Dark Emu debate

But now to competing histories of Australia before European settlement and this Good Weekend splash that set an emu among the pigeons:

DEBUNKING DARK EMU

Two eminent academics take aim at a publishing phenomenon

– Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June, 2021

That publishing phenomenon is Bruce Pascoe’s 2014 book, Dark Emu, an award-winning bestseller that challenged theories of Indigenous Australians as hunter gatherers and painted a new picture of supposedly more advanced societies.

But now that theory is being challenged too, as Nine’s Good Weekend magazine put a new assessment at centre stage:

FOR THE RECORD

In 2014, Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu revolutionised interpretations of Indigenous history, arguing that Aboriginal people engaged in agriculture, irrigation and construction prior to the arrival of Europeans. Now, in a new book, two highly respected academics say that there is little evidence for these claims.

– Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June, 2021

Leading anthropologist Dr Peter Sutton and archaeologist Dr Keryn Walshe have their own book — Farmers or Hunter-Gatherers? The Dark Emu Debate — which hit the shelves on Wednesday.

And as respected journalist and author Stuart Rintoul revealed in Good Weekend, it promises to make as much of a splash as Pascoe’s celebrated work:

In page after page, Sutton and Walshe accuse Pascoe of a “lack of true scholarship”, ignoring Aboriginal voices, dragging respect for traditional Aboriginal culture back into the Eurocentric world of the colonial era, and “trimming” colonial observations to fit his argument. They write that while Dark Emu “purports to be factual” it is “littered with unsourced material, is poorly researched, distorts and exaggerates many points, selectively emphasises evidence to suit those opinions, and ignores large bodies of information that do not support the author’s opinions”.

– Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June, 2021

Yep, they don’t miss. Pascoe says he welcomes the difference of opinion.

But his defenders — of which there are many — have been forced to see his work in a new light.

And critics — of which there are far fewer, but vocal — have new ammunition to attack Pascoe and anyone who supports his book: 

ANDREW BOLT: … the greatest literary hoax ever perpetrated in Australia. A hoax that on Saturday blew up, was finally admitted by left-wing newspapers The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that had fallen for it and promoted its author for years.

– The Bolt Report, Sky News, 14 June, 2021

Yes, none have criticised Pascoe’s work more than Andrew Bolt. And the new book — and Good Weekend’s big launch — was all his Christmases come at once.

On two days last week, Bolt told his Sky News audience that he was right all along:

ANDREW BOLT: … that Bruce Pascoe can’t be believed is not news to Bolt Report viewers. For nearly two years I’ve pointed out his fakery.

– The Bolt Report, Sky News, 14 June, 2021

He has, indeed. And he blames the ABC, chiefly, for puffing up Pascoe:

ANDREW BOLT: … will the ABC say sorry? Because no media organisation did more than the ABC, our national broadcaster, to promote Pascoe and to attack his critics, like me, as racist.

– The Bolt Report, Sky News, 14 June, 2021

Bolt’s ridicule of Pascoe has often involved disputing his claims to Aboriginal heritage. And some of his attacks have been personal.

But the new book — written by eminent scientists and supported by the work of other academics — backs Bolt’s verdict on Pascoe’s work. 

So, were others in the media, including at the ABC, too keen to accept Pascoe’s theory? 

Sutton and Walshe believe they were, writing:

“As far as we can tell, no journalist or book reviewer covering the Dark Emu story has interviewed senior Aboriginal people from remote communities where knowledge of the old economy is retained at least by some, and practised in an adapted way by many,” … 

– Good Weekend, The Sydney Morning Herald, 12 June, 2021

And on an accompanying podcast, Peter Sutton offered interviewer Greg Callaghan a reason why that might be so: 

GREG CALLAGHAN: Is there a fear that amongst people on the left that questioning Dark Emu kind of lumps them in with the Sky News crowd and the commentators on that, sort of, ideological side? 

PETER SUTTON: Yes, that’s, that’s true. It’s that fear, sometimes in the form of cowardice in my view, that has restrained people who know about this subject from speaking out and saying anything. 

– Good Weekend Talks podcast, “The Dark Emu debate: did the publishing phenomenon get it wrong?”, 12 June, 2021

It is an uncomfortable lesson for many journalists.

Meantime, on a lighter note, there was also a flurry about that Good Weekend cover. As ABC presenter Jonathan Green asked on Twitter:

Um … isn’t this an ostrich?

– Twitter, @GreenJ, 12 June, 2021

An ostrich instead of an emu? Surely not.

All weekend debate raged, with readers pointing to the number of toes and plumage of the bird to prove Good Weekend had screwed up.

Well, we can now set that record straight. As editor Katrina Strickland told us:

Whilst we would like to bury our heads in the sand over the issue, we accept that if it looks like an ostrich it probably does depict an ostrich, which means we got it wrong. We apologise to our readers for the error …

– Email, Katrina Strickland, Editor, Good Weekend

Good on them for owning up.