Section V: Mini-Essay

Aboriginal Media and the Internet

In its earliest stages, the Internet was used to trade only very basic information such as text. Now, more and more, the Internet is becoming a forum for the spreading of ideas expressed much more complexly. This means access to media that once had to be accessed with some sort of hard copy (photograph, video, cassette) or special transmitter (television, radio). Nowhere is the availability of such material changing more than in the remote regions of Australia inhabited by the country’s Indigenous peoples.

Though it certainly did not start out that way, the Internet is now accessible to just about anyone, even in the Australian bush. The advent of this new technology is shifting the power and affecting the culture of Aboriginal communities. Those who communicate through such media, gain power and traditional leaders lose it. Bringing the outside world to the bush brings in forces of commerce previously foreign to Indigenous people. (1) Access to new information cannot be all bad however. Connection over the Internet allows Aboriginals to gain a better understanding of the outside world.

Perhaps more important than Aboriginals getting information from non-Indigenous people is Aboriginals sharing their culture with the rest of the world. White Australia has a history of discrimination against Indigenous people (2). When the rest of Australia and the world have seen Aboriginal culture in the past it has been through the lens of white Australia, as was the case in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (3) Some white Australians are using the internet to apologize to Aboriginals. (4) With new technology allowing the transport of audio and video through cyberspace, Aboriginal people can (and are starting to) take the opportunity to express to others the beauty of their culture (5).

NOTES:
(1) David Tafler, “The use of electronic media in remote communities,” Australian Aboriginal Studies, Spring-Fall 2000: 27. Available from InfoTrac Web Expanded Academic ASAP <http://infotrac.galegroup.com/> [2 February 2003].

(2) A Guide to New South Wales Archives relating to Aboriginal People <http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/
publications/aboriginalguide/aboriginalguide-12.htm> This site provides in-depth information from the government itself about the history of white/Aboriginal relations in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state.It features an extensive timeline of events. Source: Government of New South Wales.

(3) John Pilger, “Australia is the only developed country whose government has been condemned as racist by the United Nations.” New Statesman 129, i4508 (9 Sept. 2000): 17. Available from InfoTrac Web Expanded Academic ASAP <http://infotrac.galegroup.com/> [27 January 2003].

(4) Apology Australia <http://apology.west.net.au/> This site provides an online form for people to fill out to officially apologize for wrongs done to the Aboriginal people. It is a personal site, but I’m citing its existence and purpose, not any information it provides. Source: Anthony Shipley.

(5) Aboriginal Media <http://www.turtleisland.org/news/news-media.htm> This site features links to the media of the Indigenous people of Australia and other places. Source: Turtle Island Native Network/INFOCOM.

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section v