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Angeline O’Neill Talking and Writing Towards Treaty

Angeline O’Neill, University of Notre Dame

Reconciliation and Treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is imperative.  Although it is problematic, we have seen/are seeing this process in action in North America and New Zealand.  For it to happen in Australia  –  and it will happen  –  a concerted attempt must be made to challenge popular opinion and re-educate the public.  In a practical sense, this will be achieved through our use of the written and spoken word.  This paper explores the politics of literature and orature; the ways in which Standard English (both written and spoken) has been used as a means of oppression by British colonials in Australian and North America, promoting ignorance, fear and racism.  Now, however, the political, social and cultural impact of english is being utilised by Indigenous writers through the process of self-representation.  As such, both the message and the way in which it is communicated are a potential means of mass education which must be promoted through schools, universities and the media, preparing the way for Treaty and the advancement of Reconciliation.

Angeline O’Neill

Angeline O’Neill has published in the areas of Australian Literature and Comparative Indigenous Literatures, and most recently, co-edited an anthology of Australian Aboriginal writing with Nyoongar elder Dr Rosemary Van Den Beg and Dr Anne Brewster, Those Who Remain Will Always Remember.  She teaches Comparative Indigenous Literatures, World Literatures, and Australian Literature at The University of Notre Dame, Australia.