Dear Bentleys
I note with huge disappointment that your firm has become a naming sponsor of a new horse race at Rockhampton named the Archer.
I am the author of a popular racing website, and have become aware that the family that the race is named after were involved in the dispossession of indigenous Australians from their land by violence, the kidnapping of aboriginal children as slaves, the import of forced labour from the Solomon Islands, and were prominent advocates of the White Australia policy. The Archer family is also linked to mass murders and massacres in the Central Queensland region.
I have reproduced correspondence from an Indigenous Australian regarding the bloody history of this family’s involvement in these crimes on the widely read racing website peterprofit.com this morning, and intend to publish a further story fully highlighting your firm’s sponsorship of the Archer race.
Prior to doing so, I seek your comment as to the firm’s position on celebrating the dark history of Queensland by sponsoring races named after active racists and potential murderers.
I have published this correspondence for the information of my readers.
I look forward to your reply.
Regards
A.J. Butterfly
Freelance Journalist
