Video has emerged of a Darwin business owner hosing away an Aboriginal man on the street.
The vision was sent to Welcome to Country by a young Aboriginal woman who does not wish to be named. We have also removed her voice from the video for safety reasons. In the original video, the young woman commented, “the old man was just sitting there peacefully and this whitefulla is spraying him with water”. The woman who recorded the footage was on holiday in Darwin and was outraged to witness such a low act.
An angry review was written by a friend of the witness on the tour operators Facebook page, however the company has now hidden their review section and have now closed their Facebook page. Unfortunately a number of unrelated businesses are receiving negative reviews on Facebook and TripAdvisor pages.
Here is one of the reviews that did make it on to the correct page before it was closed down: “How is it OK for you guys to exploit Aboriginal culture for your own gain but your employees are caught on camera with a hose spraying water “shooing” an Aboriginal man away as if he were a fly.. Disgraceful and very disrespectful behaviour considering you profit off the Aboriginal people and their land!!! If I could add the video I would”.
Update: The witness who sent in the video is not happy with a number of media reports about this story. The witness would like to point out that the Elder that the NT News have identified is not the man from the video. The Elder they spoke to mentioned being hosed away during the morning but this video was taken in the afternoon which also is backed up by police reports about the incident. So the question has to be asked is how often does this happen? How many people has the business hosed away?
We also find it absurd that the business owner thinks they can brush off the incident without taking any responsibility. News reports are saying the owner has defended their actions by saying they were cleaning the footpath. We have the original audio too, we can hear you telling the man to get away. If you were just cleaning the footpath then why do you jam up when you realise you were caught on camera? Shame on you and shame on everyone else who wants to use the same excuse to defend your actions.
Have you ever witnessed behaviour like this in Darwin or elsewhere in Australia?
Just last month we outlined 7 different ways that we are still being robbed of rights and respect in our own country.
Welcome to Country is a brand new independent Indigenous news/media website. To have your story published online, simply submit it via our Facebook page or Contact page.
