The ghosts of Australia

This is a difficult post.

Ania and I discussed over and over if we should publish this post. Hopefully our readers from Down Under won’t take offense over the issue.

It’s very hard not to notice the plight of the Aboriginal people in Central Australia. If the Aborigines are mostly unseen in big urban centers onthe East coast, they make up a large part of the population in Central Australia.

The extent of the demise of the Aboriginal people in Central Australia is unmistakable. Consider that standard, unleaded fuel isn’t available in this part of Australia. Unleaded fuel has been replaced with “Opal Fuel”. Why? Because of “sniffing”. That’s right. The Aborigines are getting high on fuel and it has gotten so bad that the Australian authorities have had to remove the chemical agent that produces the typical fuel smell and replace it with a neutral agent. In many hardware stores in Central Australia, warnings of hefty fines are posted on front doors to remind patrons that buying glue on behalf of someone else is strictly forbidden. Bike patches are only available behind the counter. That’s how bad it is.

The Aborigines are just hanging out in and around parks and spend the whole day enjoying the sun. We saw maybe a couple of Aborigines working. Most of the low paying jobs are staffed with Asians. The Aborigines have a mountain to climb - literally.

More worrying is the fact that Aborigines, dogged by alcohol and drug related problems, quarrel a lot between each other. Overall the feeling is that the Aboriginal community is unhealthy: some have worn-out bandages with blood stains, others are limping. The contrast with white Australia couldn’t be greater.

Crime, real or imagined, is very much alive to any white Australian we spoke to: “watch out for the Abos – as they are disparagingly called – they’ll take a whack at you if they have a piss”. Others claiming that “you don’t want to hang around these people”. Even tourist information staff talked about the Aborigines in such fashion. It’s very hard to hear something positive about the Aborigines over here.

I dare not to discuss any of the shared responsibilities for this tragedy, but it is obvious that the Aborigines living in the towns of Central Australia are on the decline. The question becomes whose responsibility is it to reverse the ongoing tragedy?

White Australia has done an excellent job at growing Aboriginal artwork into a multi-million dollar business. Aboriginal culture tends to emphasize how thriving the communities once were.

Can white Australia now help turn the tide so that the communities thrive again?