This may not be directly "on point" but I am constantly hearing the preface to TV and other media that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander may be caused distress seeing images or hearing names of deceased persons. Is this phenomena a universal thing amongst all indigenous groups? Or is it just a habit that has been formed amongst people who feel obliged to say it? I only ask because if it is the former then isn't this proof positive that there was once a homogeneous indigenous society across all of Australia.

Bitey,

Thirty five-odd years ago, I was living in a community here in southern SA. Funerals were very common: I think I must have gone to fifty at least, in four years, in fact, helped to dig some of the graves. I was very careful in conversation not to mention the names of anybody who had died, but the local people, young and old, did not seem to have any such reservation. Old ladies would talk about their deceased husbands, children about their parents and uncles and aunts, using their names and nick-names with no hesitation.

But even now, I would avoid using people's names, Black or White, until it is very clear that their relations don't mind.

Sometimes however, I wonder if white people perpetuate myths about traditional Aboriginal cultural practices, which in turn Aboriginal people pick up on and propagate, and so on.

Joe

I'd never heard of this before.
Thanks Amanda

This article needs to be read in order to get a balanced view of history.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Gs71zqTbeEcJ:www.sydneyline.com/UNSW%2520debate.htm+%22historians+are+always+making&hl=en&gl=au&ct=clnk&cd=2

Good article, and history lessons should indeed include some of our more deplorable historical events.

Thanks Joe ("Loudmouth" seems so impolite).