Olympic Dreams: Representations of Aborigines in the Australian Media

The paper discusses the manner in which indigenous Australians are represented in the Australian media. lt queries whether the seemingly positive representations in the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics are representative of more general media representations of Australia`s indigenous peoples. It reads the indigenous presence in the Opening Ceremony as an engagement with politically charged debates in Australia on whether and how to promote reconciliation between indigenous and settler communities. It concludes by arguing that, while the Opening Ceremony can be read as a significant improvement to mainstream media representations, it fell significantly short of constituting a progressive rearticulation of the central place of Aboriginies in Australia`s colonial history and contemporary society