Abstract
The inclusion of Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2015 is both novel and geographically controversial. Even more striking is the predominance of Indigenous performers, Jessica Mauboy and Isaiah Firebrace, among Australia’s first representatives. The choice of performers by Australia’s multicultural broadcaster, Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), can be perceived as an attempt to present Australia as a modern, multicultural, and postcolonial nation that has achieved the European goal of “unity through diversity”. However, this chapter argues that a perception of Indigenous marginality from a predominantly non-indigenous white mainstream Australian viewpoint may not be an accurate perception of how the European audience view an Indigenous identity. Furthermore, Indigenous representation cannot help but reference the ancient lineage of Indigenous Australians, and their historic and ongoing struggles to overcome the legacy of colonialism.
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Notes
- 1.
At the time of writing in March 2019, the new ABC soap opera, In the Heights, does attempt to address this imbalance, with a pointedly ethnically diverse and differently abled cast.
- 2.
Barker is a descendent of the Wangkumara and Muruwari people from Northwest NSW, the Adnyamathanha of the Flinders Ranges, SA, the Kooma and Kunja of Southwest Queensland, and also the Kurnu-Baakandji people of Northwest NSW.
- 3.
Australia’s Eurovision entrants between 2014 and 2018 were all TV talent show alumni: Guy Sebastian and Jessica Mauboy from Australian Idol , Dami Im and Isaiah Firebrace from The X-Factor .
- 4.
The recorded voiceover that introduced Mauboy to the audience for her 2014 performance made note of this: “please welcome to the stage, from Darwin, Australia, Miss Jessica Mauboy!” This voiceover was used as the pivot between the kitsch Australiana of the opening, and Mauboy’s song proper.
- 5.
In March 2019, it was announced that Aboriginal surfer, Soli Bailey, will be competing in the World Championship Surf Tour in 2019 and will become the first professional surfer to wear the Aboriginal flag on the sleeve of his jersey, with the Aboriginal flag on the right shoulder of his jersey and the Australian flag on the left (Scherer 2019), suggesting increasing tolerance of these statements of identity by the mainstream society.
- 6.
Dreaming refers to Aboriginal creation stories. Each individual also identifies with a particular Dreaming story that informs their identity and spirituality.
- 7.
The Freedom Rides first occurred in the US in 1961, when activists toured the South in buses to protest segregation. Australian activists, predominantly students from the University of Sydney, including prominent Indigenous Australian doctor and activist Charles Perkins, replicated the Freedom Rides in 1965 to protest the treatment of Indigenous Australians.
- 8.
A short-hand term frequently used to mean that an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person is speaking in their traditional language.
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Collins, J.L., Barker, L. (2019). Indigenous Representation at the Eurovision Song Contest: A Quintessentially Australian Identity. In: Hay, C., Carniel, J. (eds) Eurovision and Australia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20058-9_4
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