In the aftermath of her death at the age of 96, an indigenous scholar characterised the Queen as a “architect” of colonialism who earned her riches on “pain and suffering.”
Friday morning, Sandy O’Sullivan of the Department of Indigenous Studies at Macquarie University in Sydney tweeted that it is “outrageous” to expect Aboriginal people to respond appropriately to the news.
Queen Elizabeth was born 138 years after the British colonisation of Australia in 1788; but, according to Professor O’Sullivan, she failed to safeguard Aboriginal people in the 20th century.
Professor O’Sullivan, who is Wiradjuri and identifies as transgender and non-binary, tweeted: ‘For those saying we should be magnanimous about the passing of the queen, a reminder that the queen inserted herself into the lives of Indigenous people here multiple times.
‘She wasn’t a bystander to the effects of colonisation and colonialism, she was an architect of it.
‘Demanding Indigenous people be respectful about the passing of someone who intentionally made our lives worse is outrageous. It’s worth considering what she *could* have done – and didn’t – to effect change.
‘At so many times across the 20th century, she could have intervened and reset the relationship between Indigenous people and ‘the crown’, because she had more than ceremonial power to do so. She did nothing.’
Queen Elizabeth visited Australia 16 times in her 70-year reign. In 2002 she famously watched a cultural show at the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park in Cairns.
Professor O’Sullivan went on to accuse the Queen of participating in land theft, arguing that she could have ordered the Australia government to hand back land to Aboriginal people.
‘What she did ‘do’ was be an active participant in stealing our land,’ the professor wrote.
The professor claimed the dismissal of prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975 showed the Queen had influence over Australian politics.
‘Instead of handing back, making reparations from her enormous wealth, her agents (that she had explicit control of, see ‘The Dismissal’) continued to steal land and when they had it all, they stole our children,’ she wrote, in reference to the Stolen Generations.
‘She had influence over the ‘commonwealth’. Her wealth is not just ceremonial, and it was not acquired passively.
‘It was built on the pain and suffering of Indigenous people. That was the plan all along and that’s the plan that she was an agent of her whole career.’
However, recently unsealed documents proved John Kerr, the Governor-General at the time of The Dismissal, sacked then-prime minister Gough Whitlam unilaterally without the direction, or knowledge, of The Queen.
Professor O’Sullivan’s comments were blasted by other social media users, with many noting the Queen was not personally responsible for colonialism.
One wrote: ‘Another university professor with an absolutely terrible take. Just goes to show our universities are a joke.’
Another added: ‘Many millions are mourning her loss and you come out with this rant. There’s a time in the place – read the room’.
A third commenter said: ‘This is why the Australian government should not pay a cent to universities.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led Australian tributes to Queen Elizabeth who died overnight in Balmoral, Scotland.
He said: ‘With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, an historic reign and a long life devoted to duty, family, faith and service has come to an end.
‘The government and the people of Australia offer our deepest condolences to the Royal Family, who are grieving for a beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother – the person whom for so long was their greatest inner strength.’
The flag at Parliament House has been lowered to half mast.