The first objection to the Gweagal Shield having come from Botany Bay is that it is made of wood not found there. And that is the second objection as well: Joseph Banks specifically refers to a 'bark' artefact, not a wooden one. Thanks to 'indigenous and anti-colonial methodologies', however, that which couldn't be lives on as a revered but laughable myth

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When consultancy PwC was engaged to report on who could speak for Victoria's Aborigines -- a key element in the state's ongoing 'treaty' burlesque -- it arrived at an entirely obvious conclusion: there is no agreed definition of an Elder, no authority to determine Eldership disputes, 'and no obvious existing entity that could take on this role'

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In Dan Andrews' Victoria, where police stitch up cardinals but slink meekly away from Labor hacks caught red-shirted and red-handed pilfering the public purse, few things other than the stench on Spring Street are as they seem. That is especially the case in regard to the hugely inflated ledger of 'stolen generations'

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Later this year the ABC will screen a two-part adaptation of 'Dark Emu'. The project is funded by Screen Australia, in other words by Australia's taxpayers, who will get farrago of a lies, half-truths and misrepresentations for their money. Why has no one stepped in to scuttle this monumental assault on truth?

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History, of its very nature, is subjective to some extent, with different writers putting different interpretations on events. But my quarrel with 'Dark Emu' is not a disagreement with Pascoe’s interpretation of history. It is with his shameless distortion of facts and sources. Here are yet more examples

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Bruce Pascoe has tapped a receptive audience and lucrative market in those who see a revised perception of indigenous society as enhancing the push for sovereignty and changes to the Constitution. Those who rank cause above truth and choose to remain diplomatically schtum do neither scholarship nor Aborigines any favours

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If Dark Emu's claims of Aboriginal settlements and agriculture were true, one could expect archeological expeditions to have turned up evidence of pottery. The National Museum of Australia, proud of its 'working relationship' with Pascoe, tells one of his presumed supporters it has such relics. To another, it says it doesn't have a shard

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In a 2011 letter to the Koori Times, the 'Dark Emu' author wrote of his concern that entrants in the David Unaipon literary awards included 'people without an Aboriginal heritage.' Pascoe, whose genealogical record shows no trace of an Aboriginal ancestor, was one of the competition's judges

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Why did it take so long for the Aboriginal community -- at least some of them -- to speak out, prompting what has now spawned a referral to the Australian Federal Police? Could it be that fake history is acceptable, but only if written by an 'Aboriginal'?

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There is no Aboriginal line of descent in any of Bruce Pascoe’s forebears, so it is not only his history in 'Dark Emu' that is bogus, but also his public biography. He should return his Indigenous Writers Prize and any other award given him for his claim to be an Aborigine. And he should apologise to his readers for deceiving them

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