!http://images-1.redbubble.net/img/art/framecolor:walnut/framestyle:flat30/mattecolor:off%20white/product:framed-print/size:small/view:pr…
Thank you so much to the person that just purchased a framed print of Binda You have just absolutely made my day!
not what you might think!!! lol A Home Page Feature! / !http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/size:ularge/view:main/2660888-2-homepage…
not what you might think!!! lol A Home Page Feature! / for my image What Are You Looking At! I just want to say a big thank you for the feature, in particular to Darren Stones and the Australian Travel Photography and Writing Group as home page featured this Group and it was the Group’s feature of my work that got me there…. So whatever you are looking at, I’m smiling….
/ This image is up for a huge award tomorrow… good luck Bianca my love… you are a star…. journals Australia says Sorry Let’s Begin With Sorry SORRY Say Sorry on Feb 13th!!! Love is never having to say Sorry
I lecture at the Qld college of art and my students are sick of me talking about Red Bubble. I have even given them for assessment the t…
I lecture at the Qld college of art and my students are sick of me talking about Red Bubble. I have even given them for assessment the task of uploading some images on RB. They count the ammount of times I mention RB in a lecture. Am I an addict! I know I have got alot of other people hook ed I may also be a dealer!
I was truly moved this morning. Our PM said sorry. I watched the speech, tears rolling down my face-these words have been SO so so…
I was truly moved this morning. Our PM said sorry. I watched the speech, tears rolling down my face-these words have been SO so so longed for and needed to heal our country. I am finally proud to be Australian. We have, I have helped elect a PM who reflects values that are truly just, kind, humanitarian. this is one of Australia’s finest moments in history, despite the tragic reasons for the occasion-we have finally stood up. It is such a relief. Now people can debate as much as they like: I am relieved. I feel for the Aboriginal community and hope there is much celebration today.
Yaaaay sold 2 tee’s last week and they are historic. / !http://images-0.redbubble.com/img/clothing/bodycolor:black/product:tshirt/size:lar…
Yaaaay sold 2 tee’s last week and they are historic. /
Today a momentous event happened in the history of Australia. Our newly elected PM apologized for past atrocities carried out on the orig…
Today a momentous event happened in the history of Australia. Our newly elected PM apologized for past atrocities carried out on the original inhabitants of this land. / Specifically he apologized for past government policy which actively pursued the mass removal of half caste aboriginal children to Christian missions for their supposed civilizing and benefit. I’ve read a lot of history on the meeting of the European and Aboriginal races in Australia but I think the thing that touched me the most was a documentary on the making of the movie ‘Rabbit Proof Fence’. In it they showed a behind the scenes view of the filming of the scene where the ‘govo man’ was removing three aboriginal children from their mothers. Understandably the mothers and children were absolutely hysterical but when the director yelled cut they didn’t stop. They just kept on wailing hysterically as I joined them realizing this wasn’t an exercise in acting but a raw festering wound in this noble race which has not diminished with the passing of time. As a father of four I can’t think of an act much worse than forcibly removing a child from their mothers and families. I hope and pray that through today’s acknowledgment of wrong that although the past can’t be undone that somehow through an acknowledgement of this a better future can be reached for. Sorry Travis As an aside I found it incredibly fitting for Peter Garret to be on the front bench behind Kevin after Midnight Oil’s magnificent ‘Sorry’ stunt at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. I find it ironic however that the media has been silent on this pertinent link.
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/ This is not a gloat. It’s is a dance of joy. / I’m humbled to be Australian today. / Congratulations to our indigenous brothers and sisters. / And to all those who have the courage to say sorry and the grace to forgive. / Compassion, empathy and forgiveness. / The three best things ever. / What a bloody ripper of a day.
I am so sickened that people just do not want to understand the fact that it is taboo to use Australian Aboriginal imagery in your artw…
I am so sickened that people just do not want to understand the fact that it is taboo to use Australian Aboriginal imagery in your artwork unless you have been given permission by the people (Aboriginal) who own that imagery. I am sick of being abused when I try and let people know that they have done the wrong thing. Come on people stealing is stealing. Do act stupid or dumb or take offence when you get caught. all I am asking that you do not rob us (Aboriginal people) of a chance of an income – come on! we have had enough stolen from us already – do you really need to keep stealling from us. I do understand that you want to appropriate our work cos’ it’s beautiful, unique & saleable; but please admire it from a far – please let us create the work, as we know what we are doing (and we are not breaching protocol). I am getting tired of fighting and trust me I am really a peaceful person – but it is not fair on our artists who rely on there art to feed there families – cos’ our welfare system sucks – and least we are trying to do something for our selves, but it is so hard to sell the genuine article cos’of all those ripp off merchants who undercut us. Any way enough said for now cos’ I am just getting angry and it’s not good for my health.
In his book ReEnchantment: The New Australian Spirituality?...
In his book ReEnchantment: The New Australian Spirituality (2000), David Tacey states: “We must have symbolism of a cosmic or transpersonal kind, and we must add public depth and dimension to our lives. We must try for a new dreaming, a new cosmology, a new pact with the invisible forces that move through and beyond us. Australian society needs something more than common sense and rational economic goals to make it work.” (p.57) Though I do not disagree with this, I would like to enhance and expand on this by saying: “We must rediscover the symbolism of a cosmic or transpersonal kind that is Australia. Then those of us who are in positions of influence and who have great compassion for life and all that it encapsulates can only but be compelled to reintroduce this discovery, this meaningfulness, into the public depth, arena, and dimension of our lives. We must strive toward defining a renewed Dreaming, a renewed cosmology, and a renewed pact with the invisible forces — the morphic resonance of this land, its field of experience, and that of its ‘Ancestral Beings’ and heritage — the life-forces that move through and beyond us. Australians and Australia now need something more than just too common sense and rational economic goals to make it work.” I believe it should not be about creating something new in isolation and separate from the genealogical history of what has been “sown” before. I believe that it is our shared challenge and perhaps even the ‘invisible calling’ of an apparent misplaced memory that engages us to go back and take a closer look at what we all have inherited from the very heart of this nation — the land — It-Self. A call to uncover and rediscover the cornerstones and the foundations wherever and whenever possible, to reintroduce our Selves to the essential core and cosmology on which we all now choose to build. If the “foundational stones” on which modern Australia is built, are continually and consistently ignored or derided, then surely we cannot but be willing to accept short-lived outcomes of negligible worth. Such outcomes are now seen by many as creations derived from limited and oft times bigoted views and understandings. Therefore is it little wonder that the so-called “great Australian dream” now more often than not has become no more than a house of cards built on shifting sands by adolescent thinking, political posturing and the self-interests of the few? For me, and hopefully more to come, it is what underpins the very nature of our contemporary situation that must be considered and understood. Our very teachings, both pre and post-colonialist should be reviewed, reassessed and reintroduced, dare one say reconciled, into the context of now, so that that their worth and value (meaning) can be carried forward into the renewed dreaming of our collective lives at all levels. Such meaning, essence and substance from our “seeding” can thus be actualised into the very fibre of the fabric we are weaving for the futures of our children’s inheritance. This is what I understand as seed dreaming — and what Tacey and others of his ilk are referring to as the “new Dreaming” — what I call the Tjukurritja Tjukurrpa (Sacred Story), the one and only, absolute original, evolving Dreamtime History. Well-come to Country — Gondwanaland — this sacred sight.
Good morning to all of you and what a morning it is! I see that the wonderful Aboriginal Art Group...
Good morning to all of you and what a morning it is! I see that the wonderful Aboriginal Art Group is featuring two of my pieces—’We Are Family’ and ‘Truth’! I am truly honored and grateful to be chosen for this….. Thank you SO much to the group hosts!!! Blessings, / Jan
*_I’m so honoured that Aboriginal Art featured “Decayed and Senseless – by Ushna Sardar & Keit…
I’m so honoured that Aboriginal Art featured Decayed and Senseless – by Ushna Sardar & Keith Williams & barter system – Shree’s !!! EXTREME ~ EMOTIONS!!! thank you so much dear group hosts / pinkstinks / Crowmanic / Love&Peace, / Ushna.
I love my job. Totally love it. I had a shoulder decompression on December 13 2007. I wasn’t anticipating getting back to work until…
I love my job. Totally love it. I had a shoulder decompression on December 13 2007. I wasn’t anticipating getting back to work until at least the middle/end of February. I spent almost 3 weeks in Adelaide recuperating at my Mum’s house .. eat drink rest eat drink rest etc … Get back home and the boss rings … can you use your arm yet????? Sure boss … what do you need? So I”m back into it. Today a big huge old gum tree fell apart. It’s one of those rather significant trees that the Aborigines used in their corrabories (spell that for me). Get a photo of that he says. So off I trot, all eager and stuff. I spoke to the gentlemen who lives accross the road and he warned me that there was a very large swarm of very very angry bees that lived in that tree and their hive is now all over the place … be careful he said. Sure I’ll be careful. I walk around the tree keeping at least 10 feet away … click click … no bees … Keep walking around more clicking … get closer … still no bees … hum bug … bees schmeeeez I walk around to where the best angle is and get in 3 feet away … bzzz bzzzzztt bzzzzzzzzzzzztttttttt bzzzzzzzzztttttttttttttzskdl;aaaaaaaaaaaasds()&@#)(#x%x%)(&)(&)()(Sx%x)DGS(&)( I really hope nobody got a photo of me running down the street with arms and legs waving all over trying to swat away annoyed bees. I made it to the car alive and one bee made it inside. I talked to it nicely and it left me alone. I love my job. I really do :) x
Aboriginality re-in-forces and represents “the Law”, not the laws of Man as such, / but “the Principle” (or Law) of life and living. ...
Aboriginality re-in-forces and represents “the Law”, not the laws of Man as such, / but “the Principle” (or Law) of life and living. We can all cite examples of the laws of government and religion — and thus of Man — and see how they have all-ways favoured the lawmakers, politicians, and religious enforcers, and thus one group against another. However, no matter how well intentioned, such laws discriminate, and in their application they usually empower the power-hungry at the further detriment and expense of the disempowered. Lawmakers, politicians and the pious as “power-brokers” make up a “triad of evil” that can be understood as all-ways saying, “these laws are for just-us” yet never ensuring nor enshrining justice. Also, such laws and teachings all-ways relate to the principles of humanism, which of their very nature cannot be inclusive of all life. Aboriginal literally translates to the “absolute original” — the first known — below and beyond all other forms, and in the context of this country (Australia) and its original peoples (“the Aborigines”), it is not just a race or class of people, it can also refer to a state of being, a state of knowing, a Way of Living-Being — an adherence to knowing and living in a manner that maintains “ones” connection to all life — not just humans or “just-us”. Aboriginal, in its essential implication, is not about separateness from some and acceptance to others. The “ab origin” means “from the beginning” and trans-relates to the absolute-original-gene within the Aborigines of these lands, and in-term effectively recognises the “absolute original genesis” that is within all — the oneness, or source of beginnings of life that “links” all — “the original-gene-in-all” (genesis). Aboriginal is the knowing of the origins and the Law of Life that is implicit in all of life, not “just-us”. Aboriginal really cannot be interpreted logically, nor rationalised or intellectualised, no matter our need or reason to do so; It is an experience and a “knowing”, as It is original, and therefore beyond the limitations and confines of words themselves. In my case, even though I had a “Christian” father; a Muslim Grandfather (maternal); an Anglo-Germanic Australian Grandfather (paternal); an Aboriginal-Irish Grandmother, I remain uncomfortable and “disturbed” whenever I am being imposed upon to describe who am I. I could say I am all of these and yet none of these. I could also say without confusion that I am one-of-all; an absolute original (ab-original) that is all. In effect, in our contemporary language, “origin” means just that — the point of beginning — to which in a 3 dimensional world/reality such as ours, the coordinates or point of origin is mathematically written as 0,0,0. At that point and beyond no-thing can make sense, and being “ab-origine” cannot “make sense” either. May I suggest that none of us stop at any particular religion; continue the search for your origene, your “aboriginality” reality — go through and beyond any religion that you may embrace to the source, to the Seed, beyond the separateness, the split, the alien-nation, and the limitations of humanism — go to the Law, the Principle, not the war of Saddam-Islam or Adam-Christian or Abraham-Judean or any “other” that binds and limits Aboriginality in this country (Australia) or within one’s Self. Go “deeper” into, not further a-way from The Law, the “Dreaming”, the Tjukurritja Tjukurrpa — The “Dreamtime Story”. Salaam in One / DjA “Crowmanic” ( Feb 2003)
I’m feeling very soulful and spiritual this evening and having seen and heard Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performance on The Jewels Holla…
I’m feeling very soulful and spiritual this evening and having seen and heard Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu performance on The Jewels Holland Show on BB1 a month ago I was so taken back by the spirit of this man and his talent to play guitar being blind. / He has performed in many high places and has performed before HRH Queen Elizabeth and many of you who live in Australia may already know him and heard his music. For Father’s Day my Daughter bought me his CD and I am so thrilled with the songs and the feelings that his music gives! So This is for you Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu / Thank You so much for sharing your world with us and may you have many years of playing to give to your public you are truly a star! May your God Bless you! David
I am having my first solo exhibition in Melbourne which is opening this Saturday evening 26th May 5 – 7 pm / at the Australian Dreaming A…
I am having my first solo exhibition in Melbourne which is opening this Saturday evening 26th May 5 – 7 pm / at the Australian Dreaming Art Gallery / Address: / 116 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria / Australia. Please join us for a drink! rsvp by phone: 9416 2961 or emil to: mikesill@australiandreamingart.com.au
The Australian Government is going to apologise to the so called Stolen Generation tomorrow, and I’m at a bit of a loss why. Sure, the…
The Australian Government is going to apologise to the so called Stolen Generation tomorrow, and I’m at a bit of a loss why. Sure, the white man came here and set foot on the land, but they weren’t stopped doing so by the Aborigine people. The Maoris gave the white man some giddy up though when they tried to land in New Zealand. Throughout history, and even today if you look at Iraq and Palestine, men have invaded other countries – not just so called ‘white men’ either. Aboriginal people used to fight with their own, take their women and their land. We are wiser today of course, and Aboriginal people are treated equal to whites if not better in some cases. So what do I have to be sorry about – my god, I’d have to spend the rest of my life apologising to people if we went back through history and I’d be getting an awful lot of apologises from other people. Saying sorry isn’t going to repair the harm that was done, neither is it going to make Australia strong. I think it is time that all grew up, realised that we are Australians and get on with. The below piece was sent to me via e-mail. We apologise for giving you doctors and free medical care, which allows you to survive and multiply so that you can demand apologies. We apologise for helping you to read and teaching you the English language, thus opening up to you the entire European civilisation, thought and enterprise. We feel that we must apologise for building hundreds of homes for you, which you have vandalised and destroyed. We apologise for giving you law and order which has helped prevent you from slaughtering one another and using the unfortunate for food purposes. We apologise for developing large farms and properties, which today feed you, where before, you had the benefits of living off the land and starving during droughts. We apologise for providing you with warm clothing made of fabric to replace the animal skins you used before. We apologise for building roads and railway tracks between cities and building cars so that you no longer have to walk over harsh terrain. We apologise for paying off your vehicles when you fail to pay the instalments. / . / We apologise for giving you free travel anywhere, whenever. We apologise for giving each and every member of your family $100.00 and free travel to attend an aboriginal funeral. We apologise for not charging you rent on any lands when white people have to pay. We apologise for giving you interest free loans. We apologise for developing oil wells and minerals, including gold and diamonds which you never used and had no idea of their value. We apologise for developing Ayers rock and Kakadu, and handing them over to you so that you get all the money. We apologise for allowing taxpayers money to be paid towards a daughters’ wedding ($8,000.00 each daughter). We apologise for giving you $1.7 billion per year for your 250,000 people, which is $48,000.00 per aboriginal man, woman and child. We apologise for working hard to pay taxes that finance your welfare, medical care, education, etc to the tune of $1.2 billion each year. We apologise for you having to approach the aboriginal affairs department to verify the above figures. For the trouble you will have identifying the “uncle toms” in your own community who are getting richer and leaving some of you living in squalor and poverty. We do apologise. We really do. We humbly beg your forgiveness for all the above sins. We are only too happy to take back all the above and return you to the paradise of the “outback”, whenever you are ready.
Indigenous Cultures, Copyright and the Digital Age / By Michael McMahon The development and internationalisation of the `institutionali…
Indigenous Cultures, Copyright and the Digital Age / By Michael McMahon The development and internationalisation of the `institutionalised’ intellectual property system has occurred without any specific consideration being given to the particular needs and aspirations of the indigenous peoples of the world. In Australia over the past twenty years there has been increasing interest in these needs and aspirations1 but to date little has occurred to assist indigenous Australians through the intellectual property system. The limited achievements have been the result of action by individuals to protect their rights under the existing intellectual property regime.[2] Indigenous laws dealing with intellectual property and endeavours remain unrecognised in Australia and most countries.[3] The need for action to recognise and protect indigenous knowledge has become ever more urgent as the pressures to commercialise information, knowledge and cultures builds and accelerates in what is popularly called the Digital Age. These pressures become harder to resist as technology, transport and travel shift information, articles and people around the globe with relative ease. The rules of the game are changing rapidly and we are all operating into a new context, `one in which borders no longer have their old meaning, rights and powers may not be defined by spatial boundaries, property cannot be protected in traditional ways, and much of the economic, social, and cultural action has been attracted to the upstart venues of cyberspace.’[4] Digital technology-which allows for all previous forms of communication and information, including text, graphics, sound and moving images, to be encoded into strings of 1’s and 0’s and retrievable at an address-is changing the intellectual property scenario at a rapid rate. Some writers and commentators believe that copyright will adapt and survive the latest technological developments in the way in which it has in the past.[5] Others argue colourfully and sometimes persuasively that the copyright system in particular will not survive.[6] If this latter group are right then the main `plank’ of the institutionalised intellectual property which indigenous people in Australia have used to protect their artistic and cultural expressions will become less relevant and difficult to administer.[7] The basic proposition of these writers and commentators is that the very foundations on which copyright developed-that reproduction and dissemination were difficult and expensive and so could be controlled-no longer apply in an environment where information can be created, stored and disseminated in digital form. The ever expanding application of digital technology will continue to have profound effects for all people. Keeping pace with, let alone trying to anticipate, the changes and consequences of the application of digital technology to so many aspects of our lives is difficult. Indigenous communities face particular challenges because of the problems they already have of accessing and applying the existing intellectual property system to their cultures, let alone trying to deal with one which is coming under increasing strain from changes in technology. In any situation there are generally opportunities and the digital age offers some to indigenous cultures, although accessing them may not be as easy as many of the more enthusiastic writers would have us believe. Taking advantage of the benefits of digital technology involves considerable costs which are often overlooked by the commentators such as John Perry Barlow. This is particularly true in the application of digital technology to computer networks—the process which has given birth to the Infobahn. Never before has it been possible to transmit information so quickly and in such quantities as the Infobahn allows. The possibilities sound great but the reality is that costs of computer equipment and software remain beyond the reach of many people, let alone the problem that many remote indigenous communities have no access or high cost access to telephones and electricity. For example, the community of Yirrkala is situated in Eastern Arnhem Land and is well served with utilities. The community has an enviable record of introducing technology and training people in its use, particularly in its model Literacy Production Centre attached to the Community School. However, for anyone in the community to go `on line’ during the day at present to take advantage of the Internet would cost $18 per hour in telephone charges alone to connect to the nearest service provider in Darwin. This means that if the Community School wanted to use the Internet for three hours each day it would cost them about $11,000 per year in telephone charges alone. The present funding environment means that such costs act as a barrier for remote indigenous communities which want to connect to the Infobahn so as to benefit from what it may have to offer them. While there are very progressive uses of digital technology by some indigenous organisations such as the Tanami Network8 and developments in satellite technology will improve the opportunities to `connect’ from a remote location, it is going to take considerable expenditure and investment if indigenous Australians in remote areas are to take full advantage of the Digital Age. As William J Mitchell puts it in `City of Bits’, his `windshield survey along the Infobahn’: `No network connection at all-zero bandwidth-makes you a digital hermit, an outcast from cyberspace. The Net creates new opportunities but exclusion from it becomes a new form of marginalisation.’[9] / Many of the community based indigenous organisations which may be able to provide access facilities are being squeezed for funds and having to adjust their priorities. Purchasing computers, training people in the use of them and getting on to the Infobahn all have to compete with the more immediate concerns of health, housing and sewerage in most indigenous communities in Australia. / Another issue that is often overlooked but which is crucial to indigenous people is that as well as having access to equipment and services at a reasonable cost, using digital technology also involves education and training. There may be real advantages in having communication, reproduction and dissemination of information easier but you still have to know which keys to press on the keyboard or where to position the cursor before you click the mouse. For many people, but particularly indigenous people in remote areas for whom English may be a second language, there are major educational barriers blocking access to the Infobahn. But if these `threshold’ issues of cost and training can be adequately addressed then indigenous communities will be well served by the changes to information technology. In the past indigenous people living in remote communities could be easily marginalised and to a large extent ignored in a world where geography determined so much of one’s destiny. In the Digital Age that need no longer be the case. Indeed, marginalisation will come (or already existing marginalisation further exacerbated) from a failure to understand use the opportunities which digital technology offers. Properly equipped and trained indigenous communities will also be able to take advantage of control over the dissemination of information which digital technology allows, as well as reach a much larger audience than is presently possible. Traditionally indigenous communities have relied on reproduction and dissemination of their information by people outside their communities. This has often lead to disappointments and misunderstandings. The use of on-line digital technology will mean that indigenous people in remote areas will be able to exercise greater control over the amount and nature of the information and material which is disseminated from their communities. This would be welcomed after such a long history of surrendering control over so much of their artistic and cultural information and material to third parties to interpret and present to the rest of the world. Already some communities are realising the commercial potential of the Internet10 http://www.ozemail.com.au/~jukurrp and it is to be hoped that before too long we are reading about communities selling their art direct to American purchasers rather than auction houses.[11] While recognising the importance of such developments it is also necessary to recognise the very real fears in communities of `rip-offs’ of their intellectual property, particularly in the digital environment where issues of protection remain uncertain and the potential uses and dissemination so wide. If William J Mitchell is correct and the economic engine in the `soft cities’ of cyberspace is the `bit business’-the production and consumption of digital information-then indigenous people may be able to participate in ways that have not previously been open to them. They will have access to information which would have previously been inaccessible to them. They will be able to exchange information and develop strategies with other indigenous people around Australia and around the globe. It will be their common interests which will bring them together. Location will no longer divide people. As well as the indigenous specific law reform work referred to above the previous Commonwealth government had begun to address some of the more general challenges to the copyright system through the work of the Copyright Law Review Committee.[12] That work has been given an added imperative following Australia’s participation in the Diplomatic Conference held by the World Intellectual Property Organisation in December 1996. At its conclusion that Conference adopted the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty.[13] http://www.wipo.int/eng/index.htm These treaties will have an important effect on copyright law in Australia over the next couple of years as the government decides whether Australia should amend its laws so as to be in a position to comply with the treaties’ requirements and ratify them. The Copyright Treaty contains Articles which are intended to set new standards for the digital environment, including the introduction of a new exclusive right of `authorising any communication to the public of their works, by wire or wireless means, including the making available to the public of their works in such a way that members of the public may access these works from a place and at a time individually chosen by them.’[14] Indigenous people need to be part of the process of adapting the copyright laws to fit the Digital Age. They will need to articulate clearly their needs and demands for a better system of intellectual property protection or alternative arrangements which will protect their cultures in a fast changing technological environment. They too will have to live in the Digital Age where `intellectual property protection will simultaneously become both more necessary and more difficult to obtain.’[15] At the conclusion of its Diplomatic Conference in Geneva in late 1996 the World Intellectual Property Organisation stated that it wished to do further work on indigenous intellectual property rights and will hold a conference for this purpose in Thailand in April this year. If the Commonwealth Government is serious about its election commitment to address the copyright issues of indigenous Australians it must ensure that it draws on the experiences and work done by indigenous people so that it can play a central and leading role to achieve results at the WIPO Conference. But it should not take the position of handing it all over to WIPO. Considerable work has already been done in Australia and the needs have been largely identified. Those needs are expanding with the increase of digital technology, particularly on-line. What is really required now is the political will to act. Experience in the legislative protection for intellectual property has shown that if the political will, need and impetus are there, change can come. It came when the Commonwealth Parliament hastily passed the Copyright (Amendment) Act 1984 to avoid international discrimination over uncertainty as to protection for computer programs in this country. It also came quickly in 1989 with the passage of the Circuit Layouts Act after pressure from the United States. The need was identified and acted on quickly with the passage of the Olympic Insignia Act 1996. The needs of Australia’s indigenous people for intellectual property reform are no less urgent and are becoming more so in the Digital Age. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- [1] The Working Party on the Protection of Aboriginal Folklore commenced work in 1975 and reported in 1981 (Report of the Working Party on the Protection of Aboriginal Folklore, Department of Home Affairs and the Environment, 4 December 1981). In October 1994 the Commonwealth published an Issues Paper entitled `Stopping the Rip-offs—Intellectual Property Protection for Indigenous Australians’ (Commonwealth of Australia, 1994). Work and consultations continued although the continuation of the process has become uncertain under the present Government. [2] The recent history of indigenous artists use of the law to protect their artistic and cultural expression is set out and illustrated in Copyrites—Aboriginal Art in the Age of Reproduction, NIAAA and Macquarie University, 1996. [3] See the casenote by Martin Hardie in this issue concerning the action by John Bulun Bulun and George Milpurrurru where the claim includes a claim in customary law relating to the land from which the artist’s work arises. [4] Mitchell, William J, City of Bits—Space, Place, and the Infobahn, The MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass.), 1995, p.168. [5] Stanbury, WT, `Aspects of Public Policy Regarding Crown Copyright in the Digital Age’, (1996) 10 (2) Intellectual Property Journal 131. (Stanbury analyses the arguments of John Perry Barlow in the article listed in footnote 35). See also Collie I, `Copyright is Dead….or is it?’ 1 (1) Artlines 10 and the comments of Schwartz, E., in his Introduction to the `Copyright in the 21st Century’ Symposium, (1995) 13 (2) Cardozo Arts and Entertainment Law Journal 13. [6] See in particular John Perry Barlow, `The Economy of Ideas: A Framework for the Re-thinking of Patents and Copyright in the Digital Age (Everything You Wanted to Know About Intellectual Property is Wrong)’, Wired Magazine, March 1994, p. 84; and Nicholas Negroponte, Being Digital, Hodder and Stoughton, 1995, p.58. [7] Courts are sometimes finding it difficult in dealing with the concepts of computing and digital technology. A Federal Court judge recently distorted a long established copyright principle and sent shock waves through the local computer software industry when he found that a single word in a computer language was a computer program in which copyright subsisted. See Data Access Corporation v Powerflex Services Pty Ltd and Others 33 IPR 194. The decision is being appealed. [8] Tanami Network Pty Ltd is an indigenous owned video-conferencing network based at Yuendumu. It has undertaken important work in linking communities and has also been involved in the development of multimedia product. [9] Mitchell, William J, City of Bits—Space, Place, and the Infobahn, The MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass.), 1995, p.18. [10] [ is the Jukurrpa Artists’ web site. This collective of women artists sell artwork from the site. 11] See Sally Blackney, `Sold to the Terminal in the Corner’ in The Weekend Australian, 1-2 February 1997 where it is reported that Sotheby’s put the whole of its Aboriginal Art Sale catalogue on the net and had an American buyer ring up and spend $18,000. [12] Copyright Law Review Committee, `Copyright Reform: A Consideration of rationales, Interests and Objectives’, February 1996. [13] See the WIPOweb site for the full text of treaties and other material: [ 14] Article 8, WIPO Copyright Treaty, 20 December 1996. [15] Rubin H, Fraser L and Smith M, `US and International Law Aspects of the Internet: Fitting Square Pegs into Round Holes’, (1996) 3 International Journal of Law and Information Technology, 117 at 129. —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- / AustLII: Feedback | Privacy Policy | Disclaimers / URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/AboriginalLB
Public “sorries” by appealing politicians, all well and good, I suppose, but not far to the right of centre, there still remains an insid…
Public “sorries” by appealing politicians, all well and good, I suppose, but not far to the right of centre, there still remains an insiduous “prejudicial” attitude that far too many in this country, this nation, this “land of the long weekends” that remains … an example of this, not that many years ago, is as blatant as it is ignborant as this … Legislative Council on 4 December 2003 during the debate on the establishment of the Natural Resource Commission and the Catchment Management Authorities (from Hansard) “It is absolutely frightening that this myth continues to pervade society. When it comes to this nonsense of theft of land, Aboriginal culture does not even recognise land ownership. And had white settlement not come along, what would the Aboriginal people be doing with the land today?” “They would be doing the same as they had always done: hunt, fish and set it on fire. / Aboriginal people need us to help them make it into the twenty-first century. As Australians, this continual separation of them as a different group to the rest of us just holdsthem back.” ~ Hon. David Oldfield Relatively speaking, 5 years later, is not that long, and I doubt the likes of these political astutes have left the building, nor have less influence on mainstream agendas — Apology or not. Their agenda still remains — land, economics, rip-offs, and dispossession … Oh yeh, I’m sorry, I just can’t help my self …
or so they say? / However in the next day or so, the newly-elected Prime Minister, is about to say “Sorry” to the Aboriginal “stolen gener…
or so they say? / However in the next day or so, the newly-elected Prime Minister, is about to say “Sorry” to the Aboriginal “stolen generation” and their descendants, on behalf of all preceding Governments, and the people of Australia. / My associate and fellow Redbubbler, Robert Knapman wrote Australia says Sorry and that got me going, initially with my response/comment: / Interesting, and for many pertinent and timely… though as an Aboriginal/Australian I feel somewhat a bit late in coming, but heh, that’s just me. / I’m reminded of the “walk across the Bridge” rallies, a few years ago, when a couple of 100,000s nationally, joined numbers and had a great day walking across significant bridges throughout Australia … note I said, a couple of 100,000s, in a population of 21mill Plus…. and whilst it was a grand statement (so I’m led to believe) they really didn’t have to “give” anything at all, and even fewer can/would rate an Aboriginal/family amongst their close friends… we’re talking minorities here folks, in the mainstream supporting even a smaller minority! / As for the “Sorry” Statement from a Govt that supports cover-ups and deceit and mismanagement of Aboriginal values and culture… its called “white-washing” and again means little, as They have covered theirs and the Nation’s arse by saying, here’s the words and the sentimental gesture… but don’t forget to assimilate, educate, work, and “join us” if you want to get along in this country… we shall indoctrinate but we won’t “give” back anything that reinforces your (1) unique Aboriginal culture, (2)spirituality, (3) country (sacred site), (4) self-determination, (5) Cultural revival/survival… it seems to me its all about “being seen to be doing” but not actually “giving-back” and/or real reciprocation and not just as compensation. / Anyway, this space is too brief to further explain/clarify… hope you don’t mind Robert, and b4 any one wants to slam my apparent cynicism, I am a 3rd generation Aboriginal survivor of such discrimination and assimilation policies, and the grandson of of Lali re Linden Girl, as well as a father of a child who was literally taken from the hospital and given away, which took me 18 years to “track him down”. / Sorry folks, this isn’t a pleasant nicety, its reality for a few that have survived with our sanity attacked. / PS: according to a News poll I did this AM, more than 70% of about 8000 responses, believe that this “SORRY” want change a darn thing… maybe I’m not a minority survivor after-all / Further to this, is my reason for the Journal entry, as there are a lot of Comments generated from Robert’s post (and yes, he has a large following)... / After all is said and done, not one bit difference in practical, real terms will be resulting… / I live in and represent a dying culture — one of the last remaining, truly unique and indigenous, on this planet… apart from a few sentimental and emotional responses from a select few individuals comparatively speaking — life will still be a struggle for the majority of Aboriginal people (against all the odds); the social indicators and morbidity stats will continue to be grim; the Aboriginal industry will still be perpetuated at the manipulative machinations of the “clever few”; and many people will continue to make incredibly prestigious and some-what well-paid and influential career opportunities upon the sufferance of the dwindling few who hold-out to their Aboriginality in the most genuine and spiritual manner… diseased and disinherited, maligned and constantly misunderstood… / I am willing and able to expand and discuss any points I raise herein, with anyone who feels so inclined ... Happy Sorry Day ... perhaps not! / Oh yeh, all most forgot, for those further interested read what Aboriginal author, Kevin Gilbert (wrote in Grandfather Koori here
The following are some random samples of Comments to news paper items, from MR/Ms Citizen, in Western Australia. / Posted just to be fair….
The following are some random samples of Comments to news paper items, from MR/Ms Citizen, in Western Australia. / Posted just to be fair… and I do not necessarily endorse, and just trying to get this out to a broader and perhaps more “balanced” audience …. Lee of Perth: I fear it is you who is ignorant or blind. Blind to the truth and ignorant of reality probably from a diet of aboriginal inc bulls*@t and socialist re-writing of history. If our forefathers hadn’t acted in the interests of the children in the 40s and 50s we would have seen all that has been reported recently from Fitzroy Crossing happening all over Australia in epidemic proportions. Personally I doubt most of the reported abuse in institutions such as Sister Kates. Get yourself a good shrink and they can convince you you were abused as a child, only you can’t remember it because you have blocked it out. Another 30 sessions at the governments expense will help us both. I don’t have a problem with the government regretting the actions of the past but I do have a big problem with the money grabbing aboriginal inc suggesting there should be compensation. That a child removed from its parent at age 2 should remember that life and be traumatised by the removal is a nonsense fuelled solely by the desire for compensation. Finally to all the hard working, law abiding indigenous people who have made a contribution to Australian life I mean no disrespect to yourselves. This is only directed at the lazy money grabbers and their white lawyers and supporters / Posted by: Gazza of WA 12:51pm today An apology was the right thing to do but compensation claims will not help reconcile all Australians – in fact I guarantee you they will cause more division and problems than ever before. I’m sorry for what my parents and grandparents allowed to happen to the indigenous peoples of Australia, but why should I pay for their mistakes? / Posted by: MattFromOz of Manly 12:50pm today I had nothing to do with the stolen generation. I dont know that much about it. However i dont believe this is going to unite a nation. They talk about moving on but just read some comments from the aboriginal leaders about Nelsons speech, doesn’t sound like they are ready to move on yet. Its not in every humans nature to just forgive & forget. And you cant just point the finger at the previous government for no apology, how many governments have we had since this all took place?? / Posted by: Wazza of Perth 12:39pm today The acknowledgement of the past and its effect is important. I don’t understand why indigenous Australians would turn their back on an acknowledgement that something has to be done about the problems in remote communities in the present. Without it, the future will remain dark and sad. I concur with Dr Nelson, and with anyone who agrees that something has to be done today in those communities to effect change for the future of indigenous Australia. Saying sorry isn’t enough. Let’s do something other than throw money without accountability. There has been too much enabling within these communities and Dr Nelson was right to acknowledge and apologise for that. / Posted by: M of WA 12:03pm today ... and it goes on and on… by the way I lived in WA for many years, and do know 1st hand the “racial divide” and practices that exist… I still have many family members, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal (my father was non-Aboriginal), living that side of the border… and it don’t take much to scratch the surface and find “racism” alive and well… on both-sides of the “gap” ... unfortunately
On June 11,2008 The Government Of Canada in The House Of Commons, apologised to Aboriginal Canadians for the abuse they endured as a resu…
On June 11,2008 The Government Of Canada in The House Of Commons, apologised to Aboriginal Canadians for the abuse they endured as a result of being forced to attend Residential Schools throughout Canada against their will. The schools were run by various churches at the time. Today I discovered a 2 hour award winning documentary about one man’s tearful journey to not only discover the truth and facts about this atrocity, but to share it with the world at great peril to his personal and professional well being. About a year ago I met a 71 year old survivor of a resdential school, and he shared some of his story of the experience and it was horrifying to say the least. WARNING this documentary is heartbreaking, and will make you cry,. If you watch the documentary and feel inclined, please pass the link on to others, and perhaps something good will come by the truth being spoken. / Unrepentant: Kevin Annett and Canada’s Genocide
For those interested, here is the text of Australian Prime Minister’s (Australian) history making speech, made in the National Parliament…
For those interested, here is the text of Australian Prime Minister’s (Australian) history making speech, made in the National Parliament, this AM, 13 February 2008… Full text of Rudd’s sorry speech (Wednesday February 13, 2008) _“Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history. The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future. We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians. We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country. For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry. To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry. We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation. For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written. We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians. A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again. A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity. A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed. A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.”_ ... and yes, I was at the “Sorry Day Gathering” watching the big-screen, live broadcast a a few 1000 others this morning at Elder Park, Adelaide.
At last l found you all out there. I live in Penrith out west , Art is the way l express my feelings. I have lived in NSW for about 15 ye…
At last l found you all out there. I live in Penrith out west , Art is the way l express my feelings. I have lived in NSW for about 15 years now. My land of birth is Scotland.All my work is done in acrylic with an Aboriginal feel.I would value any comments on my work good or bad? I thankyou for taking the time .
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