Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Over the last few days, the publicly-funded ABC was really pushing this article about Aboriginal history: “The deep Indigenous history of Australia deserves to be up in lights.” I finally got around to reading it, and, as you might expect, it’s as much politics as it is history, with a dose of borderline racism thrown in for good measure.
They start off by noting: “We’ve flipped the script to put Indigenous Australians back at the centre of telling their own stories.” That’s basically code for: “No white people were involved in the production of this content.” Tell me I’m wrong!
Okay, so this is the article. (Remembering, this is considered “news”). I think my definition of news has well and truly been replaced.
It was written by Solua Middleton, the ABC’s Head of Indigenous Audio. In the article, she writes, “The ancient story of Australia is written in the stars and held in the memory of the land.”
I think you can see where this is going: Scientific fact does not seem to be the priority. And they openly admit this!
The article interviews Aboriginal woman Denise Lovett, who states: “It started a long, long time ago, right back to the Dreaming, and that story has to be told, and it has to be told by us, in the way that we want to tell it. It doesn’t have to meet scientific expectations. It’s our story. And if science can match up with it, that’s good. But if it doesn’t, it doesn’t make it any less true.” Really? Lovett continues, “We don’t need the scientists to validate us. We know who we are.”
So I think you can understand that when it comes to Aboriginal history, we shouldn’t let science get in the way of a good story!
They interview solicitor Terri Janke, who says companies cannot just take Indigenous cultural knowledge and use it for their own purposes. Can’t they? I think they already have!
But the real purpose of this article is to push you towards the ABC’s Deep Time project. They note that “Australia’s First Peoples have lived on this continent for 65,000 years. But have you ever thought about what that actually means?” (Not particularly.) The article notes that Australia is a “lucky country,” and that it is celebrated for its “beautiful scenery, beaches, animals, laid-back culture, climate and celebrities,” but claims “the deep and long history of its First Peoples rarely makes the cut.”
I think that’s because people are just not that interested. And that’s not an attack on Aboriginal people. People generally are just not that interested in history, whether it’s Aboriginal or otherwise.
After a quick peruse, the Deep Time project is huge! It’s hundreds of pages long. I think they’ve literally invested hundreds, if not thousands of man-hours into this project. Well, woman-hours. I’m sure there are some men involved behind the scenes, but the women seem to get all the praise! Either way, your taxpayer dollars have been hard at work creating “an epic story more than 65,000 years in the making!”
Sorry, I’d just like to highlight again: this is taxpayer-funded “news,” well, allegedly. For example, you can read about such newsworthy events as the “Emu in the sky.” The “emu in the stars helps guide life on the land.” See? 100% undeniable historical fact!
The continent back then, referred to as Sahul, was much bigger than today because the sea was 70 metres lower.
Around 30,000 years ago, evidence suggests the first Australians may have been the world’s earliest bakers, much earlier than those pesky Egyptians! According to the article (and therefore, the facts): “This is at least 15,000 years before ancient Egyptians were making bread.” Axes, bread... what can’t they do?
But let’s fast forward to the real reason for this entire project: 1770. “This is when Lieutenant James Cook claims the east coast for the British Empire. Within 18 years, the First Fleet will arrive to set up penal colonies on land that was wrongly declared terra nullius. It unfolds with the spread of new diseases, frontier wars, stolen land, stolen rights, stolen wages, and stolen generations, but also resistance of warriors. First Peoples fight for equality, rights and recognition, and that fight carries on. First Nations people never ceded their sovereignty.”
So there you go. That was a massive, taxpayer-funded waste of time, or perhaps, a piece of propaganda, presented as a legitimate history lesson. We learnt that Aboriginal people were bakers, they were stonemasons, there were magical Emus in the sky.
Look, I’m not saying this isn’t interesting, at least, for some people. But should it be hosted on the ABC News website? Should it be portrayed as indisputable history? At best, it’s a story, with some science and religion thrown in, with questionable events being made out to be undeniable oral history. I don’t mind people telling this story, but should it be funded by the taxpayer?
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
Over the last few days, the publicly-funded ABC was really pushing this article about Aboriginal history: “The deep Indigenous history of Australia deserves to be up in lights.” I finally got around to reading it, and, as you might expect, it’s as much politics as it is history, with a dose of borderline racism thrown in for good measure.
They start off by noting: “We’ve flipped the script to put Indigenous Australians back at the centre of telling their own stories.” That’s basically code for: “No white people were involved in the production of this content.” Tell me I’m wrong!
Okay, so this is the article. (Remembering, this is considered “news”). I think my definition of news has well and truly been replaced.
It was written by Solua Middleton, the ABC’s Head of Indigenous Audio. In the article, she writes, “The ancient story of Australia is written in the stars and held in the memory of the land.”
I think you can see where this is going: Scientific fact does not seem to be the priority. And they openly admit this!
The article interviews Aboriginal woman Denise Lovett, who states: “It started a long, long time ago, right back to the Dreaming, and that story has to be told, and it has to be told by us, in the way that we want to tell it. It doesn’t have to meet scientific expectations. It’s our story. And if science can match up with it, that’s good. But if it doesn’t, it doesn’t make it any less true.” Really? Lovett continues, “We don’t need the scientists to validate us. We know who we are.”
So I think you can understand that when it comes to Aboriginal history, we shouldn’t let science get in the way of a good story!
They interview solicitor Terri Janke, who says companies cannot just take Indigenous cultural knowledge and use it for their own purposes. Can’t they? I think they already have!
But the real purpose of this article is to push you towards the ABC’s Deep Time project. They note that “Australia’s First Peoples have lived on this continent for 65,000 years. But have you ever thought about what that actually means?” (Not particularly.) The article notes that Australia is a “lucky country,” and that it is celebrated for its “beautiful scenery, beaches, animals, laid-back culture, climate and celebrities,” but claims “the deep and long history of its First Peoples rarely makes the cut.”
I think that’s because people are just not that interested. And that’s not an attack on Aboriginal people. People generally are just not that interested in history, whether it’s Aboriginal or otherwise.
After a quick peruse, the Deep Time project is huge! It’s hundreds of pages long. I think they’ve literally invested hundreds, if not thousands of man-hours into this project. Well, woman-hours. I’m sure there are some men involved behind the scenes, but the women seem to get all the praise! Either way, your taxpayer dollars have been hard at work creating “an epic story more than 65,000 years in the making!”
Sorry, I’d just like to highlight again: this is taxpayer-funded “news,” well, allegedly. For example, you can read about such newsworthy events as the “Emu in the sky.” The “emu in the stars helps guide life on the land.” See? 100% undeniable historical fact!
The continent back then, referred to as Sahul, was much bigger than today because the sea was 70 metres lower.
Around 30,000 years ago, evidence suggests the first Australians may have been the world’s earliest bakers, much earlier than those pesky Egyptians! According to the article (and therefore, the facts): “This is at least 15,000 years before ancient Egyptians were making bread.” Axes, bread... what can’t they do?
But let’s fast forward to the real reason for this entire project: 1770. “This is when Lieutenant James Cook claims the east coast for the British Empire. Within 18 years, the First Fleet will arrive to set up penal colonies on land that was wrongly declared terra nullius. It unfolds with the spread of new diseases, frontier wars, stolen land, stolen rights, stolen wages, and stolen generations, but also resistance of warriors. First Peoples fight for equality, rights and recognition, and that fight carries on. First Nations people never ceded their sovereignty.”
So there you go. That was a massive, taxpayer-funded waste of time, or perhaps, a piece of propaganda, presented as a legitimate history lesson. We learnt that Aboriginal people were bakers, they were stonemasons, there were magical Emus in the sky.
Look, I’m not saying this isn’t interesting, at least, for some people. But should it be hosted on the ABC News website? Should it be portrayed as indisputable history? At best, it’s a story, with some science and religion thrown in, with questionable events being made out to be undeniable oral history. I don’t mind people telling this story, but should it be funded by the taxpayer?
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
