A Daughter of the Oppressors

This paper examines the disjuncture between the myth of white, colonial Australia, and the reality of how we treated the Aboriginal people who had been here for millennia. It argues that the only way white Australia can justify its mythologising of its foundation is by ignoring the long history of British coloniality prior to the invasion of Australia. It shows that even historians who claim to be dealing with the reality of Australia's colonisation, do so through a lens that discounts the brutality and intentionality of British colonisation generally, and takes no account of the practice/policy the British had of invasion, conquest and dispossession of other people's land prior to coming to Australia.