The third in a series of articles examining Dark Emu-style claims.

These days we hear a lot about what a sophisticated society the pre-colonial Aboriginal people enjoyed and how, in many fields, they are the world’s first practitioners.  This meme is part of a wider narrative that Bruce Pascoe borrows from in his book Dark Emu. 

I wonder if they appreciate the irony that these claims of Aboriginal exceptionalism are quite demeaning to Aboriginal people in that they are so deeply patronising.  Over