| West Australian cartoonist Alston's 'Alas Poor Yagan'
cartoon (Sat. 6 Sept. 1997) rates a particular mention
this week. The Nyoongar elders who were recently
successful in repatriating the skull of butchered Swan
River leader Yagan, along with others who disagreed with
the arrangements, were depicted as opportunists with
dubious cultural authority. Any trace of non-Nyoongar
ancestry was falsely and offensively implied to have
lessened the worth and strength of their Nyoongar
heritage and identity. Not all readers appreciated the 'joke' though. As a letter to the West's editor pointed out, the cartoon 'implied that Aboriginal people with mixed racial heritage are not quite Aboriginal. If someone is identified as an Aboriginal person and is accepted as a member by the Aboriginal community, surely their mixed ancestry is of no relevance to non-Aboriginal people, including cartoonists'. I agree with the writer, and with her further point that very many people in Australia are of mixed descent, and this is generally not held against them nowadays. This is not to say that indigenous public figures should be quarantined against satirical comment, which is the traditional role of press cartoons. Neither is it to say that genuine satire, while frequently putting noses out of joint, cannot play a part in advancing reconciliation, equality and indigenous well-being. But such comment has to be poignant without being insulting and uncalled for. The sniggering bar-stool bigotry in Mr Alston's effort was not of this calibre. So perhaps the cartoon indeed serves to lampoon, but in an unanticipated way. Bouncing back at its creator, and the newspaper, it illuminated their social immaturity. |
