Dreamtime

For the past 40,000 years, the paradise of northern Queensland has been the world of the Pamagirri, one of hundreds of aborigine tribes scattered throughout the continent. The past 120 years, however, has seen their existence sadly parallel that of America’s Native peoples, traumatised by contact with the outside world.

Until 1992, for instance, the government only guaranteed land rights to non-native Australians, actively enforcing what was know as “White Australia”. Whole tribes could be, and were evicted from land with which it was deemed they were doing nothing. The result was a decimation-by-neglect, with the elderly still to be found on semi-autonomous home-lands, and many younger aborigines doing their best to assimilate into, with the help of belated government assistance, a rapidly colouring “White Australia”.

Today, as a result, only pockets of Pamagirri remain. The consequence of this cultural implosion has been a gross dereliction of an ancient people, manifesting itself in all-too-familiar forms of alcoholism, crime and a general resignation to cultural identity.
However, a few years ago, in the a last ditch effort at cultural revival, a few Pamagirri aborigines chose to learn some of their traditional dances from their elders, and to perform to tourists and white Australians alike.

This bold move was commercial, without being self-exploitative. Their performances were supposed to educate, but also return money to their people (ostensibly for their rehabilitation and integration into a relatively more productive society).