Outrage over ‘brown painted’ Oz students dressed as ‘traditional’ Aborigines picture

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Sydney, Oct 11: The publication of a photograph of students in Australia dressed up to look like “traditional” Aboriginal people, with their faces and limbs painted brown, has sparked outrage.

The eight female students from Cromwell College within the University of Queensland were depicted in the photo, with wild hair, holding sticks and wearing material fashioned into makeshift loin cloths.

The photo, which was taken last Tuesday, was uploaded on an online social networking sites and raised the ire of a number of indigenous Australians from around the country, the Brisbane Times reports.

“Think #racism and #blackface are unacceptable in Australia? … Let UQ and Cromwell College know,” a Twitter user wrote.

“University of Queensland Cromwell College for aspiring racists everywhere,” said another user.

According to the paper, the residential college authorities said the students acted out of ignorance, not malice.

The Cromwell College principal, Ross Switzer, described their behaviour as ‘a young person’s uneducated approximation of Aboriginal life’.

“I know that ignorance is no excuse for that behaviour [but] it was ignorance rather than an attempt to laugh at indigenous Australians,” the paper quoted him, as saying. (ANI)