Cultural colonisation: Monica Furlong and the quest for fulfilment

Abstract

In their subscription to the myths of alienation from self and landscape and the spiritual emptiness which all non-indigenous Australians allegedly suffer,and/or to the notion of a derivative culture lacking local reflection and relevance, many authors, artists and assorted commentators are reconstructing Aboriginal heritage in such a way that it is made to offer solutions to these supposed national afflictions,' Beyond these parochial concerns, however, much of the interest in the nonmaterial cultural property of Aborigines is precipitated by a professed disenchantment with certain conspicuous features of Western culture and the so-called civilised life.