[Edition 53] COOLUM, Saturday: Several Aboriginal dancers have expressed delight at being given the opportunity to dance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opening ceremony. “Some people think British colonialism was all bad for Aboriginals,” said one of the Bingiri Dancers. “But without it we wouldn’t have got this free trip to Coolum”.

Aboriginal dancers .. agreed to dance after the British delegation to CHOGM threatened to poison their water and steal their land if they didn’t

[Edition 53] COOLUM, Saturday: Several Aboriginal dancers have expressed delight at being given the opportunity to dance at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opening ceremony.

“Some people think British colonialism was all bad for Aboriginals,” said one of the Bingiri Dancers. “But without it we wouldn’t have got this free trip to Coolum”.

The dance group admitted that they felt a little unease when initially asked to dance.

“I found I danced a lot better when I ignored the whole ‘invaded my country’ and ‘massacred my people’ issue,” said John Bingala of the Mirangu people.

The dancers said they tried to look at the experience as a way to get back at the British Empire.

“We did this dance which depicted the slaughter of our people and the terrible vengeance we will wreak on the Royal family,” said Bingala. “But we told them it was the story of how the Dreamtime hunter Mogooloo created the rainbow. They just lapped it up.”

The Aboriginals also joined with other native dancers at CHOGM in a stunning finale which spelt out the conference moto, “tokenism”. The dancers also acknowledged an educational role in the dance.

“After the dance I really felt like we had bridged the cultural divide and created greater understanding of the problems faced by modern Aboriginals,” said one dancer. “Then Prince Phillip asked me if I still speared people”.