Abstract

Sydney is an Indigenous place – Indigenous Country – infused with Indigenous stories and lore/Law. Yet as the original site of British colonisation in 1788, Sydney today is also a deeply-colonised place. Long-held narratives of Sydney as a colonial city have worked hard to erasure Indigenous peoples’ presences and to silence Indigenous stories of this place (Rey and Harrison, 2018). In recent years, however, Indigenous-led tours on Country are emerging in the Greater Sydney region, whereby Indigenous guides share with visitors stories of place, history, culture, language and connection. We write together as Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers, in conversation with four Indigenous tour operators in the Greater Sydney region to reflect on their experiences of conducting Indigenous tours in this Indigenous-yet-deeply-colonised place. We document the kinds of ‘deep-colonising’ (Rose, 1996) narratives and assumptions the operators encounter during their tours and within the tourism industry, and highlight how Indigenous tour operators facilitate many non-Indigenous peoples in taking their first steps towards meaningful interactions with Indigenous Sydney-siders. We conclude that Indigenous tour operators undertake incredibly complex, confronting and challenging emotional labours trying to change the pervasive and deep-colonising narratives and assumptions about Indigenous peoples in the Greater Sydney region. In a world where the histories of thousands of cities ‘lie in dispossession and genocide of Indigenous peoples’ (Porter, 2020: 15), we argue for further and careful analytical attention on Indigenous tourism encounters in Indigenous – yet deeply-colonised – places.

Highlights

  • Sydney, like all of Australia, is an Indigenous place – Indigenous Country – infused with Indigenous stories and lore/Law

  • As the original site of British colonisation in 1788 on the continent known as Australia, Sydney today is a deeply colonised place

  • Offering opportunities for talking, sharing, intimacy and connection, in this article we focus on Indigenous-led tours in the Greater Sydney Region to better understand tourism encounters in deeplycolonised Indigenous cities

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Summary

Introduction

Like all of Australia, is an Indigenous place – Indigenous Country – infused with Indigenous stories and lore/Law. The deep-colonising themes identified in this paper – around Indigeneity and ‘authenticity’, racialised assumptions, ignorance of Indigenous lived experiences, and the emotional labours of operators – were developed iteratively through careful reading of the interview transcripts and research notes, by both Marnie and a colleague, and with reference to the literature on Indigenous histories and experiences in Sydney.

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