While Noongar and Yamatji woman Brooke Blurton found love on The Bachelorette finale with Darvid, a powerful scene aired before the final decision in which the remaining contestants were questioned about how much they knew about First Nations people.
Gomeroi academic Amy Thunig, a close friend of Blurton, made an appearance for a 'meet the friends' segment alongside ex-Bachelorette star Abbie Chatfield.
"As a loved one of Brooke, I've got a lot of questions." Amy explained to Jamie-Lee." This is a core part of who she is, it isn't just a passion, it's her identity. How across Indigenous issues and truths and histories would you say you are?"
Jamie-Lee responds that she understands, "and I guess am as privy to it as I can be."
"So you live in the Sydney region, If I was to ask you whose land you were on, you'd be able to tell me?" Thunig asks Jamie-Lee.
Her response was 'no' and Thunig then went on to ask the contestant if she knew who Brooke's mob is, to which her response was also 'no'.
In a powerful moment, Thunig's response to the answers conveys disappointment at the lack of awareness.
Jamie-Lee concedes after the conversation that she 'doesn't have the right knowledge and she's going to change that.'
Thunig received the same responses from Darvid when she asks the same questions.
She also asked Darvid: “So it would take dating an Aboriginal woman for you to start to consider that you live on Aboriginal land?”
His response was "It’s just something I haven’t given too much thought to. I don’t know what that is, maybe immaturity. I haven’t taken the time and opportunity to try and understand as much as I should have.”
Darvid's replies and commitment to trying better to understand Brooke's identity were met with a grateful response.
In relaying the concerns to Brooke after the one-on-one chats, Brooke was also surprised that the finalists didn't know.
During the episode, Thunig explained the reasoning behind her inquiries to the camera.
"I didn't come with these questions to judge a person for not knowing, that's absolutely not the issue here," she said.
"The issue here, firstly, how can you be friends with someone for three years and not know something that is such a core part of their identity and a part of everything for Brooke? For me, I just question the depth there."
After the episode aired last night on Channel 10, the academic posted a response on her Instagram page, expressing gratitude for being able to have a national platform for Indigenous representation and truth.
"I always knew it would be magical if the day ever came where we ever saw representation like this on our screens, and yet it was still so much better than I could have imagined," she wrote.
The season of the Bachelorette was praised for choosing Blurton, the first openly bisexual lead. An Acknowledgment of Country and a Welcome to Country was also performed for the star as she arrived at the mansion in episode 1, bringing her to tears.
