Owning History- A Convict Perspective

Jean Jacques Rousseau once said:

"Man is born free, yet everywhere he lies in chains."

Personally, I think the first chain that is applied to the infant is the chain of history. I've been in youth hostels where Dutch ladies have refused to speak to German men because of what happened in World War II. Not only were the Germans being blamed for something they didn't do, but the Dutch were victimising themselves for something that never happened to them. I've seen the same thing in China. I've taught English to a class of Chinese academics and heard them say they hate Japanese, and that Japanese people are not human.

We don't have much of that in Australia, and I am quite thankful for that. I think one of the reasons is Australia's Convict history. It would sound a bit ridiculous to get some kind of victim identity by saying things like:

"We were sent to the other side of the world where we were enslaved in a tough and unforgiving land. They hanged us, flogged us, raped us and tortured us. They treated us as less than human. Bloody Poms!"

Likewise, it would be a bit silly trying to get a sense of achievement history by saying things like:

"We made great prostitutes, drunks and thieves... perhaps the best in the world."

For me, Convict history puts history in the context that it should be seen in. The past influences the present, but the past is not the present.  

Not all Australians enjoy the freedom from history that I do. I was once reading a spiel by white journalist Phillip Adams making a case for why white Australians should apologise to Aborigines for Christians removing half-caste children from their mother's communities. According to Adams:

"Yet, like many PMs before him, he not only identified with Gallipoli but insisted that the vast tragedy was central to the Australian story as a crucial - if not the crucial - ingredient in our national character...The same applies to most bloodstained moments in military history, though for decades the Vietnam War was downplayed, a collective embarrassment. When a young soldier in Iraq died in ambivalent circumstances, he was declared a hero and, when Nelson finally found his body, given a military funeral worthy of a Victoria Cross winner. And the number of Australian politicians who've given stirring speeches on Kokoda or walked the track with television crews keeps growing.

That's another part of the past they want to appropriate for political, patriotic and propaganda purposes. No one talks of a disconnect between now and then, them and us. No one mumbles about present generations having no claim on past heroics. Anything but.

The brave bits of history, the proud moments belong to us all and we collectively bathe in the glory. It's the nasty bits of the past we don't acknowledge. They had nothing to do with us. They were no part of our business."

The fact that Adams had to make an argument about owning history showed that he was speaking from his head about how he believed he should feel, rather than expressing the contents of his heart regarding how he actually felt. He was trying to convince himself as much as convince other people.

Aborigines also seem to want a victim sense of history, or at the very least, they have been comfortable with the likes of Phillip Adams putting victim history on them. One activist saying:

"Our world was shattered by the violence of the Invasion which began when the First Fleet of British Boat people arrived in 1788. Our people were decimated, as the invaders stole our country, imposed their own laws and systems of government on our peoples, forcing our people into concentration camps called "missions". "

Each to their own, but that approach to history is not an approach for me. I used to live in Japan and I had a great time there. I'm happy that I didn't have war history forcing me to hate them. Unfortunately, in Australia I once suggested to some Japanese people that we go see an Anzac Day service. For me, I was quite proud that the Anzac tradition has never fostered hatred against past foes as has some other military traditions around the world. I wanted to conform to that tradition with some friends. Unfortunately, my Japanese friends had heard some stories that it would be too dangerous for them. Apparently there have been some examples of Japanese being abused at these marches. It was a shame, but not a huge worry. We went to karaoke instead.

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