Columbus in Australia, 1892

Columbus in Australia, 1892 The ritual commemoration of significant dates seems to be a constant element in human society. The dates selected and the reflections to which they giverisecharacteristically teU us more about the contemporary society than they do about the events remembered. Late-nineteenth-century N e w South Wales society shows few signs ofreflectingon the processes of colonization which are associated with the developments of Columbus's time. What 'Columbus' represented was not intrinsically problematic and it was not seen as relevant to Australia's o w n history. Aspects of such colonization which were not compatible with the ideals of a 'modem', 'free', and 'democratic' society could be marginalized by associating them with the 'autocratic', 'despotic', and, above all, 'Inquisitorial' behaviour of the Habsburg monarchies w h o had been England's (ultimately unsuccessful) enemies. The four-hundredth-year celebrations did not lead to reflections on the fundamentaltenetsand practices of imperialism and the settlers' treatment of the existing inhabitants. Missions were an admirable institution. M e n like the Very Reverend Father Breheret, vicar-general at Lavuka, Fiji, were given unquestioning honour for carrying the Gospel 'to heretofore benighted minds of thousands sunk in the depth of idolatry'.and turning them from their previous cannibalism.1 Attitudes to the original inhabitants of the Australian colonies at this time were at best patriarchal. The Aborigines Protection Society showed some interest in the experiences of other countries of setdement in their 'humane' treatment of then land's original inhabitants and the equitable handling of then rights. In July 1892 the Reverend D. Lucas proudly told a public lecture they sponsored h o w the admirable treatment of Canadian Indians by the Canadian government was both humane and profitable—an irresistible combination. Nomads were being taught civilization. The Indian population was both increasing and being assimilated. According to him, the Canadian government, unlike that of the United States of America, had followed William Penn in regarding the soil as belonging to the Indian population. The land was therefore purchased from them (in return for an * Sydney Morning Herald (hereafter SMH) November 3 1892, p. 6. PARERGON ns 12.2 (January 1995) 128 S. M. Jack annuity); they were moved to a farm in a different area, which they were not allowed to sell, and taught (western) agricultural techniques. Lucas thought the Australian aborigines had not been well treated in the past but now people 'were more inclinedtodo what was right'. The timing of this lecture was almost certainly coincidental. It was not inspired by any 'Columbus' fever. Readers of the popular press were certainly kept informed of the celebrations being organized in the northern hemisphere. In M a y they were told of arrangements in Chicago where Columbus relics and exhibits included a full-sized model of his ship 'as exactly as it can be reproduced'. They subsequendy teamed that the young king of Spain was invited.2 In September the press, drawing mainly on the British Times, provided more details of the festivities at Genoa, Columbus's home-town, where the combined fleets of Europe gathered for the event saluted King Humbert. The programme of festivities in Europe, they learned, was extensive and involved many of the royal families of Europe. Huelva and its vicinity were to be enretefrom the 2nd August till the 12th October, the day, it went on perhaps somewhat inaccurately, on which Columbus landed in America. A reproduction Santa Maria was to sad from Palos escorted by the whole Spanish squadron, whUe foreign ships would he outside the port and salute her as she sailed between the lines.3 In October they heard of the ceremonies with which a statue of Columbus was unveiled in N e w York, 40,000 troops parading the city.4 In ah this, there was no sense of Australian involvement or that it had any relevance to Australian culture. It was news in the way that the fact that Emperor William of Germany had killed a whale was news and the subject for similar jocular colonial comments.5 One columnist, w h o had evidently been reading some of the contemporary American material on Columbus in which there was...