The Australian Dream: Blood, History and Becoming

Quarterly Essay #64

by Stan Grant

When is enough enough? What does it take to snap us out of our complacency? How many needless deaths does it take to tell us that Indigenous Australia is in deep, deep crisis? My mind is flooded with these questions this day as I ponder the suicide of a 10-year- old girl in Western Australia. She is one of so many.

In Quarterly Essay 64, Stan Grant takes a deep and passionate look at Indigenous futures, in particular the fraught question of remote communities. Moving beyond simplistic talk of “lifestyle choices,” Grant explores what makes for a sustainable community and life, and then asks: what can we do to instigate change?

Stan Grant is the Indigenous affairs editor for Guardian Australia. He is the winner of the 2015 Walkley award for coverage of Indigenous affairs. Grant was previously the international editor at Sky News and has held posts in Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Beijing for CNN International. He hosts The Point on NITV. His recent memoir is Talking to My Country.

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia, Essays, Indigenous, History, Politics

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

Stan Grant is a journalist and the Charles Sturt University Vice- Chancellor’s Chair of Australian/Indigenous Belonging.

Reviews

[PattyMacDotComma · Rating 5 out of 5]

5★
“Identity is a two-way mirror – what we project and what others perceive. As the broader Australian community has constructed its image of what an Indigenous person is, so we conform to meet expectations.”

My personal experience (as a white, transplanted American Aussie) is that some Aboriginal friends, light or dark, have a high regard and respect for Aboriginal Law and Lore, and they despair that young people today aren’t learning from the Elders - the oral traditions and songlines are being lost.

Likewise, I know Aboriginal people who may respect their parents and Elders but don’t celebrate and commemorate events in a traditional fashion. They know to avoid sacred sites that are forbidden to them, but they themselves are part of mainstream Australia, much like the second generation children of migrants.

So how does Indigenous Australia see 'itself'?

When Stan Grant was born in 1963, not a single person could possibly have foreseen he’d make a speech that moved a nation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEOss...), or write a book (Talking To My Country), or write this wonderful essay.

He is the son of an itinerant Aboriginal sawmill worker, and they sometimes lived in the family car. He grew up Aboriginal and was always treated as such (he has some white ancestry). He’s now an award-winning television presenter and journalist and a familiar face and voice to Aussies.

As a former CNN news correspondent, reporting from China, the US and various war zones, he’s witnessed the waves of Chinese migrating to cities, as well as people blowing each other to bits in Afghanistan and elsewhere. He’s been in the Oval Office. He’s pretty much seen it all. So, what does HE think?

In this thoughtful and thought-provoking essay, Grant quotes from countless sources – classical philosophers, current academic studies, and opinion articles – to show how impossible it is to identify ‘authentic’ Indigenous people.

Is it those bitter after being dispossessed by The Invasion? Is it those who've embraced the middle-class Aussie dream to own your own home with a two-car garage? Is it those in outback communities who’ve resigned themselves to sit-down money and sniffing petrol or drinking themselves slowly to death in dry riverbeds after burning all the furniture in the houses given to them to live in?

“Aboriginal people are bound to a communal identity. This can impose a rigid conformity, accompanied sometimes by an intimidating lateral violence. Self-righteous Indigenous people take on the role of ‘identity police’, deciding who is in or out. All the while, Aboriginal people face having to explain themselves to a wary, sceptical, ignorant – even hostile – Australian public.

There is a vigorous debate within the Indigenous community that bristles against a narrowly defined identity. It can feel like a straitjacket.”
. . .

“An academic of Indigenous-Anglo-Asian heritage, Paradies (Yin Paradies) says he represents both ‘coloniser and colonised’, ‘black and consummately white.’ . . . a prison-house of identity” that means people accuse him of not being “a real Aborigine”.

This is not the story of African Americans, whose ancestors were torn from their families to be sold as slaves overseas to be bred and treated like livestock. And it’s not the story of the First Peoples of the Americas, who had more established villages and who fought the colonists in wars.

Theirs is the story of the first migration from Africa to the Australian continent, forming what historian Geoffrey Blainey has called hundreds of "mini-republics”, believed to be the world’s oldest continuous culture. Today’s Aboriginal Australians have not been assimilated or bred out, despite the best attempts of the governments of the day. They are here to stay.

If you've never heard Stan Grant’s brief, passionate speech, I suggest you listen now. He wrote no notes because he wanted to speak from the heart. I defy you not to feel moved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEOss...

This is Adam Goodes, who was booed, which is what Grant refers to in his speech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Go...

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I reviewed Stan Grant’s powerful Talking to My Country back in March of this year, I predicted that it could be a game-changer, but now I think that perhaps this Quarterly Essay might be the book that achieves more. In a coherently argued essay, what Grant is basically saying is that the image of indigenous poverty and disadvantage is only one part of the picture of indigenous life, and should not be the dominant one.

There’s a man I met at a recent function who I hope reads this essay too. Making idle pre-dinner chat, he was telling us about his recent holiday up north when he launched into a diatribe about the dysfunctional Aboriginal communities he saw. I was uncomfortable with what he was saying but since I’ve never been to one of the communities I held my tongue until he extrapolated from what he’d seen to make generalisations about all Aborigines. ‘Whoa,’ I said, ‘I’m not having that. You can talk about the people you’ve seen but you can’t make judgements about all indigenous people on the basis of that. There are plenty of middle-class indigenous people in Australia who are better educated than you and I are. I know because I’ve read their books.’

(It might not be polite to tackle people about their racism at social occasions, but I don’t tolerate racists and anti-Semites any time. The standard you walk past, is the standard you accept.)

I wish I’d had Stan Grant’s essay to hand! In a chapter entitled The Quiet Revolution he tells us that

There are around 30,000 Indigenous university graduates in Australia; in 1991 there were fewer than 4000. Those students who are breaking through are crafting a new narrative of empowerment and individuality. Dr Sana Nakata is a second-generation Indigenous PhD. Her father, Martin, was the first Torres Strait Islander to complete a doctorate, and his daughter finished hers in 2013. She is now teaching political theory at the University of Melbourne. She is part of a wave of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students earning doctoral degrees. The number has quadrupled in the past twenty years. Between 1990 and 2000 there were fifty-five Indigenous students awarded PhDs; between 2000 and 2011 there were 219. (p.72)

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/12/05/t...

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars - with a caveat. I would stress that this is only one opinion. As Grant himself notes, many Indigenous people would disagree with some of his conclusions, and I've certainly heard mixed reviews of Grant's theories from my Indigenous friends. But that's true of any group, of course; it is an easy majority fantasy to reduce a minority to one representative.

Acknowledging this is one take on a complex issue, Grant's essay is gorgeous. Encompassing the ancient history of Australia's Aboriginals as well as the murky modern situation, analysing Europeans' abhorrent treatment while also stressing some intriguing challenges to the modern progressive opinion of race relations in Australia. Grant is one of our most respected journalists for a reason, and that reason is clear.

[KateOB · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this a stimulating read, it reminded me a little of Noel Pearson’s ‘Up from the Mission’. Stan Grant says that being successful is not incompatible with being Aboriginal, and highlights some of the statistics about how indigenous lives are improving in Australia. At the same time, he acknowledges the very real challenge of navigating between the Great Australian Silence (pretending everything is just and fair) and focusing on the (many and real) injustices to the point is despair. Stan Grant’s family is from the East coast where the impacts of colonialism has been felt for centuries: I wondered what would be the perspective of this essay by someone from more remote parts of Australia. I found the last page particularly powerful.

[Brona's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Journalist Stan Grant received a lot of unexpected publicity in 2016 when a speech he gave at the Sydney Recital Hall in 2015 about the Australian dream and what it actually looks like to the Indigenous population, suddenly 'went viral'. His speech promptly 'became all things to all people'.

The Australian Dream essay formed part of his response to this media frenzy after a year of 'contemplation, reassessment and revelation'.
Full review here - http://bronasbooks.blogspot.com.au/20...

[Rebecca Radnor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stan Grant is an Aboriginal journalist who works for CNN, this work is about his people, and his own experiences, and what it means to be a high achieving aboriginal.... he's got some harsh words for knee jerk liberals who patronize his people and expect them to NOT take part in western society to the fullest of their abilities.

[Lyn Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to come

In the meantime here are a couple of links:

https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/12/05/t...

https://shawjonathan.com/2016/12/22/s...

[Sian Willoughby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful as is everything written by Stan Grant!

[Sam Schroder · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're trying to improve your understanding of the complexity of thought around indigenous identity in Australia in the 21st century, this is where you start. I couldn't put it down and I feel like a whole new perspective has been opened up for me today. And, as a teacher, this text offers so many possibilities in the classroom. Highly recommended reading.

[Timothy Dymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stan Grant's essay is an ambitious but not wholly successful attempt to incorporate the history of invasion and Aboriginal dispossession into a conservative vision of a socially stable Australian future - the pioneers of which will be the emerging and expanding 'new black middle class'.

Grant does not flinch from discussing the wars of extermination waged against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders by White Australia. The essay then makes an interesting analytical move by looking at Aboriginal history through the lens of Australian migration history. Indigenous people are not usually seen as migrants for obvious reasons. However Grant makes the case, through telling the story of his great-great-grandfather Frank Foster's thwarted ambitions, that the movement of Aboriginal labourers around the continent can be considered a migration story. Indeed if Indigenous people are considered to be 'outside' White Australia, then in a way they needed to cross a border to 'enter' (with the correct paperwork) as much as any Greek, Italian or Vietnamese migrant.

The migration frame allows Grant to do two things: (1) incorporate an Aboriginal historical narrative into an established Migrant narrative of social mobility; and (2) draw upon an E pluribus unum version of national identity - already used by migrant societies the world over - to incorporate indigenous history and identity as well.

Grant refers to his experience as a foreign correspondent in conflict zones to underscore the necessity of his view. Nations defined by the divisions of their past, he argues, are all to often stuck in the bloody conflict of their present. Australia can avoid this, he argues, by accepting the socially mobile new black middle class into its rightful place in Australian society. This will apparently assist broader indigenous Australia in a sort of 'rising tide lifts all boats' manner. The lack of detail on this aspect is Grant at his weakest. The First Nation perspective on the place of Indigenous people in Australia would not be satisfied with being another 'migrant success story' - particularly as those stories obscure ongoing marginalisation and discrimination of migrants.

It is a standard conservative rhetorical tactic to argue that 'it's my way or bloody social collapse', and Grant's response to the more radical criticism of his arguments reflect that view. To be fair, he doesn't claim to be 'Mr Indigenous', and he does acknowledge that his perspective on the vanguard type role he posits for the new black middle class comes from being part of it. Australia would be a better country if it embraced his vision, however it would still be a limited one if it stopped there.

[Emmaby Barton Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

as always, stan grants work never fails to challenge my preconceived notions, and think through lots of very chewy questions without any clear answer. he also writes so well and clearly which i appreciate. at the end of the day, as always, i think it’s important to remember that there is no one ‘right’ opinion here and not all first nations people will agree with him - he is not talking for all first nations people, nor is he claiming to.

- i am inclined to agree in part with amy mccquire, who grant quotes early on - that grant has become so popular because he is ‘unthreatening and diplomatic. unlike other indigenous voices, [his] doesn’t unsettle white Australia, she said - in fact, [his] words comfort it”
- but also makes me think of the traditional v contemporary narrative that i read about in Talkin' Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism - how first nations people can never win - if they are ‘too white’, they are not authentic and shouldn’t be listened to. they are punished for having seemingly integrated/assimilated as they were expected to. however, if they don’t do this and retain a level of ‘authenticity’ (which obviously in itself is such a problematic notion - there is no one way to be indigenous!!), they are ignored/rejected etc.
- “what is the cost of holding onto history?” - tensions between remembering and learning from the past versus holding onto victim narratives. i can agree to an extent that in an ideal world, we would forget the past - can we truly live in a society without racism, for example, if we can remember ever having lived in a society where racism was present? but i also am sceptical if such a society is possible - and if so, certainly not any time soon. i question whether forgetting the past is helpful in current contexts. indeed, one can move on without forgetting the past. and i think indigenous people have every right to be angry/hold negative feelings towards colonisation the past. but those feelings can coexist with being empowered etc - remembering the past doesn’t mean one has to stay in a victim role?
- i do find it interesting just how much he embraces assimilating into australia and how “the Australian dream works for most of us; isn’t it time to ask if it can work for all of us?” - like everything else, i don’t think this is a black or white issue - one can assimilate while still holding onto their culture (to an extent) and i don’t love how sometimes it’s framed as an either/or or without critiquing the systems themselves - first nations people shouldn’t have to conform to western/european culture if they don’t wish to; our country shouldn’t be set up so they suffer if they don’t (this discussion is further seen later in the text also, where he seems to imply that ‘closing the gap’ requires assimilation?)
- with that being said, he does raise important points about how we need to redefine what it means to be indigenous - first nations culture is not static and first nations people can be successful - “there are those among us - black and white - who eschew economic development and social uplift as a new, disguised form of assimilation, preferring instead a story of failure and blame - as though culture and spirituality are anti ethical to a modern globalised world. to their minds, success if not black” - but to what extent can first nations people “be subsumed into european life” and keep their identity/culture? but also why is their culture expected to remain static? and why are they not afforded the agency to make these decisions without being judged as being authentic or not? but equally, it is dangerous to applaud everything first nations people do as ‘right’ simply because they are first nations people (parallels with choice feminism etc)
- found the idea of indigenous people as migrants interesting
- we must be careful what narratives we concoct of first nations people - “it is easy - and not entirely inaccurate - to see their lives as personal tragedies… the suffering forms part of an intergenerational trauma that is at the root of so much contemporary misery. the inheritance of sadness informs much of indigenous identity. but there is something else here, something that inspires me: these were people of resilience, pride, intelligence and dreams… i am in awe of these people. to imagine them as victims defames their memory” - “you are not more aboriginal if you grew up struggling” - what are the dangers of equating being first nations with struggle and trauma? how can we expect these groups to grow and thrive if their identity is rooted in having to have had suffering? how is this reflected by attitudes towards the aboriginal middle class? but again, indigenous culture can evolve.
- marcia langton puts it well - “[white people] in truth prefer their aborigines to be poor, drunk, drug addicted or in jail. if you don’t conform to this stereotype then they may accuse you of lying about being aboriginal” - it benefits the coloniser for first nations people to align with these stereotypes and be punished or succeeding - but again, how do you balance this with so much of success being predicated on assimilation into the colonists culture/society?
- the tensions of deciding who is aboriginal - a decision between the state and first nations peoples - “indigenous people are constantly reminded that their identities are in question - reminded of the box they must belong to. it is there in every official form… no one else in australia is asked to define themselves so exclusively”
- quote at the end was a big hit to the heart - “i want what she has for my children” - the tensions many first nations people experience among the different ideas discussed throughout this essay/review - closeness to culture and being/feeling ‘authentic’ versus ‘success’/assimilation and the right to be whoever one wants to be etc

(skimmed over the correspondence section as it was in response to a previous essay)

[Melita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read.

[Annie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you for showing me the lives of Indigenous Australians through the your eyes and that of your family. Till recently I did not know that Aborginal culture and traditions is the longest surviving one in the world. How sad that the newcomers to the land decided that their capitalistic white race is superior and could see nothing valuable in these people who lived with such close connection to their land.

This prejudice against color is nothing new as we know, there are many countries, colonies, where people have suffered similar fates. But here, the invaders didn't leave. They stayed as rulers and now we have this mixed race, multi cultural (and beautiful) country we call Australia. We still need to keep giving restitution to the original owners, see their problems as ours to solve, work towards making them feel equal and then everyone can sing from their heart 'Australians all let us rejoice'

I liked the part where the author wrote about how to view history. "Thinking about history is far more likely to paralyse than encourage and inspire" "Clinging to past like clinging to self is a forlorn illusion. Buddhism" "We can make a fetish of the past, turning it into a formula for unending grievance and vendetta " He quotes from David Rieff's 'In Praise of Forgetting:Historical memory and its ironies'

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this as background for my current Cultural Psychology subject in my Graduate Diploma of Psychology.
Grant adds to the populist narrative of Aboriginal history by providing detail on Aboriginal people’s contributions to building Australia. He provides some insight into divided views within Aboriginal Australia.
It’s an exceptionally difficult topic to write about.
The data he provides about risk factors for Aboriginal people is heartbreaking: that 50% of young people in jail are Aboriginal, and that goes to 97% in the Northern Territory, the suicide rates, life expectancy.
It made me reconsider my views on equity, equality and justice.
As we approach Australia Day, I found Grant’s work helpful in exploring the complicated emotions and thoughts I have around the celebration.

[Prudence Loon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read and thought provoking essay arguing that Indigenous Australians should not be defined by poverty and anger, that their culture is not a stagnant or fragile thing, and that there are in fact a great proportion of Indigenous people who are very middle class and successful without shunning their culture. Guess what - Aboriginal Australians are a diverse set of human beings just like the rest of us!

Read this in conjunction with Uncle Bruce Pascoe's brilliant 'Dark Emu' which uses the European explorers own observations to prove that Australia was in no way Terra Nullius when the colonists arrived.

[Patti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was privileged to hear Stan Grant speak at our Word for Word Non-fiction Festival last year and bought a copy of this essay. Eloquent and thoroughly researched through experience, personal history and scholarly activity this essay is a must read. What stands out for me from reading the essay is the survival and incredible contribution of Australia's Aboriginal people and communities in the face of genocidal acts and a distressing and destructive level of racism that exists to this day. Looking forward to reading Talking to My Country.

[Iain Hawkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Copy pasted from The Escapist)

Like Australia Day, this was written by Stan Grant. Like Australia Day, it uses a poetic/waffling style (whether it's poetic or not depends on your tastes I guess). Like Australia Day, it explores indigenous identity in Australia. Unlike Australia Day, it doesn't do as nearly good a job.

TBH, I think part of this work ended up in AD - like, this is a quarterly essay, while AD is a full-fledged piece of non-fiction. I didn't check the publication dates, so I don't know for sure, but whatever the case, whatever the essay does, AD did better.

[Sonja · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't quite know what to think about this essay. Obviously, it's a personal reflection and I am not Stan Grant, so there is no way I can actually *share* his point of view. Some of his conclusions definitely require further thought and exploration! I did appreciate his simple statements of history peppered through his arguments. An intriguing read, all in all

[Claudette · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Audiobook) It was interesting to see how an Australian, who grew up as being half Indigenous views Australia. Grant is a well know reporter who speaks about the trials of being Indigenous in a mainly white society.

[Gabrielle Trenbath · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fantastic essay. It's well written and incredibly insightful

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5 stars

[Rukmini · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Intelligent and thought-provoking.

[Carmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Measured and compelling.

[Sally Marshall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of insight. Looking forward to the full book

[Richard Luck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly essential for anyone trying to understand the modern Australian experience.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A powerful, compelling piece on a disgusting cultural/political takeover-tragedy that still sadly continues.

[Bukhosibenkosi Masango · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful piece of literature; Stan Grant is an amazing writer, storyteller and Australian. Would highly recommend this to anyone!

[midsizedchillybin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upsetting and uplifting! Stan Grant doesn’t miss!

[Tegan | Snakes Don't Wear Braces · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Stan Grant, and I love what he is trying to say in this essay, I just struggle not to be lulled by his voice into a relaxed stupor. When I could compel myself to really take in his message though it is spot on.

[Lia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me longer than I wanted to read this. I kept putting it down because it was not the right time to read this.
I needed to have the time and head space to digest this. When I finally had the right moment I devoured this book.
The Quarterly Essay is always so compelling. This is one of the best I have ever read.
Stan Grant is a thought provoking journalist who trades on his skills and work ethic to get to the heart of the matter.
The examples and research were wonderful. Especially relevant the discussion of the rise of the aboriginal middle class.
I woke in healthcare in regional and remote communities so there was so much I could understand and see but this challenged me further.