Until Ian's email I had never heard of "Dark Emu" which seems to have become widely accepted largely because of the belief that its author, Bruce Pascoe, is an Aboriginal elder, which has been questioned as much as his book.
A lot has been written about 'fake Aborigines', with the 2021 Census reporting a 25 per cent increase in the Indigenous population in the five years since the previous census. Suddenly, people, who for the bulk of their lives have identified as non-Indigenous Australians, are now "box-ticking" 'Indigenous' as their identity in the Census. From the 812,728 people who self-identified as Indigenous, "there has been data to suggest that should actually be about 300,000 less." (click here)
Publishing with Magabala Books endorsed Bruce Pascoe’s claims to Aboriginality: "Magabala Books is Australia’s leading Indigenous publishing house. Aboriginal owned and led, we celebrate and nurture the talent and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices." In tolerant and racially mixed Broome their basic criterion for publication is racial discrimination: "If you are a non-Indigenous author your submission to Magabala Books will not be considered." (click here)
Fake Aborigine? Fake book? Several highly respected academics say that there is little evidence for Pascoe's claims that pre-contact Aborigines were romantic farmers who tilled, planted, harvested and stored their native crops like the picturesque Wessex folk in a Thomas Hardy novel.
Not that all this controversy has been bad for business: book sales have taken off and Pascoe's Black Duck outfit, which is tasked with reviving the lost knowledge and techniques of "Aboriginal farming", has become such a worthy cause that donors – governments, corporates, foundations and mums and dads – have thrown $1,899,263 of tax-free money at tax-exempt registered charitable organisation Black Duck Foods in the three years to last June. The black duck is very much in the black! (click here)
Peter O'Brien gave acomprehensive appraisal of Bruce Pascoe’s "Dark Emu" in his book "Bitter Harvest: The illusion of Aboriginal agriculture in Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu". It is a forensic but highly readable examination which reveals that Bruce Pascoe omits, distorts or mischaracterises important information to such an extent that, as purported history, "Dark Emu" is worthless. Even worse, it promotes a divisive, victim-based agenda that pits one Australian against another.
It is a pity "Bitter Harvest" is so difficult to get. It should be much more widely available, especially with so much media attention given to "Professor" Pascoe. Anyone who thinks they need to read "Dark Emu" would be well advised to read "Bitter Harvest" to get the balance right.
I think the "Dark Emu" is a bit of a dark horse. Ian was right when he wrote in his email that "Dark Emu" doesn't sit comfortably with me.
P.S. "The Dark Emu Story" screens on Tuesday, July 18 at 8.30pm on ABC TV. I don't expect any fierce rebuttals from the ABC but will watch it.
