The national identity of Australians has been one of the controversial issues among the region. Fair go, mateship, equalitarianism, multiculturalism are some commonly accepted national identities among Australians. Nonetheless, since the British’s in1788, the Anglo-Saxon heritage had inevitably led to the developing of “Britishness” and “whiteness” as one of the core national identity of Australians. This essay will focus on how the Australian national identities of “whiteness” and other identities have been constructed by silencing and exploiting the ‘Other’ non-white histories as on political, economic and cultural aspects. Examples would be given as evidence to support the standpoint of this essay.
“Whiteness” is one of the core and crucial national identity of Australians. The construction of “whiteness” as an identity is apparently linked to Australian’s colonial history. Robinson (2004) suggested that “Whiteness is not a basic categorical object and being socially constructed. Instead the concept 'white' denotes nothing more than skin colour. It is the Indigenous 'other' who is the focus of racialisation and its effects.” (ppg 145) His statement implies that Aboriginals are the major community being silenced and discriminated in the Australian society. There is a prevailing belief among Australians that “White represents the norm, the natural order of things, or self while non- White represents the Other who may threaten, degrade, pollute or contaminate the White race” (Kamp, 2008,ppg.413). Those who are considered as “white” are mainly determined by sharing common interests and culture with the British colonizers.
The British invasion in Australia in 1788 has already symbolized a starting of non-white histories bei...
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...y, economically and culturally and Australian identities have developed on the basis on silencing the non-whites.
Works Cited
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Kamp, A., (2010), ‘Formative Geographies of Belonging in White Australia: Constructing the National Self and Other in Parliamentary Debate, 1901’, Geographical Research, Vol. 48(4)
Levey, G. B., (2008), Multiculturalism and Australian national identity, Berghahn Books, New York
Robinson, M. A., (2008), Whiteness matters: Australian studies and indigenous studies, University of Queensland Press, Queensland.
Waitt, G et al, (2000), Introducing Human Geography: Globalisation, Difference and Inequality, Longman, Sydney
Of course it is naïve to believe that Australians only developed an identity after the First World War, but it is true to say that it was changed forever. Before Australia became the Australia known today, it was a land of bush rangers, farmers and convicts; a penal colony that had ambitions of becoming a nation who self-governed and had unified defence and transport*. Before federation Australia had fought in Sudan and the Boer War to provide support to the mother country as it was thought to be a heroic endeavour that was a type of rite of passage (Australian War Memorial, n.d.) and there was a global perception of who and what Australians were. Upon federation the people were very consciously intent on building themselves into a great nation (Bean, 1993), but not to sever ties to Britain completely as mostly foreign policy relied on what the British government dictated (Rickard, 1992).
Key events in Aboriginal Australian history stem from the time Australia was first discovered in 1788. For instance, when Federation came into existence in 1901, there was a prevailing belief held by non Aboriginal Australians that the Aborigines were a dying race (Nichol, 2005:259) which resulted in the Indigenous people being excluded from the constitution except for two mentions – Section 127 excluded Aborigines from the census and Section 51, part 26, which gave power over Aborigines to the States rather than to the Federal Government. Aboriginal people were officially excluded from the vote, public service, the Armed Forces and pensions. The White Australia mentality/policy Australia as “White” and unfortunately this policy was not abolished until 1972. REFERENCE
Reynolds, H. (2005). Nowhere People: How international race thinking shaped Australia’s identity. Australia: Penguin Group
The white Australia policy began in the 1850’s in attempt to create a one-race country, Letting Chinese and Pacific Island foreigners was good at the time but it came back around to bite them in the bum.
Choo, C and Hollbach, S. 2003. History and Native Title. Western Australia: Studies in Western Australian History.
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