Vol 13 No 4 Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues 85 Enterprise and Entrepreneurship and Australian Aborigines by Dennis Foley* Abstract As recent as 2006 I was shaken when told that a group of Aboriginal people rejected the idea of Indigenous enterprise on the basis that Aboriginal entrepreneurship was ‘un-Aboriginal’. The misperception of this small yet influential group was disturbing as I had been working towards undermining these entrenched, race-based stereotypical attitudes for the majority of my working life, first within the Public Service, then the Australian banking industry and nowadays within academia. These erroneous observations are at the very least ill-founded. Indeed, Aboriginal involvement in a structured, orderly and entrepreneurial society dates back over 8,000 years. Australian Aboriginal enterprise is quite possibly the oldest surviving recorded ‘business’ undertaking known to modern man. This paper focuses on the Gunditjmara people of western Victoria. It seeks to lay to rest outdated stereotypes such as the lazy, non-industrious, non- inventive, non-economically inclined Stone-Age Aborigine, and build a new foundation to further stimulate research in the field of Indigenous entrepreneurship by other Aboriginal scholars. Introduction While working in Victoria between 2006 and 2008, I had the pleasure of interacting with staff at the Koori Business Network (KBN). This led to my indirect exposure to some Aboriginal people external to KBN, whose negative attitudes towards Indigenous entrepreneurship were unlike any I had experienced while undertaking field research in other parts of Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii or the South Pacific. These people believed that Indigenous involvement in enterprise or entrepreneurship was „un-Aboriginal‟ for it seemingly went against the cultural fabric of Aboriginal life. It surmised that enterprise or entrepreneurial activity was directed towards wealth generation and led to greedy capitalism. Moreover, they contrasted this way of life with the utopian idea of a community ethic based on gift giving, reciprocation and sharing. Indeed in 2008 I was informed that a non-indigenous academic was undertaking research to „prove‟ the hypothesis that entrepreneurship was „un- Aboriginal‟. I have yet to see any publication in this area and shudder to think that any such claim would appear in a publication of academic merit. Aboriginal participation in enterprise and entrepreneurial activity is not a modern occurrence. Aboriginal involvement in a structured, orderly and industrious society could arguably be deemed entrepreneurial. In one example this dates back over 8,000 years. This most likely makes the Gunditjmara people of western Victoria and their aquaculture industry one of the oldest surviving recorded „business‟ undertakings known to modern man. * Professor Dennis Foley is in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The University of Newcastle.