Ah well, ALMOST one page of EXACTLY what this thread was intended for is better than none. So I'll make a small Australian contribution to the above conversation while I still can & offer you a link to an article on the Bowraville kids. There was a march to State Parliament in Sydney for them recently so they've been on my mind I guess.
The reason I'm posting a link to their case here? They're literally Australia's poster kids for the argument Bowie & Ron were making. The recent march got about as much attention in the broader media as their murders did all those years ago. If 3 middle-class, or even dirt poor white kids had been abducted & murdered in the one little country town & the identity of the perpetrator was common knowledge? There would've been a media blitz. We saw it for Milat & the Granny Killer in NSW, the Truro murders in S.A, Leonard John Fraser's crimes in QLD, the Claremont murders in W.A, the Frankston Serial Killings in Vic & many, many more.
A
These murders occurred in the '90's. The victims were Colleen Walker, 16, last seen Sept 13, 1990, then under a month later, her 2yr old cousin Evelyn Greenup disappeared on Oct 4, 1990. Last was 16yr old Clinton Speedy-Duroux on Feb 1st, 1991. These were Aboriginal kids, & their families lived on or were associated with the local mission(closest comparison U.S-wise would be reservation land maybe? but it's a little different). The whole case was fucked up by the police from the start. No-one listened to the families pleading for help to find their kids. They were Aboriginal kids & the news at the time was full of pretty young missing backpackers. If white teenagers get written off as runaways? There's no hope for these kids.
The "N" word's not real common here. We have the "B" word. So the initial police response to these desperate families would've been along the lines of "fuck me mate, it's just a coupla fucken B's. Hah, probably gone fucken walkabout mate". & a toddler missing from one of "these" families? "haha, they'd be too fucken drunk to know anyway, either the kids still there or they lost 'em months ago & only just noticed ! Fucken hilARious mate". There's a LOT to say about this case, it may yet get another media airing because even now people are lobbying to have it re-opened, but this obviously isn't the place to go into detail & I've gone completely off-topic for this thread, so here's the link -
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-2...urders/4653032
Sorry for this HUGE addition to my edit, but what I wrote initially just couldn't give anyone the full picture, I will shush now.
ETA I left out a really important detail - perpetrator's identity was known VERY early in the investigation - local white guy familiar with the local Aboriginal community. Aboriginal people pointing the finger at a white guy was never well-received, sometimes it was downright lethal, & at that particular time in our history, had a very special set of problems.
Edit, ETA The Reconciliation debate was everywhere, the Stolen Generation were starting to have their story told in the tabloid media. My own family was split 3 of us/versus everyone else, over whether my favourite cousin, a part of my family since we were both 2, was a Stolen Generation kid. She was, unquestionably, but older female family members took issue & said it was a disgusting display of rudeness & ingratitude to say such a thing. How DARE she. Pointing out the thousands of reasons SHE was right caused all sorts of drama. Now some of these same people brag they know a Stolen Generation survivor. What a difference 2 decades make. Back on (this) topic though, at the time of the Bowraville disappearances, my favourite cuz had taken off to the same North Coast region to meet her real family. I was happy for her & scared at the same time.
While these kids quietly went missing, in the media that should've been shining a light on the (non)police investigation, debate raged & large sections of white society argued their rigid belief that they were being held personally responsible for violence committed exclusively during our colonial past. Trying to remind these people that many of them were adults before Aborigines were even given the right to vote in '67 never ended pretty.
If it was a slow news week, they'd throw in a story on the Aboriginal Tent Embassy (set up in protest, it stood for decades on the lawns outside Federal Parliament) & mention the word "genocide" a few times for good measure. ANY instance of fingerpointing, particularly at that time was seen as more "white-bashing" & an attempt to scam some kind of compensation. I like to think that if this happened today, especially if a 2yr old went missing in a little bush town, there'd be outrage & search parties consisting of more then just her friends & relatives. But I really thought so back then too. I guess the best outcome to my wondering, will be that we never have the opportunity to find out.
Reply With Quote
