Today is January 26 and I’m lying on my bed, on this rainy day, reading some words from First Nations folk about what this day means to them. Listening, learning.
In the past I might have gone for a barbie with friends but this year, I decided to lay low out of respect for the solemn nature of today - the anniversary of a day in 1788 when Sir Arthur Phillip raised a flag and claimed this continent for Britain, heralding two hundred years plus of terror, genocide and cultural annihilation for the original custodians of this land - the oldest living culture in the world. So began the brutal violence of colonisation; land theft, oppression, stolen children and eradication of culture and language.
This date marked the beginning but the end is still no where in sight. The violence against First Nations people in this country is ongoing. The incarceration rates for Indigenous Australians are enormously high - 28% of the prison population are Indigenous despite only 2% of the adult population being Indigenous. There have been more than 476 deaths in custody of First Nations people in the 30 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and not a single person has ever been held to account.
In years gone by, I have to admit, I was largely unaware of the significance of today. I didn’t know that it was a day of Mourning for so many. Invasion Day.
I know I’m not alone. I guess we could put that down to the white supremacist education system and political agenda that feeds media coverage… and, I sheepishly admit, my being a privileged middle class Anglo woman, who has been preoccupied with white middle class problems most of my life.
Despite the fact that I have been ignorant to it, the resistance by First Nations people to occupation and colonisation has been fierce for more than 233 years. And today is also Survival Day and a day where the resilience and courageousness of First Nations people is celebrated. A day to remember all the activists and resistance fighters of the past and to acknowledge that even in the face of all the force and might exerted by the Colonisers to destroy them, First Nations people are still here and their culture is still thriving. As a great example of resistance, it was on this day 50 years ago, the Tent Embassy was established to protest against First Nations people being denied land rights.
I was talking with my brother, who is one of my favourite humans in the world, about how we’ve been told a false history and about the truth that we live on stolen lands and he asked me, sincerely, “But what would you do about it now?”
Here’s what I told him:
First Nations people have told and are telling us what repair could look like. I would listen to them and act on their recommendations.
For example, The Uluru Statement From The Heart has three key requests:
Voice, Truth and Treaty
For example, Land Back campaigners are requesting that lands that were stolen are returned to their owners
For example, Raise the Age campaign asks that the age of criminality is raised to 14, so that children as young as 10 aren’t aliened from their families, thus continuing the colonial violence.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart
In May 2017, there was an historic gathering of over 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Delegates who, after listening to testimony from Indigenous people from diverse communities across the land that had been previously gathered in a series of ‘dialogues’ that took place over the course of a year, put their signatures on an historic statement. The Uluru Statement From The Heart is an invitation to the people of Australia from First Nations people, to work towards a future that acknowledges our First Nations and their rights to self determination as the Sovereign people of this land and a future where the brutal truth about colonisation is known.
There are two key recommendations that would make that future possible. The first is an enshrined voice to Parliament. This is so that First Nations people will forever more be consulted about laws that affect them.
As it says in The Uluru Statement From The Heart
“We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.”
My own quiet hope is that with First Nations leaders in Parliament, we might see some real leadership on Climate Change and policy that protects Country. Who knows better how to care for country than the people who have cared for and belonged to Country for more than 60,000 years?
The second recommendation is for what is called Makarrata which is about Truth Telling and Treaty.
Makarrata is a word from the language of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land. As Noel Pearson has explained:
The Yolngu concept of Makarrata captures the idea of two parties coming together after a struggle, healing the divisions of the past. It is about acknowledging that something has been done wrong, and it seeks to make things right.
The formation of a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.
This agreement-making could result in a Treaty where Indigenous Sovereignty is acknowledged and legal protections of Indigenous rights is provided.
Land Back
I once heard Elle Davidson, a Balanggarra woman and town planner who specialises in the concept of cultural safety in public spaces, speak at a Tedx event. She took the audience through a meditation that helped me understand what it might be like to be someone whose land has been stolen.
The mediation went something like this:
Picture a place that is special to you. Perhaps it’s someplace special from your childhood, or a place you used to holiday as a kid. Maybe it’s a river or a beach or a forest or some other place that feels important to you. It’s a place where you’d like to bring your kids or grandkids one day to show them.
Imagine you turn up one day and there, where your special place used to be, is now an ugly concrete building or several buildings. And not only has the building destroyed the landscape that was once so special to you, you also learn that all the people you loved, that you shared that place with have been brutally murdered by those that built the concrete monstrosity.
Imagine the place you loved has been renamed in honour of the person who was instrumental in the murder of your people and destruction of your special place.
Now you know what it feels like to be an Indigenous person in Australia.
If we tell the truth about the colonisation of Australia we’ll know that the land was never ever ceded, there has been no treaty signed. First Nations folk have rights to this land. This has been established in Australian courts through historic cases such as Mabo and through Native Title legislation in Parliament.
Land back is what is morally right. I understand many Australians fear what that might look like.. They’ve bought into fear campaigns that tell them they’ll be kicked out of their home. Me, I’m more hopeful. I read stories like this one about the Daintree Rainforest UNESCO World Heritage site being returned to the Kuku Yalanji community and feel excited about the possibilities.
Again, with First Nations folk caring for Country, my hope is that Country and locations of great cultural significance and environmental importance will be protected.
I also believe in what Elle spoke of when she talked about creating cultural safety in public spaces - bringing elements of culture of native plants and Indigenous artwork and more to those places designated for us to be together. I’m also in favour of renaming places to reflect the Indigenous history and understanding of those locations. We should be so proud of being the home of the world’s oldest living culture. Let’s celebrate that in all our public spaces, let’s learn from this remarkable culture and create spaces that are welcoming for First Nations folks.
Raise the Age
According to the Raise the Age campaign (which is led by First Nations community owned organisations and other high profile social justice organisations such as Amnesty International), close to 600 children aged 10 to 13 years were locked up and thousands more also went through the criminal justice system in Australia in one year alone. The majority (65 per cent) of young people in prison are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which causes enormous harm to communities.
State and Territory Governments are asked to raise the legal age from 10 to 14 to help prevent children from being locked up.
So this is how I think we could begin to make amends.
Oh, and change the date of the bloody Public Holiday too. Or better yet, perhaps we don’t have a public holiday to celebrate the formation of a nation that meant the decimation of another (or rather, 500 or so others) at all until we have a Treaty which recognises First Nations Sovereignty.