Writers in the European tradition tend to establish the legitimacy of their ideas about history with the support of written texts and archaeological evidence (eg physical artefacts). Documentary evidence does not exist for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples before European contact. In addition, physical evidence and artefacts may be scarce for some Indigenous cultures.
You will need to consider the types of historical material that are available to you and incorporate what is available. Depending on the context, materials may include oral histories, stories about places or events, and biographies, as well as music, dance and visual artwork. Make sure that a lack of evidence does not lead you to incorrect conclusions:
Dark Emu: understanding a flawed Australian mythology
Bruce Pascoe’s 2014 book, Dark Emu, details the evidence for widespread agriculture, aquaculture, permanent housing, and established laws and customs among Indigenous Australians before European colonisation.
Pascoe also provides a detailed case study about how ‘cultural myopia’ blinded the first European settlers to Aboriginal achievements. Colonists’ ideas about Indigenous people as ‘savages’ led them to see houses and call them ‘hovels’, or see fields cared for by Indigenous farmers and wonder at how nature had created land that ‘looked as if it had been carefully ploughed’. These preconceptions were encouraged by a political agenda that aimed to erase any perceptions of the Indigenous people as settled or cultured, as this would delegitimise British claims to the land as ‘terra nullius’ (uninhabited land). Many of these misperceptions continue today – for example, with the continued characterisation of all Aboriginal peoples as ‘hunter-gatherers’ and place names that celebrate European explorers rather than the original inhabitants.
Other issues to take care with are as follows:
- Time. The Eurocentric view of history emphasises the order in which events occurred. But some cultures may view time differently (eg many Aboriginal cultures perceive time as having a ‘circular’ form, or see more important events as being closer in time to the present). You should gain an understanding of how the culture you are writing about views time to communicate their histories effectively.
- Death. In some Indigenous cultures, the use of names, voices or images of deceased members of the community is avoided. You should follow appropriate social conventions or provide warnings for these audiences.
