Shared country, different stories: a post-settler vignette

In 2000 Bruce Rigsby presented a seminar titled ‘Not Indigenous, merely born here’, borrowing from Australian poet Les Murray’s verses. The issues canvassed the application of the concept of nativeness in biology as well as in anthropology and the particular circumstances of this question in the post-settler society of Australia. Around the same time, Rigsby provided an expert opinion in an American legal case about skeletal remains that raised related matters. This chapter presents my own reflections on indigenous identities and overlapping shared histories in the Gulf Country of northern Australia. The vehicle for the discussion is an innovative experimental workshop that brought together writers and locals to consider issues of ancestry, story telling and senses of belonging in the Gulf Country.

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