History

This article is part of the Black Knowing series, a partnership with QUT’s Carumba Institute and Indigenousx.

This article is part of the Black Knowing series, a partnership with QUT’s Carumba Institute and Indigenousx.

Children as young as 10 can be jailed, and this is a symptom of a systemic failure that criminalises Aboriginal children and makes them more vulnerable to an unfair justice system. But in this recent discourse on teenagers’ interactions with social media, children are seen as impressionable, in need of protection, and too young to understand the potential harm of their actions. Shawna Pope writes, why is there such a stark difference in how Australia views kids, based on their race?

This article is part of the Black Knowing series, a partnership with QUT’s Carumba Institute and IndigenousX. Author’s note: This article was inspired by Uncle Graham Brady

Uncle Jim Everett - puralia meenamatta Elder and philosopher has been defending native forests in Tasmania from logging. In the face of colonial law, Uncle Jim writes, First Nations people need to honour our commitment to Country, and fight for the future of our lands, before colony-imposed climate change becomes a death sentence for our world.

Earlier this year, Wiradjuri Blak Queer artist Clinton Hayden was confronted with cultural and professional harm at the hands of an arts organisation he was commissioned to exhibit with. His experience, Clinton writes, is not an isolated incident, and shows a need for not just acknowledgement of cultural significance, but guaranteed survivance for First Nations artists and cultural practitioners in so-called Australia.

Danika writes of her experiences navigating academia and life, and the power of mob and the knowledges we hold. This article is part of the Black Knowing series, a partnership with QUT’s Carumba Institute and Indigenousx.

Readers please be advised this article mentions people who have passed away. Photos in this article, and this story was shared with permission from Fabian…

Before white supremacy came to Australia, bringing with it invasion, colonisation, subjugation and any number of introduced diseases, Indigenous peoples had been living here for…

Today (June 7th) marks the final day of the Yoorrook Justice Commission hearings investigating injustices in housing, health, education and economic life for First Nations peoples in Victoria. These hearings are providing space for First Nations peoples’ to give evidence in a larger act of Truth-telling, to acknowledge and hold account the institutions that contribute to genocidal and discriminatory practices. But, Sissy Austin writes, we can not be selective of which genocides we choose to be outraged over.

The Yoorrook Justice Commission has been travelling across Victoria as part of its work to put the true history of the state since colonisation on the public record. The Commission has heard from thousands of First Peoples during the truth telling process – the first of its kind in Australia. Commissioner Maggie Walter shares one of the testimonies being presented today, from a First Nations man named Jarvis. Commissioner Walter has shared this with his permission.

The danger of Aly’s assertions is that it oversimplifies a very complex notion in political and legal philosophy and, by reducing the act of ceding sovereignty to a singular oath, it reveals a lack of critical insight to what sovereignty can mean and how it can operate for First Nations peoples.

First Nations LGBTQI+ people and communities have a long history of contributing to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) festival, particularly as parade participants.

In Australia, the earliest form of child protection began within weeks of the first white settlements being established (Gandevia 178). The earliest institution established to remove children from families was set up less than a decade after colonisation, The Norfolk Island Orphan School opened in 1795 and was the precursor to institutional child removal within Australia.

In many ways, Nan is like a real-life superhero torn from the pages of a Marvel or D.C comic. She was taking care of me and my health issues, she was raising my siblings, making sure we were always fed (her homemade damper a delight), keeping that red roof over our heads, driving us to school to receive an education. That same love has been shared with her grandchildren, children, and many nephews and nieces throughout a near full century of living.

The celebration and assertion of our identities as queer mob has always unsettled and challenged colonial sentiments; that complex sexualities are incompatible with Aboriginality. Resilience and reclamation runs in the blood of our mob, queer Blakfullas have always been at the frontier of resistance.

"It goes against their ways of white science," Kirsten Banks hit back against the continued disregard of Indigenous Sciences.

The most vulnerable in society – the elderly, unwell and Indigenous – will be hit hardest. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples the impact of Covid-19 will be compounded by years of neglect and a failure to address the social determinants of health.