ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the question of indigeneity and the Australian national identity. It considers the ways in which aspects of the history of Indigenous/non-Indigenous relations appear in the story of the nation that is told via the memorials and monuments of the national capital, Canberra. The basic premise of the argument is that, as a settler colonial nation, Australia subordinated the recognition of the rights of its Indigenous peoples (in particular, land rights) to a powerful story of the pioneering efforts of non-Indigenous peoples, a story that naturalized non-Indigenous claims to land and belonging. In the national capital the long-standing and popular narrative of non-Indigenous valour (martial, political, cultural and economic) is the one that is most frequently drawn on to give meaning to the spaces that commemorate or mark out Australian achievement. Yet in the space of Canberra other narratives appear. This chapter seeks to understand how stories that run counter to the dominant narrative of courageous pioneer endeavour — stories of the struggle for Indigenous rights, the history of violence towards Indigenous peoples and a recognition of Indigenous cultures — appear in this space. It considers who tells these stories, who listens, but also how these stories are managed when they threaten to disrupt the mainstream narrative.
