This article investigates how Indigenous identity fraud, settler conspirituality, and epistemic simulation function as ongoing forms of colonial violence in Australia. Through detailed case studies and theoretical analysis, it argues that non-Indigenous individuals and groups are increasingly performing Indigeneity without legitimate descent, community recognition, or cultural authority, and that this is enabled by settler institutions seeking symbolic reconciliation over structural accountability.
Key Themes and Findings:
- Simulation and Epistemic Violence
Drawing on Jean Baudrillard’s concept of simulation and Indigenous scholarship, the article identifies a crisis in settler epistemology: Aboriginal identity is being mimicked and commodified through aestheticised performances. This simulation displaces real Aboriginal governance with unverified claimants, such as the GuriNgai group, who are endorsed by councils and media despite community objections. The result is a form of epistemic violence: silencing real Aboriginal voices while empowering impostors. - Settler Magical Thinking
Settler Australians increasingly rely on myth, intuition, and spiritual rhetoric to claim Aboriginal connection. This magical thinking is used to bypass historical responsibility and cultural law. It is not harmless: it merges superstition with conspiracy beliefs, particularly in movements like My Place, Save Kariong Sacred Lands, and the Coast Environmental Alliance (CEA), which oppose Aboriginal-led housing and land projects while claiming sacred connection to Country. - Conspirituality and Cultic Appropriation
These patterns are part of a wider trend of conspirituality: the fusion of New Age spirituality with sovereign citizen ideology. Figures such as Jake Cassar, Tracey Howie, and “Grandmother Mulara” perform custodianship while undermining actual Aboriginal governance. These performances are often gendered, with white women adopting maternalist identities (e.g., “Earth Mother”) to legitimise their authority. Their actions mirror cult-like dynamics, reinforced by social media, charismatic leadership, and spiritual narcissism. - Institutional Complicity
State agencies, councils, and universities have enabled this fraud by failing to enforce AIATSIS’s three-part identity test (descent, self-identification, and community recognition). Media platforms such as Coast Community News have amplified unverified voices, while genuine Aboriginal authorities such as Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council (DLALC) are ignored. Simulated claimants gain access to jobs, grants, and cultural authority that rightfully belong to Aboriginal people. - Reclaiming Epistemic Sovereignty
The article calls for structural change: legally enforced identity verification, institutional audits, genealogical research funding, and cultural governance panels led by Aboriginal communities. Real accountability requires truth-enforcement, not symbolic inclusion. The work of groups such as guringai.org, bungaree.org, and the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds models how community-led truth-telling can expose fraud and restore cultural integrity. - International Parallels and Reparative Policy
The article draws connections to the Pretendian phenomenon in Canada and the US, where false Indigenous claims have triggered institutional reform. It urges Australian institutions to adopt similar verification protocols and to return authority to Aboriginal organisations, not performative proxies. - Conclusion
The simulation of Aboriginality is a systemic crisis, not a fringe problem. It displaces real voices, distorts cultural truth, and perpetuates settler dominance under a veil of reconciliation. Blak Knowing, grounded in kinship, Law, and Country, must be re-centred in all cultural, academic, and policy arenas. Institutions must learn to distinguish between authentic custodianship and settler simulation, and act accordingly.
Real Aboriginal identity is not a feeling, performance, or aesthetic—it is a relationship, a Law, and a responsibility. Respect begins by listening to those who speak from Country, not over it.
Bungaree.org 
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