Do we have to apologise for this?

[old man emu]

Many of you will be familiar with the magazine PIX ( The popular tabloid Pix magazine now online! ) which was always found as reading matter in the local Gent's barbershop in the 1960s. One of the important contributors to this magazine was the cartoonist Jolliffe who used two outback stereotypes - Aboriginals (Witchity's Tribe and struggling dirt farmers (Saltbush Bill).

 

I found this cartoon. Given the basis for the joke, it probably dates from the early Sixties, when the Referendum on Aboriginal citizenship was the big thing.

 

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The question I pose is this: " In the current PC climate, do we have to apologise to Aboriginals in general for the implication that they don't work and are uncivilised; do we aplogise to Aboriginal women from their depiction in a sexually alluring way; do we apologise to all women for the same, or do we apologise to those non-Aboriginals who campaigned for a "YES" vote in the Referendum for their depiction as Beatniks?

 

[Marty_d]

Well, I'm not Jolliffe, so I have no need or desire to apologise for anything he drew. And he died in 2001 so I don't think he can.

 

 

[facthunter]

I think it makes a good point. Before the "natives" ate western junk food and cheap grog, they did cut a nice profile and were much more healthy. . It's harder to look good without clothes. Nev.

 

 

[octave]

It's harder to look good without clothes. Nev.

speak for yourself Nev:oh yeah:

 

 

[facthunter]

I was actually going to put it that way, but had 2nd thoughts. I didn't want to be held responsible for a spate of self harm by depressed people . Nev

 

 

[old man emu]

Well, I'm not Jolliffe, so I have no need or desire to apologise for anything he drew. And he died in 2001 so I don't think he can.

That's a very good way to deal with a multitude of the complaints of unfair, unethical, or downright nasty actions of others, especially where those actions occurred before one was born. It's OK to agree that bad things that happened in the past were wrong, but to expect people who did not even exist at the time to beat their chests and cry "mea culpa" is also wrong.

 

All we can do in our own lifetimes is vow not to repeat what wrongs others have done in the past.

 

 

[willedoo]

Many of you will be familiar with the magazine PIX ( The popular tabloid Pix magazine now online! ) which was always found as reading matter in the local Gent's barbershop in the 1960s. One of the important contributors to this magazine was the cartoonist Jolliffe who used two outback stereotypes - Aboriginals (Witchity's Tribe and struggling dirt farmers (Saltbush Bill).

I found this cartoon. Given the basis for the joke, it probably dates from the early Sixties, when the Referendum on Aboriginal citizenship was the big thing.

 

[ATTACH=full]3016[/ATTACH]

 

The question I pose is this: " In the current PC climate, do we have to apologise to Aboriginals in general for the implication that they don't work and are uncivilised; do we aplogise to Aboriginal women from their depiction in a sexually alluring way; do we apologise to all women for the same, or do we apologise to those non-Aboriginals who campaigned for a "YES" vote in the Referendum for their depiction as Beatniks?

The only person who would have to mull over an apology is Eric Jolliffe and he's dead.

 

 

[robinsm]

Why should Jollife have to apologise. No One apologies for jokes about Jews, Politicians, Catholics, Irishmen etc, so why in this case? I thought they were funny and still do. Doesn't make me feel less about the aboriginals. Political correctness is offensive...I am offended by it...lol

 

 

[coljones]

They look like German tourists. Jobs? - the proud and noble aboriginal was tossed off their lands and only permitted back if they worked for slave wages (if they were lucky).

 

 

[willedoo]

Eric Jolliffe had a lot of empathy with the Aboriginal people and a lot of his career was based on it. If anyone thought his cartoons and art work were racist, they're missing the point he was trying to make.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

When I first saw the picture, I took it as a dig at the the whitefella....

 

 

[old man emu]

When I first saw the picture, I took it as a dig at the the whitefella....

Yeah. So did I.

 

I think that this cartoon came out in the mid-1960s, before the Hippy Summer of Love. So the whitefellas would, at the time, be interpreted as university students. University students were strongly behind the YES vote in the referendum. Australian referendum, 1967 (Aboriginals) - Wikipedia

 

This was after civil rights protests in the USA in 1964, and the Charles Perkins-lead freedom ride through NSW.

 

Collaborating for Indigenous Rights 1957-1973

 

 

 

[coljones]

Maybe Jolliffe had seen too many empty gestures from white people before and thought that nothing would really change. He knew ahead of time about the perfidious LNP and their manipulation of the laws.

 

 

[willedoo]

Collaborating for Indigenous Rights 1957-1973

 

That chart of rights could be a bit misleading. It makes Queensland look bad with a full house of no's, but pre referundum, most of the restrictions in Queensland applied only to full blood Aboriginals who were classified as Wards of the State. There was a majority of Aboriginals who already had voting and drinking rights etc. in Queensland before the 1967 referendum. A lot of full blood Aboriginals had rights also, mainly because they were in employment on cattle stations and not Wards of the State living in missions.

 

 

[willedoo]

When I was a kid, Eric Jolliffe did a tour of the country putting a bit of a show. He came to our local town and the hall was packed. It was an event in the bush not to miss. He talked a lot about his work and told stories about the Aboriginals and did a lot of drawings. It was a great event and you could really see how passionate he was about the Aboriginal people and old bush lore and history. It's a night I've never forgotten.

 

 

[Geoff13]

That chart of rights could be a bit misleading. It makes Queensland look bad with a full house of no's, but pre referundum, most of the restrictions in Queensland applied only to full blood Aboriginals who were classified as Wards of the State. There was a majority of Aboriginals who already had voting and drinking rights etc. in Queensland before the 1967 referendum. A lot of full blood Aboriginals had rights also, mainly because they were in employment on cattle stations and not Wards of the State living in missions.

Queensland had many things before the rest of the Country.

 

I know we laugh at ourselves about setting our clocks back to the last century, but when you look at history Qld led the way in many things.

 

The Golden casket paid for free medical in Qld since before I was born.

 

When Medibank, (the forrunner to medicare) came in I remember my fathers comment. Now I have to pay for my free medical.

 

And he was not only serious but he was also correct.

 

 

[coljones]

Queensland had many things before the rest of the Country.I know we laugh at ourselves about setting our clocks back to the last century, but when you look at history Qld led the way in many things.

 

The Golden casket paid for free medical in Qld since before I was born.

 

When Medibank, (the forrunner to medicare) came in I remember my fathers comment. Now I have to pay for my free medical.

 

And he was not only serious but he was also correct.

Someone had to pay for the tickets. If Queenslanders had got moral the medical system would have collapsed.

 

 

[Jerry_Atrick]

My mother and all fo her family are from QLD - dotted from Bowen to Jacobs Well. I lived in Brissie in the winter of '94 or '95. I loved the place to be honest. Everyone referred to it as a big country town, but it wasn't; Ot was relaxed, the city is aesthetic to the eye, Southbank was great in the warm winter evenings, fishing is pretty good; people are very firendly even to the Mexicans; Ray Wilkie would give his 5 day forecast as 23, fine; 23, fine;23, fine;23, fine;23, fine, and in the summer the storms were fantastic to watch. We had virtually the sunshine coast to ourselves in winter and would sneak down to the gold coast for Grumpys on the Wharf, overlooking some mighty fine boats. The food scene was pretty good - Eagle Street Pier, Oxleys (now gone), Southbank, etc. Of course, at the time, Aussie Rules was a little deficient, though I did stop at Coorparoo (sp?) and watch the occasional amatuer game. Glasshouse mountains, gold coast hinterland, Warwick area and Oakey airshow were all great unf. Archerfield wasn't a bad airfiedl and RQAC were a proper club back then; although I preferred Redcliffe (but as I lived in Carina, it was too far away). Hervey Bay and Mimi McPherson...er... whale watching.. yes.. whale watching, fantastic. I could have stayed but my then fiancee didn;t really warm to it. Happy to say though, that Brisbane was the beginning of the end of us, so another warm memory of the place.

 

Though, as I recall, the pizza was rubbish, except at the Sheraton at Noosa where they had a Victorian chef.

 

If you wantsomething great about QLD - look at these viedos: