Gary Foley | Victoria University (original) (raw)

Papers by Gary Foley

In November 1938, throughout Germany a major Nazi pogrom was conducted against the Jewish communi... more In November 1938, throughout Germany a major Nazi pogrom was conducted against the Jewish community.This notorious event was dubbed kristallnacht and signalled a dramatic upsurge of violence, intimidation and persecution of Germany’s Jewish population. Less than one month later, on December 6th 1938, on the other side of the world, a Victorian Aboriginal man, William Cooper, led a deputation of Kooris from the Australian Aborigines League, in a visit the German Consulate in Melbourne where they attempted to present a resolution ‘condemning the persecution of Jews and Christians in Germany’. The ConsulGeneral, Dr. R.W. Drechsler, refused them admittance.

The Answer is a Better Knowledge of History I am always being asked why it is that the Aboriginal... more The Answer is a Better Knowledge of History I am always being asked why it is that the Aboriginal resistance movement appears to have has lost its spark, energy and effectiveness over the past two decades. Why has the movement lost the momentum and power it had back in the heyday of the 1960s and 70s? People want from me answers as to how the malaise set in, and how we might restore or revive the glory days of old. How do we become effective again in determining the subject and nature of the debate? How do we make our voices heard again in the way we did in the past? These are reasonable and important questions. But I always point out that the answers are far from simple. To seek to answer such questions, one must first do your homework.

... myself at Nambucca Heads, Billy and Lyn Craigie at Moree, Keith Smith at Nowra, Bob and Sol B... more ... myself at Nambucca Heads, Billy and Lyn Craigie at Moree, Keith Smith at Nowra, Bob and Sol Bellear at Tweed Heads and Michael Anderson in Walgett. ... Redfern activists. Boyce had some genuine Springbok football jerseys that he ... South African football jersey. ...

Radical Philosophy Issue 2.07, series 2 (Spring 2020), 2020

The Black-Palestinian Solidarity conference was held at the University of Melbourne on 6-8 Novemb... more The Black-Palestinian Solidarity conference was held at the University of Melbourne on 6-8 November 2019. The central interest of the conference was to strengthen Indigenous solidarity, establish relationships and engage with forms of resistance against the ongoing settlercolonial occupation of Aboriginal nations in the continent now known as Australia and in Palestine. By settlercolonial governance, we refer to colonies in their modern nation-state manifestations that emerge from, practice and are sustained by what Patrick Wolfe terms, in Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology (1999), a 'logic of elimination'. That is, where settlers seek to eliminate, assimilate and replace the indigene and their sovereignty with a new national order that is contingent on Indigenous genocide. The subtitle of the conference 'Contesting Settler Nationalisms' referred to modes of domination and resistance that are informed by and embody a colonial logic. Against settler nationalisms, the conference aimed to reflect on models of and for resistance beyond the colonial-coloniser binary. It considered solidarity and resistance as intellectual and political praxis informed by what Mudar Kassis describes as a 'freedom-based epistemology' which rejects colonial grammar and embraces a transnational and transcultural solidarity strategy; and by the work of scholars Noura Erakat and Marc Lamont

A personal assessment of my relative Warren Mundine

The controversy surrounding what constitutes Aboriginality in the arts, and in particular the ‘ou... more The controversy surrounding what constitutes Aboriginality in the arts, and in particular the ‘outing’ of Mudrooroo, fellow writer Archie Weller and academic cum political activist Dr. Roberta Sykes, as being not of Aboriginal ‘blood’ in 1997

Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generations. An interview with Gary Foley by Crystal McKinnon

Print media is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the first English newspaper, The Oxford Gazet... more Print media is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the first English newspaper, The Oxford Gazette being published in 1665, and mass circulation newspapers not appearing until the 19th Century. But, as Clark notes, by the end of the reign of George II, "newspapers had become a vital element in the political, commercial and even literary life of England and her American colonies". He goes on to point out that, English-language newspapers of the 18th Century, wherever they were printed, presented their readers with a remarkably coherent vision of the world. This consensual world view covered a range of perceptions and attitudes extending from matters as fundamental as space and time to virtually unquestioned assumptions about religion, nationality, and the natural world, not to mention that triune scholarly shibboleth of our own day, race, class and gender. It was the world view, by and large, of the upper-class, cultivated, ethnocentric and fiercely patriotic, Protestant English male.

In the past thirty years we have seen a revolution in the history and politics of Australian indi... more In the past thirty years we have seen a revolution in the history and politics of Australian indigenous art. Since the late 1960s perceptions of indigenous art have progressed from quaint disinterest to international excitement and the creation of a multi-million dollar industry. From a tiny 1.7 percent of the Australian population, Aborigines make-up at least 25 percent and probably around 50 percent of working visual artists as well as creating more than half the total value of Australian visual fine art and dominating the export market. Australia-wide the Aboriginal art industry is estimated to make in excess of 200millionayearandtobegrowingat10percentayear.AboriginalartistsintheNorthernTerritoryarethelargestproducersintheindustry.Theirworkhasanestimatedvalueof200 million a year and to be growing at 10 per cent a year. Aboriginal artists in the Northern Territory are the largest producers in the industry. Their work has an estimated value of 200millionayearandtobegrowingat10percentayear.AboriginalartistsintheNorthernTerritoryarethelargestproducersintheindustry.Theirworkhasanestimatedvalueof110 million annually. Unfortunately, the practitioners and custodians of the art work itself continue to be marginalized and exploited to such an extent that less than one percent of the millions generated by their work is returned to them or their communities. Further, the intense international interest created by indigenous art rarely translates into an appreciation of the enormous historical injustices that continue to have a destructive effect on indigenous peoples throughout Australia. The whole world it seems is excited by indigenous art of Australia. The same whole world simultaneously demonstrates total disinterest in the reality of the present day indigenous social, political and economic condition. That such appreciation of art and indifference to suffering can reside together is a contradiction that shall be examined in a small way in this essay. Through an examination of a few significant moments in the recent history of indigenous Australia I shall illustrate the struggle by indigenous artists to assert their self-determination, challenge exploitation at the same time as altering the cultural and political landscape of Australia.

Memorium for Australian actor Bill Hunter

This month I return to my favourite theme of history to talk about an extraordinary new book publ... more This month I return to my favourite theme of history to talk about an extraordinary new book published in Melbourne that shines a light on a little known aspect of the Aboriginal rights movement of the 1930s.

In November 1938, throughout Germany a major Nazi pogrom was conducted against the Jewish communi... more In November 1938, throughout Germany a major Nazi pogrom was conducted against the Jewish community.This notorious event was dubbed kristallnacht and signalled a dramatic upsurge of violence, intimidation and persecution of Germany’s Jewish population. Less than one month later, on December 6th 1938, on the other side of the world, a Victorian Aboriginal man, William Cooper, led a deputation of Kooris from the Australian Aborigines League, in a visit the German Consulate in Melbourne where they attempted to present a resolution ‘condemning the persecution of Jews and Christians in Germany’. The ConsulGeneral, Dr. R.W. Drechsler, refused them admittance.

The Answer is a Better Knowledge of History I am always being asked why it is that the Aboriginal... more The Answer is a Better Knowledge of History I am always being asked why it is that the Aboriginal resistance movement appears to have has lost its spark, energy and effectiveness over the past two decades. Why has the movement lost the momentum and power it had back in the heyday of the 1960s and 70s? People want from me answers as to how the malaise set in, and how we might restore or revive the glory days of old. How do we become effective again in determining the subject and nature of the debate? How do we make our voices heard again in the way we did in the past? These are reasonable and important questions. But I always point out that the answers are far from simple. To seek to answer such questions, one must first do your homework.

... myself at Nambucca Heads, Billy and Lyn Craigie at Moree, Keith Smith at Nowra, Bob and Sol B... more ... myself at Nambucca Heads, Billy and Lyn Craigie at Moree, Keith Smith at Nowra, Bob and Sol Bellear at Tweed Heads and Michael Anderson in Walgett. ... Redfern activists. Boyce had some genuine Springbok football jerseys that he ... South African football jersey. ...

Radical Philosophy Issue 2.07, series 2 (Spring 2020), 2020

The Black-Palestinian Solidarity conference was held at the University of Melbourne on 6-8 Novemb... more The Black-Palestinian Solidarity conference was held at the University of Melbourne on 6-8 November 2019. The central interest of the conference was to strengthen Indigenous solidarity, establish relationships and engage with forms of resistance against the ongoing settlercolonial occupation of Aboriginal nations in the continent now known as Australia and in Palestine. By settlercolonial governance, we refer to colonies in their modern nation-state manifestations that emerge from, practice and are sustained by what Patrick Wolfe terms, in Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology (1999), a 'logic of elimination'. That is, where settlers seek to eliminate, assimilate and replace the indigene and their sovereignty with a new national order that is contingent on Indigenous genocide. The subtitle of the conference 'Contesting Settler Nationalisms' referred to modes of domination and resistance that are informed by and embody a colonial logic. Against settler nationalisms, the conference aimed to reflect on models of and for resistance beyond the colonial-coloniser binary. It considered solidarity and resistance as intellectual and political praxis informed by what Mudar Kassis describes as a 'freedom-based epistemology' which rejects colonial grammar and embraces a transnational and transcultural solidarity strategy; and by the work of scholars Noura Erakat and Marc Lamont

A personal assessment of my relative Warren Mundine

The controversy surrounding what constitutes Aboriginality in the arts, and in particular the ‘ou... more The controversy surrounding what constitutes Aboriginality in the arts, and in particular the ‘outing’ of Mudrooroo, fellow writer Archie Weller and academic cum political activist Dr. Roberta Sykes, as being not of Aboriginal ‘blood’ in 1997

Rudd's Apology to the Stolen Generations. An interview with Gary Foley by Crystal McKinnon

Print media is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the first English newspaper, The Oxford Gazet... more Print media is a relatively recent phenomenon, with the first English newspaper, The Oxford Gazette being published in 1665, and mass circulation newspapers not appearing until the 19th Century. But, as Clark notes, by the end of the reign of George II, "newspapers had become a vital element in the political, commercial and even literary life of England and her American colonies". He goes on to point out that, English-language newspapers of the 18th Century, wherever they were printed, presented their readers with a remarkably coherent vision of the world. This consensual world view covered a range of perceptions and attitudes extending from matters as fundamental as space and time to virtually unquestioned assumptions about religion, nationality, and the natural world, not to mention that triune scholarly shibboleth of our own day, race, class and gender. It was the world view, by and large, of the upper-class, cultivated, ethnocentric and fiercely patriotic, Protestant English male.

In the past thirty years we have seen a revolution in the history and politics of Australian indi... more In the past thirty years we have seen a revolution in the history and politics of Australian indigenous art. Since the late 1960s perceptions of indigenous art have progressed from quaint disinterest to international excitement and the creation of a multi-million dollar industry. From a tiny 1.7 percent of the Australian population, Aborigines make-up at least 25 percent and probably around 50 percent of working visual artists as well as creating more than half the total value of Australian visual fine art and dominating the export market. Australia-wide the Aboriginal art industry is estimated to make in excess of 200millionayearandtobegrowingat10percentayear.AboriginalartistsintheNorthernTerritoryarethelargestproducersintheindustry.Theirworkhasanestimatedvalueof200 million a year and to be growing at 10 per cent a year. Aboriginal artists in the Northern Territory are the largest producers in the industry. Their work has an estimated value of 200millionayearandtobegrowingat10percentayear.AboriginalartistsintheNorthernTerritoryarethelargestproducersintheindustry.Theirworkhasanestimatedvalueof110 million annually. Unfortunately, the practitioners and custodians of the art work itself continue to be marginalized and exploited to such an extent that less than one percent of the millions generated by their work is returned to them or their communities. Further, the intense international interest created by indigenous art rarely translates into an appreciation of the enormous historical injustices that continue to have a destructive effect on indigenous peoples throughout Australia. The whole world it seems is excited by indigenous art of Australia. The same whole world simultaneously demonstrates total disinterest in the reality of the present day indigenous social, political and economic condition. That such appreciation of art and indifference to suffering can reside together is a contradiction that shall be examined in a small way in this essay. Through an examination of a few significant moments in the recent history of indigenous Australia I shall illustrate the struggle by indigenous artists to assert their self-determination, challenge exploitation at the same time as altering the cultural and political landscape of Australia.

Memorium for Australian actor Bill Hunter

This month I return to my favourite theme of history to talk about an extraordinary new book publ... more This month I return to my favourite theme of history to talk about an extraordinary new book published in Melbourne that shines a light on a little known aspect of the Aboriginal rights movement of the 1930s.