Urban Myths: Exploring the Unsettling Nature of Aboriginal Presence in and through a Regional Australian Town

Abstract

According to census data, Aboriginal Australians live predominantly in urban localities. Yet ‘urban Aboriginality’ has received limited attention in the Australian literature and continues to be generalised largely in terms of deficit and illegitimacy. Drawing on findings from recent research in Broome, Western Australia, this article explores how Aboriginal presence in and through a particular urban space disrupts overlain colonial boundaries regarding who and what constitutes ‘urban Aboriginality’. It argues that not only have ‘authenticity discourses’ had a marginalising and disciplining effect on Aboriginal spatial geographies, they also paint a distorted picture of the realities of Aboriginal lived experiences in and through urban spaces.

Keywords:

• Aboriginality
• authenticity
• Broome
• mobility
• urban
• demography

Acknowledgements

The research upon which this article is based would not have been possible without the invitation and support of the Kimberley Institute. The author is also indebted to the people of the Shire of Broome who contributed their insights and time toward the research, to her colleague Nick Biddle from the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) who provided valuable assistance with Figure 2 and the data for Table 1, and to Mandy Yap and Gillian Cosgrove, also from CAEPR, who respectively undertook data analysis for the Broome study and created the graphics presented. The research that underpins this project was carried out in 2009 under the provision of a grant from the Australian Ministerial Council for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (MCATSIA) to CAEPR at the Australian National University.

Notes

1. Because of the way census collection districts are coded, some population clusters within this category are ostensibly part of a regional city. There is consequently some fuzziness between these categories.

2. Here, the term ‘Law’ is used to collectively reference the system of customary Aboriginal ceremonial practices, protocols and obligations.

3. Each client is counted only once per month by their number of admission. Each month, however, is treated independently for enumeration purposes. It is therefore possible that the total number of clients includes double-counted (across months) clients.

4. The ‘Hill’ is a reference to Kennedy Hill, an Aboriginal reserve in Broome that is a significant site for Yawuru people and has been the centre of fierce land-use planning conflicts in the town for several decades (Jackson, 1996, 1997).

5. CDEP is essentially a work-for-welfare programme for Aboriginal Australians.

6. Aboriginal camps in Broome became more defined as the township grew, as a means of trying to contain and control the Aboriginal population (Jackson, 1996, 1997).