Aboriginal Australians used as forced labor by European settlers, 1902

Man we really fucked this place up

By "we" do you mean "Europeans and their colonial spawn" and by "this place" do you mean "earth"?
- Europeans werent the only colonisers. Just saying
- They hate the truth! It hurts their eyes.

Slave. The word is slave. "Forced labor" sounds like it's downplaying the severity.

I don't mean to downplay the severity, but there are procedural differences. Slavery was pro forma banned at the time. Effectively, I agree, for all practical purposes of the folk in chains, it was slavery.

Didn’t know Australians still had slavery so late in history.

Formally, it wasn't slavery. Effectively, it was.
- I'm seeing chains on necks, looks like slavery to me. Even if they were prisoners, that is inhumane.
  Fucking greasy to think it's so close to recent history.
They didn't even class indigenous Australians as people, until late 1960's. They were considered fauna.
- That’s a myth that needs to end.
  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-20/fact-check-flora-and-fauna-1967-referendum/9550650
America still had slavery in the 1940s when the last slave was freed (might've been later than that) and it still has slavery in the form of prison labor
- And we still have slavery. It is legal per the 13th amendment. Disgusting.
- Can you tell me more about that?
- China still has slavery today.
hahahahaha you think this is late???
- Aboriginals we’re even denied a seat in politics just in the last few months. I remember being shocked they voted in Tony abbot ..who for years screamed about women’s menstruation in parliament. Australia is super backwards.
It was a British penal colony up until 1840

Such an evil smile.

And he might have ended up being a standup dude in another time.
That’s something that I think about often.
The average intelligence of the population of the world isn’t that great. Most people accept whatever reality is instilled in them. If you take a little baby and raise it up to think of some people as animals, they’ll probably never question it, and being surrounded only by people who accept that reality, they’ll never have a reason to question it. I very rarely meet a person who has ever really questioned their reality. It always surprised me when I do.
Most abolitionists came from a world where they were they weren’t exposed to slavery, so they were able to question it. Even then, only around 2% of the population were abolitionists, they just fought really hard for their cause until it rose up high enough to actually be considered for action.
I’m not even putting myself into that small group of people smart enough to question their reality. If I hadn’t grown up with the internet there’s a good chance I’d be a preacher in a Pentecostal holiness church somewhere. That small handful of people who question their reality help spread their questions to the idiot masses.
That’s why I admire people who fight for positive change above all other people. They fight an uphill battle daily. Sometimes they win big and I’m grateful they do.
- I have to agree here from experience.
  One of my kids came out as gay. I grew up in a very homophobic environment in the 70s. I would quite often called timid people puffs etc. Sometimes around my kids, because that was how I grew up. You discouraged timid behaviour to stop them getting bullied. Realising one of your kids is gay was a real eye opener for me as to how bad these phrases are.
  I would never treat a gay person differently. I just saw it as an expression that was common when I was young, and also in the environment I worked in. For context, I used to play squash with a guy from work, who everyone was convinced was gay. He actually got married in a heterosexual relationship a few years later, but whether he was or wasn't never bothered me. This ofc doesn't excuse the practise, it just shows how warped I was.
- General Sherman early in life was quite alright with slavery and a casual racist against Black people, and later became an ardent anti-racist (at least, anti-racist with regards to anti-Black racism). He noted, some years after the US CIvil War, when asked by younger folk how so many people could have blithely accepted slavery, that man is more a creature of habit than originality.

It's crazy to me that people can look at this picture and then immediately start arguing about semantics.

Every one of those people said it's effectively slavery.

Even today, only cursory recognition that the Aboriginal people remain excluded from their own lands and ways

Hey you could get a token reservation increased policing a nation that thinks themselves native and have since 1740 at the very least.

He looks way too fucking smug

No John Browns in Australia.

"We forge the chains we wear in life." -some white person.

That statement isn't about slavery, or labor, it's about emotional bondage.
- The statement is about whatever the last person to crotchet it on a pillow believed it to be.

Australia was founded on using convicts as labourers and this still exists today, except now we pay them $1 an hour.

That enormous cockhole Rolf Harris sung about this in Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport like it was no big deal. And it was a huge hit and no one said anything.

I can't speak for anyone else, but the lyrics you wrote are the only lyrics to the entire song that I know, and I've always thought it was just some weird gibberish. Granted, I've never actively listened to it or sought it out, I've only heard it in passing.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie_Me_Kangaroo_Down,_Sport
  There was an offensive verse in the original song, later deleted. But this is far from the most offensive thing about Rolf Harris.

Holy fucking shit…

What is with the odd looking rib cages; I guess these are torture burn/whip marks, as they don't look like regular ribs at all?

https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/body-art/aboriginal-scarification/
- Ah I was wondering as well if the scarification was a common practice amongst the aboriginal peoples of Australia. Thanks for that!
Look like scars
I think it might be ritual scarification, but it could be torture marks as well. I'm not well-versed on this period or region of history.

What fine, upstanding men there were in days gone by.

They look like they don’t give a shit. What is the story of this photo?

Aboriginal Australians were often arrested on spurious charges, such as 'Entering city limits while Aboriginal', and given long prison sentences, after which they were rented out as convict labor, chained to prevent escape. This is just one group of such folk.
- What’s up with the scarring(?) on their chests?

Could be the low resolution/beards but I am honestly surprised at how similar everyone looks. I guess that's how it is as an island aboriginal - not a lot of genes to mix

Well, they all have the same expression on their faces, probably because there's only one way to feel when you're chained up and made to sit on the floor while someone takes your picture.
Did your dumbass really just look at a group of slaves and say "Wow they all look the same to me, they must be inbred?"
What the fuck is wrong with your brains, Lemmy?
- Lol, it is easier to distinguish between people of your own culture, that's been tested. That said, it was a real dumb thing to say.
Theres every chance they're all closely related too.
Australia is a big place but people didnt travel far
They look pretty distinct to me, but different hairstyles and clothing, neither of which are plentiful here, are often more eye-catching in differentiating people at a glance.
I think the similarity is due to their facial expression, caused by them being displayed like item under bright sunlight.
Ah yes, just a tiny 7,692,024 km2 island, just a quick 150km Kai Marina sailing trip from PNG and Indonesia.
Human genome studies continue to explore the the genetic diversity of indigenous Australians, as it's a key to help understand early human migration. ABC summary of the genome report.
Australia is really not that much smaller than the lower 48 of the USA, and yet people (mostly Americans) seem to think it's some tiny rural island.