UTS Professors in Glass Houses Shouldn’t Throw Stones
The traditional definition of slavery, as we in Australia understand it, is ‘Chattel Slavery’, so named because people are treated as the chattel (personal property) of the owner and are bought and sold as commodities. Typically, under the chattel slave system, children inherited slave status via the mother. Often slaves were sold in large open markets.
This ‘chattel’ form of slavery, which is the type that was present in the US, has never existed in Australia and has always been illegal here.
The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, was referring to this form of slavery in his interview on 11th June 2020, where he rejects any links between Australia and this type of slavery.
When the Prime Minister refers to ‘politically driven, left wing agendas’, we can’t help but think of the history revisionist, Professor Bruce Pascoe, who was referred to, on the same day, in the Sydney Morning Herald,
“Pascoe, the 72-year-old author of award-winning book Dark Emu, and adjunct professor at UTS' Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education & Research, said slavery was present in Australia post-colonisation.”
No it wasn’t. There was no Chattel Slavery in Australia - ever.
There was indentured labour and contracting (Kanaka Cane workers - the 457 Visa holders of their day) and underpayment of Aboriginal workers by pastoralists, missions and pearling fleets in the past, and presumably more recently by the ABC, where some staff that were chronically underpaid by the ABC may have been Indigenous. These practices may have been at times exploitative, but they in no way could be argued to be chattel slavery.
There are still occasional reports of ‘sex slaves’ being found in Australia, but in no way is this condoned or legal.
The most common image (below right) of what is purportedly a group of Aboriginal ‘slaves’ is often presented by those trying to argue that slavery existed in Australia. Although it is a confronting image to our modern sensibilities, the sight of chained prisoners was just the way prisoners were sometimes treated in Australia in colonial times, irrespective of the convict’s skin colour.
Prisoners were often chained and expected to work in chain gangs - black or white.
Convict Chain Gang - All white - Source
Convict Chain Gang - All white - Source ABC
Convict Tramway powered by non-Aboriginal convicts in Tasmania.
Group of prisoners in neckchains Wyndham WA - All black - Source State Lib. Vic.
The ABC further inflames the situation by posting this totally incorrect statement on the ABC website under this same photograph :
‘After a massacre, those Aboriginal people who were not killed were often enslaved.’ - ABC
UTS Professors in Glass Houses Shouldn’t Throw Stones
The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Bruce Pascoe’s employer, has recently been caught-out by the ABC’s 4Corners program, for allegedly collaborating with a Chinese company, that has links with the Chinese Government, on a project that may be a serious breach of human rights.
“UTS said in a statement that it began reviewing its partnership in April after learning of the Human Rights Watch report and said that no research has been directly involved with the surveillance of Uyghur people in Xinjiang.” - Information Age
The Chinese government has been accused of modern day ‘slavery’ with regard to its treatment of the Uyghur people.
This form of ‘slavery’ doesn’t seem to interest Bruce Pascoe, despite the fact that his employer may be complicit. Instead, he appears to be more interested in creating divisions within Australian society by disparaging Australians and using ‘slippery-wording’ to re-write our history - yet again. Hardly the stuff of reconciliation.
In the SMH article, Pascoe is quoted as saying,
"When you capture people, [for crimes?] and put chains around their necks, and make them walk 300 kilometres and then set them to work on cattle stations, what's that called?" Pascoe said. "That's what happened in Western Australia and in the [Northern] Territory and in Queensland".”
“It doesn't matter what you call it," he added. [yes it does - that is what the Prime Minister is arguing] "It's brutality and I think a lot of Australia are in denial about the real history of the country.”
Pascoe added that while Captain Cook was "enlightened" for his time, "that wasn't good enough to stop slavery" in colonies. [Yes it was. The Enlightenment was directly responsible for there being no chattel slavery in Australia]
"What happened under their administration was slavery and murder," he said. [No it wasn’t - both were illegal under Australian Colonial administration]. - ibid., SMH, (our emphasis).
Knowing how Bruce Pascoe has a record of misquoting the historical record, we should take these statements with a grain-of-salt, as he provides no evidence for his claims.
In fact, Australians do know their penal history, as paraphrasing of Pascoe’s comment illustrates :
"When you capture and convict white people in Britain for crimes and put chains around their legs, waists and hands, and ship make them half-way around the world and then set them to work on building a colony, what's that called?" - Pascoe should have asked himself. "That's what happened in Botany Bay.”
"It's brutality and I think a lot of Australia know this real history of the country.” "What happened under our administration was penal servitude - the standard of the time.”
“It was not chattel slavery. It was envisioned that convicts were to be punished for their crimes while being reformed and then finally released as free settlers after serving relatively short parts of their sentences.”
SLAVERY in Australia? - Has been, always will be, illegal in Australia.
Just because some murders may occur in Australia, that does not make Australia a murderous country.
Just because some racism may occur in Australia, that does not make Australia a racist country.
Just because some Aboriginal people are jailed, that does not make them an innately criminal people.
Via strong legislation, slavery, murder and racism are all illegal in Australia.
Australians, you all need to get a grip - why are you denigrating our wonderful country?
If Australia is so bad, what are you comparing it to?
To the demonstrating Activists - name one country on the planet that has a better historical track record than Australia, and where you would rather live?
If you can’t provide an answer this, then you are just engaging in ‘Shake-down’ politics - stamping your feet and complaining, so as to get more money and power from your fellow citizens without having to do any real work to earn it.
