The Continuing Violence of Colonisation: Mining and Water Pollution from an Australian Aboriginal Perspective

Abstract

<p>British discovery, invasion, occupation and settlement of Australia were acts of cultural, direct and structural violence. This brought many changes to Aboriginal peoples’ way of life, culture and connection to land and waters. It also brought continuing change to Australia’s natural environment. Aboriginal people became victims of epistemic and environmental violence when their knowledge systems were disregarded, and they were disempowered from management and custodianship of their lands and waters. Australia’s natural environment succumbed to devastating impacts by a western capitalist developmental society whose mindset was underscored by anthropocentric values expressed as environmental violence. This research seeks to make visible the invisible violence of settler colonisation and its continuing impacts by first telling my story to give some insight into the culture to which I belong. Second, a case study on two mines in North West Queensland Australia is used to analyse and validate the nature of extractive violence. Johan Galtung’s theoretical framework of violence is employed to conceptualise the types of violence and a case study is used to analyse and validate the nature of the violence. To set the scene, this study explores Australia’s pre-history, the doctrines that led to colonisation; and asks: What is the nature of the continuing violence of settler colonisation? And, how does the continuing violence of settler colonisation impact on Aboriginal pastoralists and the natural environment at the local level? The main findings indicate that the continuing violence of colonial settlement in Australia comprises epistemic racism, epistemic violence and unequal power exchanges between parties.</p>