Aborigines today
are forging their ow n history to create a new nationalist identity. For example, A borig­
inal writer, M ary Coe published a rew riting of A ustralian history in 1986 w hich pre­
sented the A boriginal people as agents w ho resisted colonial oppression. T h e final
im ages in the text are of a land rights dem onstration and the A boriginal flag em blazon­
ing the back cover— "we have survived as a nation"1.61 Sm ith argues that w riting about
a golden age assures each generation of its distinctive heritage against the assim ilative
pressures and tem ptations of m odernity, w hich m ight otherw ise sw am p them .’62
Rejecting the m odernist notion of artificially contrived nationalism , he argues that: 'Tra­
ditions, m yths, history and sym bols m ust all grow out of the existing, living m em ories
and beliefs of the people w ho are to com pose the n atio n '.63 The developm ent of A borig­
inal oral history in a w ritten form at has helped to transm it to a w ider audience histories
com posed of m yths and m em ories.64 This is particularly true of the 1990s, b ut even in
the 1960s there w as a m ove to regain a know ledge of 'tribal custom and belief' in the
face of cultural assim ilation.65
It is difficult to discuss form s of nationalism w ithout placing them in the context
of the state. The nation-state of A ustralia rem ains dom inated by non-indigenous, colo­
nial structures. A ttem pts to establish som e degree of economic or political self-determ i­
nation have been largely unsatisfactory. The consequences of thinking nationally rather
than locally has been m ost severely criticized in discussions of the role of ATSIC. Papers
published by the Council for A boriginal Reconciliation in 1994 em phasised the need for
a decentralisation of fun d in g w ith com m unity-based organisations effectively bypass­
ing ATSIC. This leaves open the question of w h at form a centralised A boriginal state
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
Mudrooroo 1995, p. vi.
Smith 1986, p. 213.
Broome 1994, p. 196.
Ariss 1988, p. 137.
Smith 1986, p. 213.
Smith 1991, pp. 358-9.
Barwick 1988, p. 32.
Gilbert 1973, p. 131.
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
144
m ight take. M ichael M ansell argued that the 'best w ay to provide the pow er for A borig­
inal self-governm ent is to build that right into the A ustralian C o n stitu tio n ...'66 These
sentim ents have been echoed in the 1998 C onvention w hich considered the new consti­
tution for an A ustralian Republic.67 M ansell describes a fram ew ork for 'self-govern­
m ent' in which:
There m ay be any n um ber of A boriginal com m unities in A ustralia operating a
form of self-m anagem ent process in their own territories u n d er the broad political
um brella of the A ustralian nation 68
N evertheless, he p u ts this forw ard as a com prom ise and voices the hope that one day
these com m unities m ight come u n d er the um brella of an A boriginal nation.
W riting in 1995, M udrooroo argues for a shift of focus for political po w er from the
national to the com m unity level, stating: '...if Us Mobs w ant to establish an Indigenality from the grass roots up, w e m ust use the extended family as its political fo u n d a­
tion'.69 Sm ith gives a sim ilar argum ent for nationalism in his critique of A nderson. He
focuses on 'n o t only patterns of fam ily ...b u t also the values, sym bols, m yths and m em ­
ories that are transm itted through these channels'.70 A boriginal values are inextricably
linked to the family and the m em ories th at are passed on from one generation to the
next. M uch of the revival of A boriginal culture relies on a this process. H etti Perkins,
m other of Charles Perkins, for exam ple, saw the beginning of a 'm assive A boriginal
revival of self-confidence and w illingly filled the role of traditional granny and
a u n ty '.71 Through the fam ily A borigines can gain a sense of the unique ethos of their
culture w hich centres on 'tolerance, com passion, hum our, and the em otional w arm th of
personal relationships'.72 Taking account of the im portance of family, H. C. Coom bs has
argued that a new m odel of self-governm ent for Aborigines should not be determ ined
in advance, 'b u t should em erge slow ly from local m eetings all over the c o u n try '.73 It is
w orth noting the difference betw een this m ethod of com m unication and the ’m o d e rn ’
m eans of com m unication cited by A nderson as necessary to nationalism .
In Ruby Langford G inibi’s book ab o u t her Bundjalung people, the Koori people
are divided into three types: 'trad itio n al tribal people, the m ission bred o n es...an d the
urban Koori'. Langford Ginibi em phasises however, that they are 'all one m o b '.74 She
writes: 'In our Koori way, w e all w an t to go back to w here w e cam e from originally, it is
like a m agnet that keeps d raw in g us to the places w here w e w ere born to find o u r
extended fam ilies'.75 The im portance of place and family indicates an 'im agined com ­
m u n ity ' based on clan connections. N evertheless, her book also acknow ledges the p res­
ence of other A boriginal nations and gives a sense of com m on cause, w hich allow s us to
conceive of a federation of A boriginal nations. Langford G inibi's ad o p ted d au g h ter
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1994a, p. 29.
See also Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1994b, p. 7.
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1994a, p. 29.
Mudrooroo 1995, p. 31.
Smith 1990, p. 18.
Read 1990, p. 6.
Barwick 1988, p. 27.
Coombs cited in Reynolds 1996, p. 147.
Pam Johnston cited in Langford Ginibi 1994, p. xi.
Langford Ginibi 1994, p. 1.
PROBLEMATISING ABORIGINAL NATIONALISM
145
Pam Johnston is one of the G am ilerori people. She describes the Bundjalung as b u t one
of A boriginal A u stralia’s m any nations. N evertheless, her involvem ent in the book adds
to the sense of A boriginal 'inter-national' cooperation.76
A nother aspect of nationalism highlighted by Smith is the need for national
heroes.77 A boriginal heroes w ho have appeared on television and so into the hom es of
Aborigines, include w riters such as Kath Walker, the dancers of Aboriginal Islander
Dance Theatre, the p ainter N am atjira, and the actor Ernie Dingo. Sporting heroes have
sim ilarly p lay ed an im portant role in prom oting A boriginal national pride. There are
num erous exam ples of footballers, boxers and O lym pic athletes. The m ost recent of
these, C athy Freem an, dem onstrated her p ow er as an A boriginal national hero w hen
she ran the victory lap at the 1994 C om m onw ealth gam es holding not only the A ustral­
ian flag, b u t the A boriginal flag, the sym bol of the A boriginal nation. The flag w hich
com bines red for the land, black for the people and yellow for the sun, the sym bol of
life, sent a m essage to all A ustralians and A borigines in w hat w as perhaps the m ost p er­
suasive experience of sim ultaneity to date. A t th at m om ent, the Aboriginal 'im agined
com m unity' w as a reality, conveyed instantaneously using the technology of satellite
into the m inds of each A boriginal.78
M an d aw u y Y unupingu, lead singer and song-w riter of the band Yothu Yindi,
unlike early nationalists w ho w ere dislocated from their traditional lands and culture,
com bines a sense of nationalism w ith a deep attachm ent to his ow n land and clan ties.
He takes his sense of A boriginality from the traditions of his people, the Yolngu, in A rn­
hem Land. T hough Yothu Yindi serves as a sym bol for A borigines across A ustralia,
M andaw uy describes the band as a 'contem porary voice for us Yolngu'. The nam e itself
refers to the kinship system of the Yirritja and D huw a people, w ho together m ake up
the Yolngu.79 M an d aw u y w as educated as a Yolgnu b u t w as also taught English in a
mission school. Today, he is principal of the local school w hich teaches both 'authentic
Yolngu schooling' and the stan d ard A ustralian curriculum .80 For M andaw uy, his
im m ediate com m unity is the Yolgnu, how ever he also has a national vision w hich is
w ider than pan-A boriginality. He believes that:
Together in the tw enty-first century w e can construct a unique w ay of life here,
inspired by the traditions of A boriginal A ustralia and of Europe and Asia. Land
rights for A boriginal A ustralians are in the best interests of all Australians. Land
rights m u st respect the contributions m ade by those people w ho have im m igrated
here over the p ast two h u n d red years, as well as recognising the place of those
w ho have alw ays belonged to this land. 81
N ationalism for M andaw uy is not about loyalty to one group, one culture, b u t is m ani­
fested in three distinct b u t connected layers: loyalty to clan, to pan-Aboriginality, and
finally, to a truly m ulticultural A ustralia.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
Pam Johnston cited in Langford Ginibi 1994, p. xi
Smith 1986, p. 213.
Brennan 1995, p. 184.
Yunupingu 1994, p. 1.
ibid., pp. 4-5.
ibid., p. 11.
146
ABORIGINAL HISTORY 1997 VOL 21
The relationship between the 'Aboriginal nation' in whatever form it might take,
and the Australian state is one which has yet to be reconciled. The literature produced
by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation in 1994 focuses on the sharing of Aborig­
inal culture with non-indigenous Australians. By promoting the diversity of indigenous
cultures and the richness is their heritage they envisage a 'genuine celebration' of Aus­
tralia's cultural diversity.82 This theme was taken up at the 1998 Convention to discuss
the formation of an Australian Republic. The Council imagined that this historical event
might provide the forum for reconceptualising the Australian nation-state in such as
way give a central place to indigenous Australians.83
This paper has shown that Aboriginal nationalism and the Aboriginal nation have
been conceptualised in many forms by Aboriginal groups. The theories of Anderson
and Smith provide us with a means of analysing the phenomenon of 'modern' panAboriginal nationalism as it appeared in the 1960s and 70s. In addition, by considering
the tension between their theoretical models and the range of Aboriginal attitudes, this
paper uncovers a counter-movement which regards the modern nation as inappropri­
ate as an expression of Aboriginal 'love of country'. In keeping with a 'post-modern'
version of the nation, new models of Aboriginal nationalism emphasise loyalty to clan,
to family and this relects the many Aboriginal nations. Nationalism as a pan-Aboriginal
phenomenon has not been replaced by this model so much as enriched by it. The notion
of a federation of Aboriginal nations; each with its own sense of community, ensures a
stronger base on which to found a national 'imagined community'.
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Ariss, Robert 1988, 'Writing Black: the construction of an Aboriginal discourse' in Past
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Attwood, Bain 1989, The Making of the Aborigines, Sydney.
Barwick, Diane 1988, 'Aborigines of Victoria' in Being Black: Aboriginal Cultures in 'Set­
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Beckett, Jeremy 1988a,'The past in the present; the present in the past: constructing a
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