'It's just always been there': Rutherford Falls, monuments, and settler colonial hegemony

Rutherford Falls, produced by Michael Schur, Sierra Teller Ornelas and Ed Helms, is one of the first mainstream televisual interrogations of the history wars in colonised nation-states that privileges Indigenous perspectives. The overriding achievement of this programme is that, through humour, it exposes the fragility of non-Indigenous peoples’ grasp of mythologised historical narratives and national identity. Importantly, in the age of digital technology, social media and video streaming services, political action can be mobilised globally. The experiences of colonisation felt by Native American and Indigenous Australian peoples contain stark similarities. Rutherford Falls contributes to a global Indigenous discussion of settler colonial relations, colonial monuments and their removal, and has potential to foster new global Indigenous alliances. This chapter will explore the value of Rutherford Falls in contributing to a global reassessment of colonial monuments in our cities and towns.