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Pondering the Abyss is a study of how the Language of Settlement shaped a collective forgetfulness and subverted understandings of Aboriginal responses to the settler invasion of the Hawkesbury. The historical truth of settlement on the Hawkesbury is a blur of history and myth. A close study of the written sources shows a self-reflective relationship between the process of settlement and the Language of Settlement. Most of the records were written by opportunistic, often self-made men; thwarted by the barriers of class and inherited-wealth from realising their ambitions in Britain. Self-interest, silences, omissions, obfuscation, denial, distortion, rationalisation and blame-shifting darken and define the Language of Settlement. Records of early settlement manifest a number of reoccurring themes that elevated Europeans and their way of life over all others and doomed all First Peoples to extinction as a validation of Civilisation. The language of settlement reveals a sequence of four overlapping parts: records; romantic metaphors; apologia; and wilful blindness. An analysis of the complex interactions of Aboriginal people and settlers suggests that:
It is a sad fact that in this study, only a few people stood out for their moral courage: Watkin Tench who recognised a common humanity with Deedora; Mary Archer who reported the murders of Little Jemmy and Little George in 1799; Edward Hyland and William Johnston, a Richmond landholder and a Pitt Town blacksmith, who both served under enormous pressure on the jury in the second Myall Creek murder trial; and Maria Lock, who proudly asserted her identity as an Aboriginal native of New South Wales . It is even sadder that they are largely forgotten. As the early settlers passed on, Heritage became a tangible symbol of the legitimacy of settlement with the centenary of settlement in 1888, Federation in 1901 and the Macquarie Towns centenary in 1910. Heritage, originally the Old French word Eritage, meaning that which can be inherited, came with the Norman Conquest in 1066 . Heritage continues to sanitise the actions of early settlers and hide the unpalatable truth that murder and theft do not constitute proof of ownership. |
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