There was once a bit of a stir among the Australian community (me and a couple of mates) in regional Japan because the lady working at the 7-11 looked Aboriginal.

There’s no reason why this is impossible, we reasoned. Convenience stores do hire foreigners. Aborigines are just as able to travel overseas as other Australians. There was no impossible element.

However, we knew it was unlikely. Probably just a Filipino of strongly Austronesian phenotype.

I’ve never even heard of an Aborigine in Japan. I met Maori there, and assorted other Polynesians, and even an American Indian. I ran into Chinese Australians, Indian Australians, gay Australians, mentally ill Australians, even a couple of Tasmanians.

Never met an Aborigine.

Never met one in any other country I’ve been to, either.

Why not?

So far as I know, Aborigines tend not to travel overseas except for ‘Aboriginal’ reasons like performing Aboriginal music, exhibiting Aboriginal art or attending UN First Nations conferences. Or for tennis/Olympics.

Of course some Aborigines must travel overseas for other reasons – holidays, work, whatever – but it is rare.

Actually, I just remembered a case. There was an Aborigine on death row in America for murder but they managed to get it commuted to life.

Hmm, just found an update on that case:

At that point he had been locked up since the evening of thanksgiving Friday, 1988, two days after he had brutally murdered his polar opposite, a wealthy divorcee and former debutante of the old Florida South.

Barbara Ann Barber’s brutal rape and murder at the hands of Russell Moore was a tragedy for her family.

But it would also be a disaster for Russell’s, and expose the diabolical circumstances which led him to her door…

At the time of the murder, an eminent social justice lawyer later said, he was “probably the only Aborigine in North America … transplanted and at stress and risk under which he ultimately snapped”.

I suppose a lot of Aborigines lack the money, skills and education that might give them travel opportunities. But then, even those who are doing alright tend not to go far. Maori are well-known for working abroad but Aborigines don’t seem that interested for whatever reason.

Given this background, imagine my surprise when I found out about an older Aboriginal woman in Japan who’s been making headlines:

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