Mr Pascoe claims this photograph is of an Aboriginal ‘Dome’ house that his great, great grandfather may have used while living at Lockhart River in Queensland. Actually, we find that it is a ‘Dome’ house constructed by the Meriam people from the Torres Strait Islands and shows Melanesian and Polynesian influences. It is not Australian Aboriginal at all, and is not from the Australian mainland.
The few, recorded Aboriginal dams were constructed to conserve flood waters for drinking water, not to irrigate crops.
Mr Pascoe’s Selectivity Bias – Just ignore the Facts that don’t fit the Narrative
There is abundant, authenticated evidence of the Aboriginal Hunter-Gatherer society. But you may need to put on your ‘Rose-Coloured-Glasses’ to find the “evidence” of Mr Pascoe’s Aboriginal Agriculture!
Why weren’t there any coconut plantations in Aboriginal Australia?
The Six Main Centres of Pre-historic Agricultural Society - And the Australian Continent Wasn’t One of Them
Don’t trust the Imperial British Version of our history? Let’s see what a contemporary Aboriginal had to say.
This is not “domesticated yam farming with sowing, cultivation, irrigation and crop protection”, but instead is traditional foraging and gathering.
Did Aboriginal Blasphemy Laws Snuff Out Any Agricultural Advances by Aboriginal Women?
Despite opportunities to adopt an agrarian lifestyle, Aborigines chose to remain as Hunter Gatherers. This is neither right nor wrong, but was their own social and economic choice. Their agency should not be up for re-appropriation.
The New Dark Emu : “Pascoe puts forward a compelling argument for the understanding that pre-colonial Aboriginal Australians were on a trajectory from their hunter-gatherer existence towards food production and agriculture within the next 3000 years. The evidence shows that the first beginnings of an agricultural way of life were starting in isolated parts of the continent. It is the story of mankind and a story that we will all admire and find fascinating as Australians."
Aborigines relied on “Increase” Centres and Ceremonies and Rituals to ensure a food supply for everyone. They did not use human intervention in the form of Agriculture to create a food supply.
Aboriginal communities own some 30% of Australia’s land mass, much of it encompassing Mr Pascoe’s Aboriginal Grain Belt - Why can’t I buy a decent Aboriginal Seed Cake, Mr Pascoe?
Rather it is a case of Chairman Pascoe’s Great Leap back to the Past with his Australian Agricultural Revolution!
Mr Pascoe favourably cites the work of Professor Frankel, but does Frankel’s work support Pascoe’s Aboriginal Agriculture Theory? We would suggest not!
Bitter Harvest, a book by Peter O’Brien, provides an independent critique of Pascoe’s Dark Emu.
It is not the Australian community who are insisting that Mr Pascoe prove his Aboriginal ancestry – it is in fact, Mr Pascoe who is insisting that the Australian community accept his Aboriginal ancestry, so the burden of proof falls to the initiator, Mr Pascoe, to clear up any concerns regarding his alleged ancestry.
