CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
An Aboriginal man who enjoys listening to TEDx and Joe Rogan podcasts while snowboarding at Thredbo has been accused of appropriating the sacred cultural rituals of white Australians.
The blackfella in question, Darcy Bridley (29), says that while his family come from a more northern, tropical landscape, he has always felt at one with the snowboarders.
“I don’t know what it is, man” he says.
“I guess I see a lot of myself in them. The community, the singing, the dancing”
However, Darcy’s love of white cultural practices has come under fire from the oppressed white communities, who feel their rituals and rites are at risk of being lost to outsiders.
“Australian culture is at risk of being emulated and diluted by outsiders” says a prominent 2GB talkback host.
“It’s our culture and it’s a sacred one”
This isn’t the first time Australian culture has made the headlines for being appropriated and stolen by other communities. However, it is the first time Aboriginal people have been accused of it.
This comes months after the maverick MP Bob Katter called for laws to make it illegal to sell fake Aboriginal art, souvenirs and cultural items – after thousands of dreadlocked white people living in Northern NSW were exposed for playing the didgeridoo, and Chinese manufacturers were caught making fake Aboriginal art.
Katter, also known as ‘The Murri From The ‘Curry’ has introduced to parliament a private bill he hopes will stop non-indigenous people – including foreigners – from exploiting and profiting from the “oldest culture on earth”.
“Ninety per cent of the stuff being sold is rubbish, which our first Australians get nothing out of,” he told the lower house.
“If there be one thing that first Australians be allowed to keep and own it is their own culture.”
However, while most people can agree that snowboarding, podcasts, watching The Wallabies and drinking Stone & Wood while wearing a collared shirt and sweater is not exactly the type of white cultural rituals that would suffer from the inclusion of outsiders – several prominent conservative politicians and shock-jocks have spoken out against it.
Senator Pauline Hanson has also condemned black people taking part in traditional white ceremonies and ritual.
“What’s next. These blackfellas will be wanting to join us on holidays at Noosa?”
“If they are allowed to complain about white people making millions of dollars creating fake Aboriginal art and playing the didgeridoo, then they aren’t allowed to do snowboarding or go to Bali”
