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exploration of the Western Australian coast by Dampier; two sentences are included with no
context to the wider narrative. It reads, “...the natives...were a primitive race” (Department of
Education, 1960/1963, p. 28). Progress or any form of human development is mediated only
through the built environment “...they had no knowledge of metals” (Department of
Education, 1960/1963, p. 28); and economic activity, “...no chance of developing a profitable
trade...” (Department of Education, 1960/1963, p. 28).
In the secondary grades discourses of primitive are emphasised and covered in greater depth.
Australia and the near north (Connole, 1962) introduces a discourse of primitive culture in
the first chapter. Discussed through an anthropological lens, the genetic characteristics of
Indigenous Australians are traced from India to Malaysia and then to Australia,
differentiating different levels of “advanced...civilization” (Connole, 1962, p. 1). This is also
determined in the textbook according to where Indigenous people settled, determining that
“Tasmanian blacks were left to continue in their primitive form of existence…” (Connole,
1962, p. 1); whereas on the mainland, “…a race more advanced in civilization migrated to
Australia and probably blended with the older inhabitants to produce the present Australian
native” (Connole, 1962, p. 1). Terms used to describe Indigenous Australians through this
first paragraph are patronizing in tone, and in addition to the term “primitive” (Connole,
1962, p. 1), the following is included: “it is believed that the first human beings to come to
Australia—the aborigines, as we call these black people…” (Connole, 1962, p. 1, emphasis
added). By regarding Indigenous Australians as “primitive” (Connole, 1962, p. 1) Indigenous
knowledges are clearly not valued, respected or even made known to the students reading the
textbook so that they may begin to form a more complex and comprehensive historical view
and attitude.
The discourse of Indigenous Australians as primitive and the exotic ‘Other’ pervades Chapter
8: The Australian Aborigines, with typical language including, for example: “Old
Australians”, “our aborigines”, “primitive race”, “primitives” (Connole, 1962, p. 213), and
“race of mystics” (Connole, 1962, p. 214). A description of the nomadic lifestyle of
Indigenous Australians is also provided to the reader, explaining their culture in a simplistic,
descriptive manner, more suited to primary school aged students rather than the sophisticated
knowledge expected of secondary school students. The significance of the tribal lifestyle of
Indigenous Australians is reduced to mainly “…ceremonial and “dream” lives…They are
religiously-minded people, one might also call them a race of mystics. They know and
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