Gender, Justice and Things That Shouldn’t Be

The Visitor’s Tale Prologue to The Visitor’s Tale Among a group of men drinking beer on a surf club veranda, a grey haired man with sun scarred hands and face was listening intently to a younger man complaining about black people and their bad habits and laziness. He declared, ‘In recent years there have been billions of dollars spent and atmospheres of hot air exhaled by politicians and others on the plight of the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia. All this effort has largely failed to turn them into people with the same motives, urges and ambitions as white people. They say they have not been conquered, but they remain outside the tent. Prime Minister John Howard refused to apologise for their plight and said he “Refused to subscribe to the black armband view of history.” His successor, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took a different view and he eagerly apologised on behalf of the whole nation by claiming he was “Sorry” for all the sins of the past. ‘They should all shut up, go away and let those people find their way out of what ever hole they think they are in, in their own way.’ The old gentleman went to the bar for another schooner of beer and when he came back the young fellow was still grumbling. He decided to tell a story in response, to contribute some of his own background and understanding of what he had just heard.