Abstract

In both Australia and New Zealand, the fundamental and diffused perception of Africa is that the continent is “the jungle home of backward people” (Craig 2002, 50), and thus Black Africans are regarded as a people who are “unfit” for “modern life.” This narrative is an offshoot of the long-standing discourse of a “Dark Continent.” The Dark Continent narrative features Black Africans as “brutish, benighted, and unprogressive” (Olivier 1906, 2). Within this discourse, Blacks of African heritage are considered to be “‘half-devil and half-child,’” and thus it is concluded that “African races” are the “most important uncivilized mass of colored humanity” (Olivier 1906, 3).