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Unit 3: Modern Australia emerges constitutes the third of only three inclusions of Indigenous
Australians and is representative of the fractured way this topic is written:
And;
• Aborigines set up an “embassy” of tents on the lawns of Parliament House to
protest against the lack of action on the land rights issue. As the police moved one
group off the lawns, another replaced it, much to the embarrassment of the
government. (Lawrence et al., 1986, p. 377-78)
In the elections of December 1972 Whitlam promised, if elected, to immediately:
...
o Provide finance and support to Aborigines
[then later on the same page in section titled “The Whitlam government (1972 to
1975)]
...Whitlam and Barnard announced many new regulations:
...
o Spending on Aboriginal welfare was increased
o Mining leases on Aboriginal reserves were suspended. (Lawrence et al., 1986,
p. 377-78)
An explanation of the actions of the McMahon government that led to the setting up of the
Tent Embassy is not articulated beyond a vague “…to protest against the lack of action on the
land rights issue” (Lawrence et al., 1986, p. 377). Furthermore, the endurance of the Tent
Embassy physically positioned on the front lawn of the now-former Parliament House
(commonly called Old Parliament House) is not mentioned as a point of historical
significance. Support the textbook writers have towards the Whitlam Labor government over
the McMahon Liberal government is evident from their pointing out of the failure of the
McMahon government to provide land rights to Indigenous Australians. However, there is no
critique of the Whitlam Government’s actions which, although an election promise was made
to provide land rights to all Indigenous Australians, was watered-down once in Parliament to
include only those Indigenous Australians from the Commonwealth Territories. So, through
this partisan perspective in addition to the paucity of information included, students are not
provided with an accurate or comprehensive exposure to this period of rapid social and
political change in contemporary Australian history. The lack of critique of the Whitlam
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