Colonisation, Notions of Authenticity and Aboriginal Australian Performance

The containment, control and assumption of possession of Indigenous Australian performance by white settlers in the nineteenth century and the performance of that possession have been critical elements in the enterprise of colonisation. This act of possession has had and continues to have a major impact on EuroAustralian knowledge of the shared exchanges of performance over much of the last 220 years. In accounts of Aboriginal Australian performances from 'blood curdling shrieks' at the beginning of the nineteenth century to terms such as 'sham' and 'whitey-black corroborees' by the end, imposed notions of authenticity act as a weapon of whiteness to assist in the colonising process through the effective erasure of cultural practices and to deny not only the authority of Indigenous people but also their 'authentic' physical presence. This paper examines the directions taken in the shifting notions of authenticity used by white writers and painters to legitimise or dismiss Aboriginal performances and cultures across the nineteenth century.