15 Jun 2023

Newspaper apologises for coverage of 1838 Aboriginal massacre

How can they apologize for something they didn't do?  The SMH has undergone several changes of ownership  since 1838 and the staff have undergone even more changes.  There is no known link between the person who wrote the 1838 article and anyone now involved with the paper.  

So what is the "apology" about?  I think it has to do with the current obsession with Aborigines that has been been put on high beam by the "Voice" referendum.  The SMH just wants to be in among the virtuous as far as Aborigines are concerned.

And part of that would simply be to raise awareness of the bad things that 19th century whites sometimes did to blacks.  It is an attempt to put present-day white Australians on a guilt trip.  But there is no cause for such guilt.  British justice prevailed in the 1838 matter and the white murderers were hanged for their deeds. Equality before the law prevailed even back then.  If anything, present day Australians can be proud of how justly the institutions of their ancestors ultimately acted

The Sydney Morning Herald has issued an apology for their historical coverage of the Myall Creek massacre.

In 1838, at least 28 unarmed Indigenous Australians were killed by 12 colonists at the Myall Creek near the Gwydir River, in northern New South Wales.

“In several editorials published before, during, and after two Sydney trials in late 1838 relating to the massacre, the Herald essentially campaigned for the 11 accused mass murderers to escape prosecution,” an editorial in the 9 June edition said.

“It also opposed the death sentence eventually handed to seven of the men.

“In one editorial published ahead of the trials and amid a public debate about legal protections for Aboriginal people, the Herald proclaimed: ‘The whole gang of black animals are not worth the money the colonists will have to pay for printing the silly documents on which we have already wasted too much time’.”

The newspaper also encouraged readers “to shoot and kill Aboriginal people if they ever felt threatened”.

The newspaper owned up to the errors made and issued an apology for their coverage, writing: “The Herald has a long and proud history of telling the Australian story. But on Myall Creek, the truth is we failed dismally.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/herald-apologises-myall-creek-massacre-b2355099.html

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