Vol. 11 No. 1 (2005): Media and the Indigenous public sphere

Caricature: The Queensland Figaro, 1887. Image courtesy of Ross Woodrow, Racial Image Archive, The University of Newcastle, Australia

One of the major conclusions of the John Hartley and Alan McKee study is that, in the Australian media, indigenous people are central to a drama about Australian national identity. Stars rather than victims, indigenous people are caught up in a media narrative over which ‘they have little individual control, but which is nevertheless telling their story’ (p. 7).