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its historical context. Given the era this text was published, it does not appear that the
narrative is trying to be provocative or antagonistic towards Indigenous Australians, and
although some terms such as “native” (p. 37), “ “blackfellow” ” (p. 37), and description of
“savage as they were” (p. 38) are used, which would not be acceptable in a textbook in the
current era of the early 21 st century, these terms make up only a small minority of those used,
with an example of other descriptions being: “The natives of Queensland supported the weak
members of the clan; they nursed the sick as well as they could they took care of the old folk,
they kept no slaves...” (F.J. Gould, 1909, p. 37, emphasis added). However, this is mediated
through a discourse of superiority and charity, for example Carnegie accepted a gift, even
though the narrative does not place any value on it, writing “Of course he took it and thanked
them” (F.J. Gould, 1909, p. 38), demonstrating that manners are important as a moral lesson
for students. Here, a discourse of morality is provided in a narrative within a scholarly
context.
Overall, Indigenous Australians are legitimised only when connected to a non-Indigenous
narrative or example in history. This is evidenced by David Carnegie (British) being the
subject of the narrative, and the Indigenous Australians being peripheral, used only as a way
to assert the underlying moral of the story. However, even given this, Indigenous Australians
still form the majority of content here with the British heritages as exemplar topic, through
David Carnegie, only introduced mid way through the narrative. It is from there that the
narrative takes shape according to an actual event, whereas the first half consists of an
overview of Indigenous Australians, along ideas of Indigenous Australians as subject of
anthropology; as spectacle; and as ‘Other’.
The example above links with Syllabus values, for example, explicitly recognizes the
discourse of progress as being a major ideological underpinning of the History curriculum, as
seen in Source 5.7.
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