WA Governor Apologizes For 1834 Massacre, Not For Ongoing Land Grabs
Western Australia's Governor Chris Dawson has offered a formal apology for the 1834 Pinjarra massacre, where colonial forces led by then-Governor James Stirling slaughtered dozens of Binjareb Noongar people. While the symbolic gesture 190 years later is noted, the Guardian (and much of the media) conveniently sidelines the ongoing systemic issues. What reparations, beyond words, are offered for
the stolen lands, shattered cultures, and enduring dispossession that continues today? This performative mea culpa rings hollow when the fundamental structures of colonial power remain intact, from mining interests to native title disputes. It's easy to apologize for 'dreadful wrongs' of a distant past. It's quite another to dismantle the 'dreadful wrongs' occurring in the present, still fueled by
the same colonial logic of resource extraction and disregard for Indigenous sovereignty. One might ponder how many centuries it will take for an apology regarding today's injustices to surface—or if those will even be acknowledged as 'wrongs' at all.