History crushed

“REFLECTING on our dark past” congratulates Dark Mofo for the thought provoking installation of burying a man under Macquarie St and allowing cars to drive over him (Editorial, June 19). For some it symbolised the state-sponsored genocide of the palawa people in the 19th century. For many it begs the question, what’s changed aside the end of the Black War? On the takayna coast, despite court action by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Premier Will Hodgman wants to helicopter in excavators for roadworks and lay rubber matting over Aboriginal middens many generations old so people can drive over them for fun. Premier Hodgman dropped the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio and handed it to a junior minister. His tracks plan remains, with hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in the budget for planning and construction. Burying a man under a road is a unique piece of work that has generated significant interest and reflection on Tasmania’s dark past. But let’s discuss the darkness that continues with burying an irreplaceable Aboriginal cultural landscape under rubbing matting and gravel. Mike Parr the artist rose from his bitumen tomb to tell us about the experience. Not so the midden, crushed under wheels with its story lost forever. Mr Hodgman’s four-wheel drive tracks are a dark sign government prejudice of yesteryear continues into tomorrow. While Dark Mofo does help define a new Tasmania as “very cool”, the Premier’s politicisation and ongoing subjugation of Aboriginal heritage is anything but.

Vica Bayley The Wilderness Society