Australian history: lifting haze or descending fog

Despite the deep horrors of the Aboriginal experience during the past 216 years, we continue to draw strength and inspiration from the tenacity and courage that our people displayed to survive. Across recent decades we have witnessed the fervour, patriotism and nationalistic flag-waving and bell ringing that coincided with the 1988 Bicentennial, with Reconciliation, the Olympic Games and the Federation celebrations. Any appraisal of the 100 years since Federation involves an examination of the construction of Australian history. History, it is said, is not just about what happened or when it happened, but more importantly why it happened and how it happened. In recognition, of that fact, knowledge of history and its importance was for at least three quarters of the 20th century a forbidden zone for Aboriginal Australians. We were not only denied the how and why but also the what and the when. We were written out of the historical page and efficiently erased the social landscape.