Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

#UluruStatement ends with this line: "We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future." Our politicians who gave bipartisan support may have rescinded this promise - but the rest of the nation does not have to wait to implement it. 6/

Bruce Pascoe discussed how Australia's pre-history is purposefully hidden from the nation. In 1843, for example, James Kirby, documents Aboriginal systems of aquaculture; in 1839, Major Thomas Mitchell reports on Aboriginal agriculture & bread making; & George Grey - farming. 7/

Bruce Pascoe's book "Dark Emu" uses historical records, many of which were omitted from official publications, to dispel the myth of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people are "simple" hunter gatherers. Evidence shows they had sophisticated tools & methods for agriculture 8/

First Things First panel discussed why was it important to censor or reinterpret ample evidence of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander knowledges & practice. It's Guns, Germs & Steel argument: #Indigenous people are cast as "less civilised" which justifies theft of their land. 9/

"Terra Nullius" (Latin for "nobody's land") is the mechanism by which the British claimed Australia. For better and worse, agriculture is symbolic of civilisation. If the colonists could erase evidence of agriculture, they can justify violence to steal the land for their use. 10/

Bruce Pascoe also notes that Christianity was central to colonial violence, since Christian ethics of "saving" (i.e. "taming") Indigenous people provided an additional moral impetus to colonise the resources of traditional custodians. Ps Buy his book! http://www.abc.net.au/local/audio/2014/03/17/3965103.htm … 11/

Stan Grant talked about how the history of racial intermarriage (that is, not forced marriage to serve assimilation), needs to better understood. He has great-grandparents born or taken to missions. His White grandmother and Aboriginal grandfather defied the law by marrying. 12/