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"What goes around...": Colonial-era statue toppled

The statue honouring a controversial colonialist has been vandalised in Tasmania, with local councillors up in arms over the destruction. The statue paid tribute to William Crowther, a politician and surgeon who cut off and stole the skull of Aboriginal man William Lanne in 1869, with the intention of sending it to London's Royal College of Surgeons. On Wednesday morning, the statue was found face down after being sawn off at the ankles and falling from its plinth, with the words "what goes around" and "decolonize" spray-painted on the memorial. The toppling of the statue comes just hours after someone attempted to saw through the statue's ankles but stopped about two-thirds through. Hobart City Councillor Louise Elliot said she had noticed graffiti on the statue at midday on Tuesday and reported it, and then the cuts were found. When Councillor Elliot visited the statue at 8pm on Tuesday, she noted that "no security was here" after she stood at the site for "half an hour". She said she was "appalled" that a statue had been vandalised in a "completely foreseeable" incident. "I found out about this from Crowther's great-great granddaughter in tears ringing me," she said. "I'm really disappointed that the council, in my opinion, didn't take enough protective and preventive action to protect [the statue]." ast year, the council voted to remove the statue, which was appealed in the Tasmanian Tribunal of Civil and Administrative Tribunal on the basis its removal would detract from the site's heritage value. But in its decision, which was handed down today after the statue was toppled, the tribunal upheld the council's original decision to remove it. Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson said it was" regrettable" that someone thought to take the law into their own hands. <div data-component="EmphasisedText"> "Regardless of anybody's sentiment or feeling, good intentions or otherwise, that's not how we run a civil society," he said. </div> "Horrible things happened in our history, but you don't resolve history [through] vandalism." As members of Tasmania's indigenous community have been campaigning for years to have the statue removed, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) campaign manager Nala Mansell said the desecration of the statue reflected community attitudes. "I'm not endorsing what's happened but I think it goes to show that the people of Tasmania are people who understand right from wrong [and are] saying 'enough is enough.' "We've been fighting for decades for it to be gone," she said. <div data-component="EmphasisedText"> "Good on them for taking that action and doing what needed to be done a long time ago." </div> Image credits: Instagram - Kate Doyle ABC

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John Howard's extraordinary colonisation claims

John Howard has made an extraordinary claim about Australia's history, saying the colonisation by the British was the "luckiest thing" to happen to Australia. The former Prime Minster was discussing the proposed Voice to Parliament in an interview with The Australian, when he said he believed colonisation was "inevitable". He said, “I’m totally opposed to (reparations). You have to understand that in the 17th, 18th century, colonisation of the land mass of Australia was next to inevitable." “I do hold the view that the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonised by the British,” he said. “Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent colonisers than other European countries.” His controversial claims come just days after support for the "yes" campaign has seemingly lost momentum, with the "no" campaign ahead with 52 percent in the Resolve poll for Nine newspapers. He went on to say he believed the referendum was destined to fail, saying the voice will “create a new cockpit of conflict about how to help Indigenous people”. “I don’t think the voice is going to produce anything other than regular stand-offs between what the voice is asking for and what the government of the day is willing to do with a fair dollop of constitutional adventurism thrown into the mix. That’s what I think will happen.” “The idea that a sovereign country makes a treaty with part of itself is just preposterous. It is constitutionally repugnant. “Treaties are made between sovereign states. They’re not made between the sovereign state and part of the sovereign state. The very notion of this treaty is antagonistic to national sovereignty.” Instead of a Voice to Parliament, Howard believes Australia should be “just talking about how to lift up Aboriginal people, and put them in the mainstream of the community, finding out ways of doing it”. Mr Howard said, “Shouldn’t we just be sitting down talking to each other?” “It’s going to be hard. It’s going to take a long time. It’s going to be less successful than we would like. But why are we doing this to ourselves?” he added. Image credits: Getty Images

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15 countries that existed 100 years ago but don’t anymore

Yugoslavia A hundred years ago, World War I wreaked all kinds of havoc on the borders of Europe. Yugoslavia, a southeastern European country created in 1918 as “the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes” and renamed Yugoslavia a decade later, united many culturally and ethnically diverse territories that were part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. The new nation included the current states of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Macedonia. But Yugoslavia was headed for more strife in the 20th century: broken up and occupied during World War II, reunited under a communist leader post-war, followed later by fighting during the 1990s. Now that the country is officially no longer, much of the region is experiencing greater peace. Croatia’s coastal city of Dubrovnik doubles for the hit HBO series Game of Thrones’ King’s Landing, making it such a popular tourist destination that it had to limit the number of visitors. Tibet Although we associate Tibet with peaceful Buddhist monks and its spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, this region northwest of India has been fought over for centuries. Tibet was actually its own independent country only from 1912 to 1951, when it was made part of China. Efforts to ‘free Tibet’ are ongoing, and the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama, now retired, still resides in exile in India. The country is also a destination for adventure seekers and mountaineers because it contains the highest point on Earth, the nearly 8849 metre Mount Everest, which lies on the border of Nepal. Neutral Moresnet Never heard of Neutral Moresnet? You’re not the only one. This minuscule country of just over two-and-a-half square kilometres was carved out of an agreement between the Dutch and the Prussians (more on them later) in 1816, so both nations would have access to its zinc mine. Neutral Moresnet had its own flag and even made its own coins. Efforts were made to turn the tiny nation into a utopia with its own artificial ‘world language,’ Esperanto. But it fell victim to World War I, and then became part of Belgium. The present-day residents of the area, however, still celebrate the anniversary of Neutral Moresnet’s creation. Newfoundland You might think of the rugged island of Newfoundland as part of Canada, but that wasn’t always the case. The island off North America’s northeastern coast was also previously a British colony, but its isolation created a culture distinct from the surrounding region. Newfoundland became a self-governing independent nation, although still a British ‘dominion,’ from 1907 until 1934, when it voluntarily chose to go back to being a colony after the Great Depression hit hard. In 1949, Newfoundland became a Canadian province, now known as Newfoundland and Labrador (interestingly, both names of dog breeds as well!). Abyssinia This romantic-sounding name was actually the Arab and European moniker for Ethiopia a hundred years ago. In the ‘Scramble for Africa’ at the end of the 19th century, Italy had tried to snatch it up, but was unable to overthrow its monarchy. In fact, the country was never colonised and was one of the few independent states in Africa – until the Italians under Mussolini were able to briefly occupy it during the late 1930s. After World War II, Ethiopia became one of the founding countries of the United Nations. The country’s rich history also lays claim to the world’s oldest human fossil ever found, and allegedly the biblical Ark of the Covenant (you know, the one in Raiders of the Lost Ark). The surreal landscape of Ethiopia’s lava lake is one of the most remote places on earth. Czechoslovakia This eastern European country was another melding of different ethnic groups created in 1918 at the end of World War I. Part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia was made up of the historical regions Moravia, Slovakia and Bohemia (yes, as in ‘bohemian’). The Nazi occupation of the area helped propel Europe into World War II; after being liberated by the Soviet Union it became an Eastern Bloc nation in the later half of the 20th century. Czechoslovakia eventually peacefully split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993. Ceylon You probably know of this large island south of India as Sri Lanka, but until 1972 it was called Ceylon. That’s the name the Europeans gave to it when the island was colonised centuries earlier. Under British control until 1948, it then became an independent nation and threw off its colonial moniker in 1972, when it became Sri Lanka. After some civil war in the early 21st century, the area is now stable. In 2011, the country decided to change the title of any state institutions still bearing the name Ceylon in an effort to remove any vestiges of colonialism. Basutoland Now called Lesotho since its independence from Britain in 1966, Basutoland was united as a nation in the 19th century under King Moshoeshoe I, who later applied to the British for help in warding off invaders. Only one of three countries in the world to be surrounded completely by another (along with the Vatican and San Marino, both enclaves within Italy), Basutoland was located inside what is today South Africa. Lesotho still has a royal family and is now a constitutional monarchy. Prince Harry, who’s very fond of the country, founded his charity for children in Africa, Sentebale, with Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso. Ottoman Empire Unlike the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, which still encompassed Turkey and some surrounding areas by 1920, survived World War I. But not for long – in 1923, after losing most of its other territories, it became the Turkish Republic. Prior to the Great War, though, the empire ruled for more than 600 years over lands that also included parts of eastern Europe, north Africa and the Middle East. Its influence is still seen today in the culture and architecture of Turkey. For an up-close look, visit Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, which has been wowing shoppers since 1455. Sikkim Have you heard of this tiny mountain region in the Himalayas? Sikkim was a sovereign monarchy from 1642 until it became an Indian protectorate in 1950, and then a state of India in 1975. Also bordering Bhutan, Tibet Autonomous Region of China, and Nepal today, Sikkim is dominated by snow-covered mountains, which the people revere as both a god itself and the home of gods. A footprint of the Yeti, aka the Abominable Snowman, was allegedly found in Sikkim in 1948. Persia The name of Persia conjures up an ancient Middle Eastern kingdom, one of the oldest civilisations in history. Since the height of its power in ancient times, the country was oft fought over but still retained its old moniker all the way until 1935, when it officially became Iran. Today, we mostly think of Persia when speaking of Persian rugs and Persian cats, but its culture is alive and well – unfortunately, continuing unstable international relations (not to mention a certain global pandemic) are keeping Westerners from visiting. Siam Anyone who’s seen the musical The King and I might wonder where on earth the king of Siam (the real-life King Mongkut, who ruled from 1851 to 1868) actually lived. The answer? Present-day Thailand, whose new name was adopted in 1939. Never colonised by Europeans, Siam was an absolute monarchy; after unrest in the 20th century, Thailand is now a constitutional monarchy. Thanks to its hundreds of islands, clear water and gorgeous coastlines, Thailand is a popular tourist destination today. Prussia You read right: not Russia, Prussia. This country, which encompassed land in central and eastern Europe including present-day Germany and Poland, existed in some form all the way until 1947. The kingdom of Prussia enjoyed much success in the 18th century but started to lose territory in the 19th, until the unification of the German empire placed the Prussian king at its head in 1871. Although it’s a little complicated where Prussia ends and Germany begins, the defeat of the empire and the abolishment of the Prussian monarchy after World War I extinguished its influence. But Prussia continued to exist as a German state until the land was divided up and the name formally dismissed after World War II, erasing it from the map forever. Interestingly, though, the descendants of the defunct monarchy continue to carry their titles – Prince Georg Friedrich Ferdinand of Prussia is the current head of the former ruling family. Zanzibar The islands of Zanzibar, an archipelago off Africa’s east coast, sound exotically alluring – the name probably makes you think of spices, explorers and adventure. And for good reason: the area was once an important trading locale, and was established as an independent sultanate in the 19th century. Although it became a British protectorate soon after, the sultan continued to rule until 1964. Having gained full independence the previous year, Zanzibar then merged with mainland Tanganyika to form present-day Tanzania. Today, see the highest point in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro, before heading for the tropical paradise of the islands’ beaches. Sarawak Now a state in Malaysia on the island of Borneo, Sarawak is a land full of natural beauty. Created as a kingdom by the adventurer James Brooke in the 1840s, Sarawak was ruled by his descendants until World War II, when it was occupied by Japan and later ceded to Britain. In 1963, Sarawak became part of the new country of Malaysia. Interestingly, although Brooke was English, he resisted British imperialism and is largely regarded positively in the country. Rudyard Kipling’s The Man Who Would Be King was likely based on Brooke, and he’s also the inspiration for the planned upcoming film White Rajah. The Brooke family is still active in Sarawak through The Brooke Trust. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/culture/15-countries-that-existed-100-years-ago-but-dont-anymore?pages=1" target="_blank">Reader's Digest</a>.

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ScoMo under fire for Australia Day comments

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the arrival of European settlers "wasn't a particular flash day" for convicts on board, as he defended Australia Day being celebrated on January 26. The timing of Australia Day, which marks the arrival of the European colonists in 1788, is controversial, with many Australians calling it "Invasion Day". But the Prime Minister has come out and said that it was also a difficult time for the European settlers, which included many convicts sent across the word against their will. “When those 12 ships turned up in Sydney all those years ago, it wasn’t a particularly flash day for the people on those vessels either,” he told reporters on Thursday. Around 750 to 780 people on board the first fleet were convicts, many deported for minor crimes. But Labor Indigenous Australians spokeswoman Linda Burney said it wasn't helpful to get into a debate. “Suffering is not a competition. What the Prime Minister has said makes no sense,” she told NCA NewsWire. “As the leader of the country, he has an example to set for the rest of the nation and he should know better. “How can we expect to see real progress on issues such as Reconciliation and Closing the Gap when he makes such ignorant and unhelpful comments like this?” Morrison criticised Cricket Australia on Thursday for leaving out a reference to Australia Day during Big Bash League matches on January 26, which he argued was a day of unity. He said the national apology to the Stolen Generation showed Australia had been “pretty upfront and honest” about its past and warned against “airbrushing” history. “What that day to this demonstrates is how far we’ve come as a country, and I think that’s why it’s important that we mark it in that way,” he said. “It’s not about that day so much, it’s about how far we’ve come together since that day.” But Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young told the PM to "read the room", saying Australians were "sick of this type of ignorance" and wanted genuine recognition from their leaders. “For the Prime Minister to belittle the genuine hurt, sorrow and suffering felt by First Nations people on this day is extremely disappointing,” she told NCA NewsWire. “We need better leadership than this from our government. The Prime Minister’s comments were either sloppy, careless or deliberate. Whichever it is, he should apologise.”

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Botany and the colonisation of Australia in 1770

James Cook and his companions aboard the Endeavour landed at a harbour on Australia’s southeast coast in April of 1770. Cook named the place Botany Bay for “the great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place”. Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander were aboard the Endeavour as gentleman botanists, collecting specimens and applying names in Latin to plants Europeans had not previously seen. The place name hints at the importance of plants to Britain’s Empire, and to botany’s pivotal place in Europe’s Enlightenment and Australia’s early colonisation. Cook has always loomed large in Australia’s colonial history. White Australians have long commemorated and celebrated him as the symbolic link to the “civilisation” of Enlightenment and Empire. The two botanists have been less well remembered, yet Banks in particular was an influential figure in Australia’s early colonisation. When Banks and his friend Solander went ashore on April 29, 1770 to collect plants for naming and classification, the Englishman recollected they saw “nothing like people”. Banks knew that the land on which he and Solander sought plants was inhabited (and in fact, as we now know, had been so for at least 65,000 years). Yet the two botanists were engaged in an activity that implied the land was blank and unknown. They were both botanical adventurers. Solander was among the first and most favoured of the students of Carl Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist and colonial traveller who devised the method still used today for naming species. Both Solander and Banks were advocates for the Linnaean method of taxonomy: a systematic classification of newly named plants and animals. When they stepped ashore at “Botany Bay” in 1770, the pair saw themselves as pioneers in a double sense: as Linnaean botanists in a new land, its places and plants unnamed by any other; as if they were in a veritable terra nullius. Botany in ‘nobody’s land’ Terra nullius, meaning “nobody’s land”, refers to a legal doctrine derived from European traditions stretching back to the ancient Romans. The idea was that land could be declared “empty” and “unowned” if there were no signs of occupation such as cultivation of the soil, towns, cities, or sacred temples. As a legal doctrine it was not applied in Australia until the late 1880s, and there is dispute about its effects in law until its final elimination by the High Court in Mabo v Queensland (No. II) in 1992. Cook never used this formulation, nor did Banks or Solander. Yet each in their way acted as if it were true. That the land, its plants, and animals, and even its peoples, were theirs to name and classify according to their own standards of “scientific” knowledge. In the late eighteenth century, no form of scientific knowledge was more useful to empire than botany. It was the science par excellence of colonisation and empire. Botany promised a way to transform the “waste” of nature into economic productivity on a global scale. Plant power Wealth and power in Britain’s eighteenth century empire came from harnessing economically useful crops: tobacco, sugar, tea, coffee, rice, potatoes, flax. Hence Banks and Solander’s avid botanical activity was not merely a manifestation of Enlightenment “science”. It was an integral feature of Britain’s colonial and imperial ambitions. Banksia ericifolia was one of the many species given a new name by Banks. Natural History Museum Throughout the Endeavour’s voyage, Banks, Solander, and their assistants collected more than 30,000 plant specimens, naming more than 1,400 species. By doing so, they were claiming new ground for European knowledge, just as Cook meticulously charted the coastlines of territories he claimed for His Majesty, King George III. Together they extended a new dispensation, inscribed in new names for places and for plants written over the ones that were already there. Long after the Endeavour returned to Britain, Banks testified before two House of Commons committees in 1779 and 1785 that “Botany Bay” would be an “advantageous” site for a new penal colony. Among his reasons for this conclusion were not only its botanical qualities – fertile soils, abundant trees and grasses – but its virtual emptiness. Turning emptiness to empire When Banks described in his own Endeavour journal the land Cook had named “New South Wales”, he recalled: “This immense tract of Land … is thinly inhabited even to admiration …”. It was the science of botany that connected emptiness and empire to the Enlightened pursuit of knowledge. One of Banks’s correspondents was the Scottish botanist and professor of natural history, John Walker. Botany, Walker wrote, was one of the “few Sciences” that “can promise any discovery or improvement”. Botany was the scientific means to master the global emporium of commodities on which empire grew. Botany was also the reason why it had not been necessary for Banks or Solander to affirm the land on which they trod was empty. For in a very real sense, their science presupposed it. The land, its plants and its people were theirs to name and thereby claim by “discovery”. When Walker reflected on his own botanical expeditions in the Scottish Highlands, he described them as akin to voyages of discovery to lands as “inanimate & unfrequented as any in the Terra australis”. As we reflect on the 250-year commemoration of Cook’s landing in Australia, we ought also to consider his companions Banks and Solander, and their science of turning supposed emptiness to empire. Message from The Conversation: Captain James Cook arrived in the Pacific 250 years ago, triggering British colonisation of the region. We’re asking researchers to reflect on what happened and how it shapes us today. You can see other stories in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/cook250-78244">here</a> and an interactive <a href="https://cook250.netlify.app/">here</a>. Written by Bruce Buchan. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/botany-and-the-colonisation-of-australia-in-1770-128469">The Conversation.</a>

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