[quote]
Media never question the ethnicity of any other Australian’: Minister responds to Dark Emu controversy
The Indigenous Australians Minister has hit back at Andrew Bolt, who demanded he “apologise” for promoting author Bruce Pascoe’s controversial book.


Frank Chung
franks_chung

109 comments
JUNE 19, 202111:12Am
Historian Bruce Pascoe's book 'Dark Emu' criticised over accuracy concerns
EXCLUSIVE

Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt has broken his silence on the Dark Emu controversy, a week after fresh questions were raised about the accuracy of the influential Aboriginal history book.

A number of experts now say Bruce Pascoe’s 2014 bestseller – which claimed that Indigenous Australians prior to colonisation were not just hunter-gatherers but engaged in agriculture, irrigation and construction – has been all but “demolished” by a scholarly rebuttal by two respected academics, anthropologist Peter Sutton and archaeologist Keryn Walshe.

Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate, published by Melbourne University Press this week, argues while Dark Emu “purports to be factual” it is “littered with unsourced material, is poorly researched, distorts and exaggerates many points, selectively emphasises evidence to suit those opinions, and ignores large bodies of information that do not support the author’s opinions”.

Sky News host Andrew Bolt, who has been an outspoken critic of Dark Emu for years and has questioned Pascoe’s claims of Aboriginal ancestry, this week called on Mr Wyatt to apologise for “his part” in promoting the book, saying the Minister had praised it, advocated for it to be taught in schools, and dismissed questions about Pascoe’s Indigenous identity.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire
Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt. Picture: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWireSource:Supplied

“Mr Pascoe states he has Indigenous ancestry,” Mr Wyatt said in a statement to news.com.au.

“Determining these connections is a matter for Mr Pascoe. I am saddened that questions about Mr Pascoe’s identity have played out publicly instead of being dealt with as they should have been – by the relevant communities. Media never question the ethnicity of any other Australian.”

Mr Wyatt added that Pascoe was an “author of fiction, nonfiction and children’s literature, including the book Dark Emu which re‑examines colonial accounts of Aboriginal people and presents evidence of pre-colonial agricultural and engineering sophistication from various sources as cited”.

“I welcome more people taking the time to read Dark Emu and consulting Mr Pascoe’s references to verify or disprove his assertions as we do with various academic studies or research,” he said.

“Not all Australians agree with every reflection or idea presented in the book, nor is that necessary. What’s important here is that we are open to hearing other people’s perspectives, contemplating and genuinely engaging in working constructively together to reconcile our understandings.”

Speaking on Sky News, Bolt criticised Mr Wyatt for sacking Aboriginal businesswoman Josephine Cashman from a government advisory role after she joined the campaign to discredit Pascoe last year.

The Party Games newsletter Get your political briefing from news.com.au's political editor Samantha Maiden.

Ms Cashman was booted from the group, which was advising on how to create an Indigenous “voice to parliament”, after claims she provided a faked letter from a senior Aboriginal figure denouncing Pascoe.

At the time, Ms Cashman told SBS she helped the elder write the letter at his request, and denied anything underhanded took place.

She told Bolt on Sky News this week that she felt vindicated. “I would prefer to be on the side of truth and what I am really pleased about (is that) this hasn’t denigrated into a race, us against them, debate,” she said.

“I think it shows the level of maturity in Australia. I can’t sit well with Australian children being lied to. I think it’s a horrible thing for our society to allow. I’m hoping this will lead to more reform.”

[color=#ff0000]Speaking to 2GB host Ben Fordham on Thursday, Prof Sutton and Dr Walshe said Dark Emu should be removed from schools

I thought it would be a typical kind of amateur’s work that would have its day for five minutes and then disappear,” Prof Sutton said.

Because it was clearly not the work of someone who’d carefully listened to senior Aboriginal people on these questions, had not lived among them, learned to speak their languages or any of that kind of thing, which is what anthropologists have to do in order to have any kind of wisdom passed on that they can share with others.”

He continued, “But I was wrong. It was quiet for a while but then it took off like a snowball. When it got to the point of being inserted into school curricula, either as a reference or as in fact the major source, I thought about the children – who’s going to stand by and watch them be misinformed?”[/color]

Dr Walshe agreed that it “shouldn’t have that status”.

“It doesn’t need to be in the school curriculum and in fact it shouldn’t be in the school curriculum, because of the errors and the incorrectness of the entire work,” she said.

“It’s not about a different interpretation (of history), it’s about misuse of the archival sources, the actual primary sources. It’s a matter of looking at those sources and using them in the correct manner with integrity and reliability, and that is not what Dark Emu reflects.”

In a written response to Nine Newsapers’ Good Weekend last Saturday, which first reported on Prof Sutton and Dr Walshe’s work, Pascoe told the magazine that his book had “encouraged many Australians to recognise the ingenuity and sophistication of the many Aboriginal cultures, societies and land-management practices, which had not previously been brought to mainstream attention”.

“The extent of Aboriginal social and economic organisation has been surprising to many Australians and a nuanced debate needs to be ongoing,” he said, adding it would be “disappointing” if Australia’s understanding of Aboriginal history “digressed to a limiting debate about semantics and nomenclature”.

“Hunter-gatherer and farmer are both settler/colonial labels, and the long prevailing negative interpretation of hunter-gatherer has been used as a weapon against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (as a justification for terra nullius),” he said.

“Language can be used to help people to see the world differently, to open minds to new ways of seeing. This is what I tried to achieve with Dark Emu.”

frank.chung@news.com.au

" questions about Mr Pascoe’s identity have played out publicly instead of being dealt with as they should have been – by the relevant communities." .... they already did been dealt with by the communities - they rejected him....

What skin is Wyatt living in this time?

Which is Dark Emu?  Children's fiction?  How utterly degrading to our Kaffir...

“Determining these connections is a matter for Mr Pascoe. I am saddened that questions about Mr Pascoe’s identity have played out publicly instead of being dealt with as they should have been – by the relevant communities. Media never question the ethnicity of any other Australian.”




It is only questioned because two of the three tribes he claims to descend from do not accept his claim and because he looks Cornish, not Koori.
It's absurd to claim Aboriginality when, say, one of your 4 grandparents was half Aborigine and the rest were from Cornwall or Cork (and you speak only English). Ludicrous.

Our resident RACIST and Islamic sychophant islamophike bwyannnnnnnnnn

Has based everything he has on this one factional and irrelevant book of lies.

He is fighting to the end in a failed attempt to make it appear that this is a racist attack.

But it isn't, it's a factual attack on lies and misrepresentation.

If a white man wrote lies about white ascendancy that was as flawed and obviously incorrectly referenced, it woukd be pursued with the same vigour.

Pascoe is a proven liar who fabricated a pack of lies with one objective.
That objective was to assure his future of being a parasite and living off lies and fabrications.

Send the liar back to England, his native blood country.

https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/120/google/223/yawning-face_1f971.png

Dear, oh, dear, still no effort by the Racists to actually refute what Pascoe has said.  They just prefer to engage in argumentum ad hominem debate. They just believe personal insults will replace reasoned debate.  It worked for them for generations so why would they stop now?  Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  Even when Matty admits that he doesn't understand the argument, he still argues.  Typical Racist behaviour it seems, all passion, no sense.  Tsk, tsk.  ::) ::)

Belgarion has at least made an effort, unlike Soren, Matty, Gnads, Graps, etc.  They appear unable to understand the points that are being made and prefer to use personal insults.  Tsk, tsk.   ::) ::)

Bwyannnnnnnn and his boyfriend Anal, k have had their balls handed to them in the Pascoe thread.

Bwyannnnnn Defeated again, so its back to tut tut.
Anal,k follows on with asinine insults.

And we all know what that means.

The tut tut and emoji are bwyannnnnn's way of surrendering to a superior argument.
And Anal, k is simply a moron.

Its their declaration of defeat.

That's all.
Back to top

Brian Ross wrote on Jun 19^th, 2021 at 5:00pm:

Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.

And you want US to find the Pascoe quote you are referring to because there is no way you would ever provide it yourself.

Frank wrote on Jun 19^th, 2021 at 5:27pm:

Brian Ross wrote on Jun 19th, 2021 at 5:00pm: Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  And you want US to find the Pascoe quote you are referring to because there is no way you would ever provide it yourself.

I doubt he has even read it.
The words are too big for him to comprehend ( that means understand bwyannnn)

The entire work has been debunked, exposed as fraud and lies.
The man himself exposed as a liar and no aboriginal groups accept him as one of them, and they will take just about anyone.

I can see a Guy Fawkes moment in the future.

Valkie wrote on Jun 19^th, 2021 at 6:51pm:

Frank wrote on Jun 19th, 2021 at 5:27pm: Brian Ross wrote on Jun 19th, 2021 at 5:00pm: Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  And you want US to find the Pascoe quote you are referring to because there is no way you would ever provide it yourself. I doubt he has even read it. The words are too big for him to comprehend ( that means understand bwyannnn) The entire work has been debunked, exposed as fraud and lies. The man himself exposed as a liar and no aboriginal groups accept him as one of them, and they will take just about anyone. I can see a Guy Fawkes moment in the future.

Have you read it?

https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/120/google/223/yawning-face_1f971.png

Dear, oh, dear, still no effort by the Racists to actually refute what Pascoe has said.  They just prefer to engage in argumentum ad hominem debate. They just believe personal insults will replace reasoned debate.  It worked for them for generations so why would they stop now?  Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  Even when Matty admits that he doesn't understand the argument, he still argues.  Typical Racist behaviour it seems, all passion, no sense.  Tsk, tsk.  ::) ::)

Belgarion has at least made an effort, unlike Soren, Matty, Gnads, Graps, etc.  They appear unable to understand the points that are being made and prefer to use personal insults.  Tsk, tsk.   ::) ::)

Bwyannnnnnnn and his boyfriend Anal, k have had their balls handed to them in the Pascoe thread.

Bwyannnnnn Defeated again, so its back to tut tut.
Anal,k follows on with asinine insults.

And we all know what that means.

The tut tut and emoji are bwyannnnnn's way of surrendering to a superior argument.
And Anal, k is simply a moron.

Its their declaration of defeat.

That's all.
Back to top

Brian Ross wrote on Jun 19^th, 2021 at 8:18pm:

https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/120/google/223/yawning-face_1f971.png Dear, oh, dear, still no effort by the Racists to actually refute what Pascoe has said.  They just prefer to engage in argumentum ad hominem debate. They just believe personal insults will replace reasoned debate.  It worked for them for generations so why would they stop now?  Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  Even when Matty admits that he doesn't understand the argument, he still argues.  Typical Racist behaviour it seems, all passion, no sense.  Tsk, tsk.  ::) ::) Belgarion has at least made an effort, unlike Soren, Matty, Gnads, Graps, etc.  They appear unable to understand the points that are being made and prefer to use personal insults.  Tsk, tsk.   ::) ::)

Here, mindless, repetitious moron, see if you understand the argument (you won't but try)
https://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1623452148/158#158

Frank wrote on Jun 19^th, 2021 at 8:31pm:

Brian Ross wrote on Jun 19th, 2021 at 8:18pm: https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/120/google/223/yawning-face_1f971.png Dear, oh, dear, still no effort by the Racists to actually refute what Pascoe has said.  They just prefer to engage in argumentum ad hominem debate. They just believe personal insults will replace reasoned debate.  It worked for them for generations so why would they stop now?  Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  Even when Matty admits that he doesn't understand the argument, he still argues.  Typical Racist behaviour it seems, all passion, no sense.  Tsk, tsk.  ::) ::) Belgarion has at least made an effort, unlike Soren, Matty, Gnads, Graps, etc.  They appear unable to understand the points that are being made and prefer to use personal insults.  Tsk, tsk.   ::) ::) Here, mindless, repetitious moron, see if you understand the argument (you won't but try) https://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1623452148/158#158

Bwyannnnnnnn understand.

Oxymoronic statement.

https://emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/thumbs/120/google/223/yawning-face_1f971.png

Dear, oh, dear, still no effort by the Racists to actually refute what Pascoe has said.  They just prefer to engage in argumentum ad hominem debate. They just believe personal insults will replace reasoned debate.  It worked for them for generations so why would they stop now?  Tsk, tsk, still nothing that argues against Pascoe's quoting of the journals of the early explorers/settlers where they describe encountering fields of native foods.  Even when Matty admits that he doesn't understand the argument, he still argues.  Typical Racist behaviour it seems, all passion, no sense.  Tsk, tsk.  ::) ::)

Belgarion has at least made an effort, unlike Soren, Matty, Gnads, Graps, etc.  They appear unable to understand the points that are being made and prefer to use personal insults.  Tsk, tsk.   ::) ::)

Bwyannnnnnnn and his boyfriend Anal, k have had their balls handed to them in the Pascoe thread.

Bwyannnnnn Defeated again, so its back to tut tut.
Anal,k follows on with asinine insults.

And we all know what that means.

The tut tut and emoji are bwyannnnnn's way of surrendering to a superior argument.
And Anal, k is simply a moron.

Its their declaration of defeat.

That's all.
Back to top

Valkie wrote on Jun 19^th, 2021 at 9:20pm:

Bwyannnnnnnn and his boyfriend Anal, k have had their balls handed to them in the Pascoe thread. Bwyannnnnn Defeated again, so its back to tut tut. Anal,k follows on with asinine insults. And we all know what that means. The tut tut and emoji are bwyannnnnn's way of surrendering to a superior argument. And Anal, k is simply a moron. Its their declaration of defeat. That's all. Back to top

Just so.

Anchored down in personal BS again... just like any reasonable discussion between adults in this day and age.... that's what it has all come to...  ::)  ::)  ::)

**cue mothra for a sniping attack - don't ever put anything on the table - it might be torn apart, girl**

Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Jun 20^th, 2021 at 12:48am:

Anchored down in personal BS again... just like any reasonable discussion between adults in this day and age.... that's what it has all come to...  ::)  ::)  ::) **cue mothra for a sniping attack - don't ever put anything on the table - it might be torn apart, girl**

The Boongs might steal it, no?

Karnal wrote on Jun 20^th, 2021 at 1:00am:

Grappler Deep State Feller wrote on Jun 20th, 2021 at 12:48am: Anchored down in personal BS again... just like any reasonable discussion between adults in this day and age.... that's what it has all come to...  ::)  ::)  ::) **cue mothra for a sniping attack - don't ever put anything on the table - it might be torn apart, girl** The Boongs might steal it, no?

Could be... remember that story of the shipload of arrivals in Tasmania in the 1860s, putting all their worldly goods on the docks for later collection, and the Boongs stole it all...

LIAR!  There were no Boongs left in Tasmania then!!!

You said it....