{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"36180918","dateCreated":"1300624532","smartDate":"Mar 20, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"20103802","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/20103802","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ab372-572.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/36180918"},"dateDigested":1532175026,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Jandamarra","description":"JANDAMARRA - Aboriginal unit 573
\nIn what way does Muecke\u2019s claim explain the origins of the text produced by J S Battye who describes the relationship of the Major protagonists to each other in the Jandamarra story? What do you think were the broader late 19th century institutional or cultural demands shaping Battye\u2019s text and what was the socio-political motivation for Howard Pederson\u2019s text on the same subject? What was Pedersen stand in your understanding of the different position taken by protagonists in the History Wars?
\nBattye tells the Blythe story and the establishment by them of the \u2018Mount House\u2019 station and the \u2018Fairfield\u2019 property. The text is very much biased towards the white man\u2019s point of view as we read how Blythe claimed a huge part of the East Kimberley land dispossessing the local aboriginal people of their land. The fact that there was no acknowledgement of the original owners is obvious. Battye\u2019s description of the local aboriginal was typically one sided when he suggested that the natives were seen only as troublesome and hostile natives, spearing cattle killers and a danger to the lives of the white settlers\u201d. The State Government were no better as they declared \u2018Pidgeon\u2019 an outlaw which for five years made him a hunted man. \u201cIn general the Government failed to protect Kimberley Aboriginal people from cruelty and rarely discussed the possibility of coercion or exploitation in the pastoral system\u201d.(Battye, 1915, p. 123) Rather they provided legislative and police support for the managers at the expense of the local inhabitants. Development of the North was all they were interested in. (Pederson, 1980, p. 66) Pederson does make an effort to tell the true story but is limited by what he is allowed to write. His source is the owner of the story and that would suggest a history that may well be close to the truth. But even this story is told from the Aboriginal point of view relying on memory and the passage of time which can distort any history. Can we separate fact from myth? - maybe not.
\nThe James Price Point story indicates to me that the white man\u2019s attitude of greed and blatant disregard for aboriginal wishes may still be alive and well today.
\nMy question is: Can any History be free of bias?
\nPeter T","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"35477850","dateCreated":"1299578113","smartDate":"Mar 8, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"20103802","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/20103802","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/ab372-572.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/35477850"},"dateDigested":1532175027,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Windschuttle","description":"What is your view of Ryan and Clements reply to Windschuttle\u2019s claim that
\n the history of contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians has
\n been hijacked by left wing radicals who have created a black arm band version
\n of history?
\n
\n
\n
\nHistory can and has been expressed in the written and spoken word, film,
\n music, painting, and dance. What Windschuttle is interested in is the written
\n history and he places little or no importance on other forms and in fact sees
\n them as most unreliable. This is a dangerous position to take and will result
\n in much history being hidden from us forever. His responses as shown above are very
\n strong words indeed, basically accusing Ryan and Clement of a hidden agenda.
\n This response is not warranted though one could mount a good argument that he
\n may have a few points worth investigating. Ryan and Clements are accused of
\n what we may call bias. Now all written history of its nature has the aspect of
\n bias within its pages as writers tend to write using the limited sources at
\n their disposal. In other words the success of their work depends on the accuracy
\n of their researched and the personal experience brought to bear on what they
\n write. Their own world view along with the motivation for writing also must
\n have a bearing on the outcome. The final point to make here is that
\n Windschuttle forgets that he may well be writing with a bias which after all is
\n only his point of view - perhaps that whites were the good guys and the blacks
\n were not. Maybe the truth lies somewhere in between.
\n
\n
\n
\nQuestion: Was Windschuttle just playing Devil\u2019s Advocate here or in other
\n words was he just pointing out that there is always another side to every
\n story?","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}