The question that is always lurking in the background in Australia, and especially so in RECONCILIATION WEEK, does this or that place suffer from the COLONIAL VIRUS? Listening to Radio National as 'new Tasmanians' should, I was introduced to the virus via an inter view with the artist Yul Scarf [1]-[2]-[3]and as a 'blowin' it is a concept that gets one thinking in 2021 with COVID-19 lurking in our collective consciousness all over the world.
In places like Launceston [Tas] that is predisposed to celebrating its 'heritage' the city's colonial histories – cherished and dark – are omnipresent. Scratch a Launcestonian and very quickly you'll discover whether or not they are or 'blowin Taswegians' or rusted on 'Lonnites'. To be fair it is not that simple in a binary kind of way but there are some vernacularisms revealed when such questions are asked.
Interestingly, if you go to WIKIPEDIA LAUNCESTON you will get a snapshot of the place's understanding of itself. The 'places' first inhabitants are described as being largely "nomadic Aboriginal Tasmanians" believed to have been part of the North Midlands Tribe. In this sentence all by itself, the scrambling for some kind of 'political correctness' is plain to see – remembering it is typically local government that sanctions Wikipedia posts.
The entry goes on to talk about 'the place's' first white visitors arriving until 1798 – George Bass and Matthew Flinders. It speaks authoritatively about their explorations and 'original discoveries' as if there is no doubt that they were indeed 'original' and that the 'First Tasmanians' were haplessly ignorant of it all given the Terra Nullius – the nobody's land concept – declaration that coloured/s the 'colonial paradigm' in Tasmania/Launceston. You have to be a fast learner if you are a 'new Tasmanian'.
Scratch a 'Launcestonian bureaucrat or any political representative' and you'll quickly discover that there is no history that matters pre 1804. The first symptom of the 'COLONIAL VIRUS' is the perception that 'civilisation here' does not begin until 1804. Interestingly, one is told, that until the 1980s Launceston and Rockhampton shared the boast of being Australia's least multi-cultural cities and in the minds of many multi-cultural realities remains an anathema.
In colonising countries there are a great many mono-cultural places insulated as they still are from globalism. They are quaint places.
The first significant colonial settlement in the Launceston region dates from 1804, when the commandant of the British garrison Lt. Col. William Paterson, and his men set up a camp on the current site of George Town. A few weeks later, the settlement was moved across the river to York Town, and a year later was moved to its definitive position where Launceston stands.
When 'history' is perceived to 'begin' with the colonisation of a place it seems reasonable to assert that the symptoms of the 'Colonial Virus' are present. The Nigerian author Chinua Achebe tells us that “Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.”
So, with this in mind in Reconciliation Week in Launceston 2021 looking for a way to treat the 'Colonial Virus' might well find its way onto the agenda. As wise man somewhere noted that a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.
![[2]](https://www.art-almanac.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/pica_hatched_2021_yul_scarf.jpg){kind=link}