On Friday morning I woke up early to take the bus to Canberra. As you head south from Sydney the landscape remains very green and I was hoping I would spot my first kangaroo. After two hours or so, I did: a dead baby kangaroo on the side of the motorway :( Canberra reminds me of BrasÃlia, in a way: modern architecture, well-planned, endless avenues, enormous parks crossed by wide lakes... I find no charm in this kind of cities but the thing that brought me here was not such much Canberra itself, but rather 3 of its museums, the National Museum of Australia, the National Gallery (which has the largest aboriginal art collection in the world) and the War Memorial. Aside from the MONA, in Hobart, these are all the museums I plan to visit during my stay, so far I've visited the first two and I wasn't disappointed. Otherwise, the city is quite pleasant - though I wouldn't like to live here, especially when you know that Sydney is only three and a half hours away! - and again, the high standard of living of Australia becomes evident as soon as you go out in the street.
On my arrival to Canberra I visited the national Parliament. I was surprised that you can go in just like that and wander around, all you have to do is pass a security check at the entry and then you're free to walk around once inside. I had completely forgotten that the Head of State of Australia is... the British monarch, which I find surprising for such a modern society, and an interference in their sovereignty, as the Queen does have powers...
My room mates (I'm sharing a room in a youth hostel, since the next option was a lousy hotel for more than $100 a night!) have warned me they're going to a wedding tonight, that's what they're here for (how weird, to see people dressing up and getting all fancy in a place like a youth hostel) and they might come back drunk (at least they're honest), I hope I'll be able to sleep! Tomorrow is my last day here, I still have the huge War Memorial to visit and in the evening I'll take a night bus to Melbourne, where I'll arrive on Monday morning.
On the Aborigines
An important section of the National Museum of Australia looks into the history, art, culture and beliefs of the first Australians and the peoples of the Torres Strait.
When it comes to the complicated issue of the arrival of the Europeans in the late 18th century and their encounter with the people who had been living here for more than 50000 years, I didn't read the word "genocide" anywhere, even though that is exactly what happened, particularly in certain areas of the country, such as Tasmania (I now realise that I, perhaps as many Europeans, tended to associate the Aborigines with the desert and saw them as an homogeneous group, but actually they live everywhere across the country and there are hundreds of groups and languages, although they all share common beliefs, a strong connection to nature and the same perception of the universe). There is, yes, a sort of mea culpa, but is it an institutional mea culpa, or a truly, heart-felt mea culpa? I'd have to stay in Australia for much longer to find out. The museum acknowledges all the horrible crimes perpetrated until the 1970s, the humiliations, alienation, the children taken from their families by missionaries to be "civilised" (I remember an excellent movie I saw about this topic years ago: "Rabbit proof fence"), the fact that first Australians didn't become citizens until 1967 with the passing of a referendum, and there is a video with the 2008 official apology speech by the Prime Minister. I want to believe that white Australians sincerely feel sorry for the crimes committed by their ancestors. Meanwhile, regardless of forgiveness, the suffering of so many thousands of people for 2 centuries cannot be erased, it is engraved in this land and in those who suffered, like a scar... Just as in many other parts of the world where horrible things happened. What can the victims and perpetrators - or their descendants - of these crimes do, except cry and say sorry, sorry, over and over again?
On my arrival to Canberra I visited the national Parliament. I was surprised that you can go in just like that and wander around, all you have to do is pass a security check at the entry and then you're free to walk around once inside. I had completely forgotten that the Head of State of Australia is... the British monarch, which I find surprising for such a modern society, and an interference in their sovereignty, as the Queen does have powers...
My room mates (I'm sharing a room in a youth hostel, since the next option was a lousy hotel for more than $100 a night!) have warned me they're going to a wedding tonight, that's what they're here for (how weird, to see people dressing up and getting all fancy in a place like a youth hostel) and they might come back drunk (at least they're honest), I hope I'll be able to sleep! Tomorrow is my last day here, I still have the huge War Memorial to visit and in the evening I'll take a night bus to Melbourne, where I'll arrive on Monday morning.
On the Aborigines
An important section of the National Museum of Australia looks into the history, art, culture and beliefs of the first Australians and the peoples of the Torres Strait.
When it comes to the complicated issue of the arrival of the Europeans in the late 18th century and their encounter with the people who had been living here for more than 50000 years, I didn't read the word "genocide" anywhere, even though that is exactly what happened, particularly in certain areas of the country, such as Tasmania (I now realise that I, perhaps as many Europeans, tended to associate the Aborigines with the desert and saw them as an homogeneous group, but actually they live everywhere across the country and there are hundreds of groups and languages, although they all share common beliefs, a strong connection to nature and the same perception of the universe). There is, yes, a sort of mea culpa, but is it an institutional mea culpa, or a truly, heart-felt mea culpa? I'd have to stay in Australia for much longer to find out. The museum acknowledges all the horrible crimes perpetrated until the 1970s, the humiliations, alienation, the children taken from their families by missionaries to be "civilised" (I remember an excellent movie I saw about this topic years ago: "Rabbit proof fence"), the fact that first Australians didn't become citizens until 1967 with the passing of a referendum, and there is a video with the 2008 official apology speech by the Prime Minister. I want to believe that white Australians sincerely feel sorry for the crimes committed by their ancestors. Meanwhile, regardless of forgiveness, the suffering of so many thousands of people for 2 centuries cannot be erased, it is engraved in this land and in those who suffered, like a scar... Just as in many other parts of the world where horrible things happened. What can the victims and perpetrators - or their descendants - of these crimes do, except cry and say sorry, sorry, over and over again?
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