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The Forum > Article Comments > Welcome to Country: more than a symbol > Comments

Welcome to Country: more than a symbol : Comments

By Malcolm King, published 26/5/2011

The Victorian government's abandonment of the practice of Welcome to Country shows disrespect for the past, and the future.

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They haven't banned the Welcome to Country. It will still mostly be made. They just dropped the requirement that it has to be made at the start of every single meeting regardless of size, location or audience.
Posted by Raptor, Thursday, 26 May 2011 9:47:04 AM
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It's up to whether the Lib/Nat Minister wants to. Consider Welcome to Country dropped.
Posted by Cheryl, Thursday, 26 May 2011 9:52:46 AM
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'It begins, I think, with the act of recognition. Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the disasters. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practiced discrimination and exclusion.”

On the other hand we brought the medicine, made the electricity, built the hospitals, the roads, ended some very ugly tribal practices, made the money to buy the alcholol and provided education.A little bit of balance please. Maybe the 'welcome to country'should be accompanied by 'thanks for coming'.
Posted by runner, Thursday, 26 May 2011 10:12:23 AM
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Welcome to Country ceremonies perform another purpose that all Australians can enjoy. They add a bit a history; a sense of romance, pride, and shared humanity; a reaching back in time -- something which Australian public occasions would otherwise totally lack. British public occasions are seeped in these little bits of magic -- witness Black Rod and the State Opening of Parliament. Symbols of Maori indigenous culture are enjoyed the world over thanks, in part but not entirely, to the All Blacks. Australian public occasions need more of these little rituals, not fewer.
Posted by WriteOnTheBack, Thursday, 26 May 2011 10:21:45 AM
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Perhaps if every time such a symbolic ceremony was performed, a more substantial gesture could be made, by putting say $ 100, or whatever may be commensurate with theoccasion, in the pot, to eventually purchase some of that land which people are standing on, for the local group.

Back in 1984, in the lead-up to the 1986 Sesquicentenary (150 years, 1836-1986) here in SA, I suggested to a couple of Aboriginal people involved in planning responses, that maybe signs could be put along every main road, saying something like "You are now entering Ngarrindjeri country," or "Goodbye, you are now leaving Kokatha country," in the Flag colours. For some reason, they weren't enthusiastic.

But I still think that it could have been adopted across the country, with signs in the tens of thousands: it could have employed many Indigenous people and forced a far better understanding of where border zones might have actually been. Within the lands of major groups like 'Wailbri', or 'Bundjalung', or 'Yolngu' or 'Wiradjuri', local people could have put up signs according to dialect groups, or family groups, since that was usually the way landholding rights were recognised.

It still might fly ?

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Thursday, 26 May 2011 10:37:08 AM
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I have always detested tokenism.

It makes my skin crawl when I see a bunch of people, with skin whiter than mine, dresses up in something approaching polynesian garb, pretending to present some aboriginal ceremony.

The fact that the actions required, & the true meaning of most of these ceremonies were lost a 100 years ago, just makes it that much worse. I feel demeaned by this stuff, & believe any any aboriginals, who are not part of the aboriginal industry must feel the same way.

I have been invited to, & attended with pride, a number of ceremonies in the Pacific islands. The difference in atmosphere between these genuine tribal acts, & the commercial tripe presented by a dance troupe masquerading as tradition is immense.

The one time I was near a traditional ceremony up on the cape, & was quietly, & gently advised I had no right to be there, as it was private. Now that I can respect.
Posted by Hasbeen, Thursday, 26 May 2011 11:27:54 AM
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Hasbeen, how do you know that the meaning 'was lost 100 years ago', and what makes you believe this to be so?

As for the similarities of polynesian ceremonial garb, how can you be sure that there were no influences between polynesian and Aboriginal peoples prior to British colonisation?

I am genuinely interested in your answers, but please do not quote the distorted history of primary school days many years ago.

I was also wondering if you can explain the weird rituals relating to the opening of parliament - like that fella with the rod thingy banging on the door - or why the judges wear those odd dresses and strange headgear
Posted by Aka, Thursday, 26 May 2011 12:42:55 PM
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runner,

Love your idea.

I think 'indigineous' people should perform the 'thanks for coming' ceremony at important occasions like visiting a doctor/hospital/dentist, receiving preferential job treatment etc. It would just show some respect to the rest of us who have to make our own way in life - you know the ones who work our entire lives, pay off a mortgage, make copayments at the doctor, pay full price for prescriptions etc. It's all about respect.
Posted by dane, Thursday, 26 May 2011 4:37:13 PM
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Thank you Air for allowing me to breathe you.
Thank you Water for flowing in my body.
Thank you Earth that carry my weight.
Thank you Fire for keeping my body warm.
Thank you my feet that walked me here.
Thank you my eyes that showed me the way here.
Thank you my hands that carry the draft of this speech.
Thank you my heart that keeps pumping my blood.
Thank you my tongue through which I can make this speech.
Thank you my teeth that help me pronounce my words correctly.
Thank you my bladder for holding on while I speak.
Thank you my anus for holding on as well.
Thank you my face that allow me to smile at you.
Thank you my brain that phrased out this speech.
Thank you Building for enclosing us and stopping the wind and rain.
Thank you my wife that allowed me to come here today.
Thank you my kids which promised to behave well while I'm here.
Thank you my dentist who allowed me to be here without toothache.
Thank you Cow for producing the milk so I'm not distracted by hunger.
Thank you my clothes that allow me to present this speech respectfully.
Thank you Computer for helping me spell my speech correctly.
Thank you Printer for printing out the draft of my speech.

Thank you all,
my 350 words are over!
Posted by Yuyutsu, Thursday, 26 May 2011 7:24:22 PM
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Dear runner and dane,

You both project a real bitterness and anger. Are your lives correspondingly that miserable? I hope not because that sort of bleakness can not be good for those around you.

Last Sunday I was asked to speak to a bus-load of Landcare people doing a tour of the catchment I have an interest in. Now I thought I had a pretty good handle on the area including its history. On the trip we also had along a local indigenous representative, something that would not have even been thought of 20 years ago but thankfully more common now. Sure some would have seen an element of tokenism but he was able to relate history that I had no idea occurred on my doorstep.

He spoke of an Aboriginal mission that was broken up when gold was discovered in the area. There is very little about it on the web but tales of other areas like Lake Condah can be found, another large mission where the aboriginal families were forcibly removed after the second world war to make way for soldier settlements.

Dispossession has not just been a one off thing. It continued until very recently in our history.

If we in this time are asked or even required to make a little bit of an effort in addressing the fruits of those dispossessions then only the most cantankerous should be complaining.
Posted by csteele, Thursday, 26 May 2011 8:04:55 PM
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runner, there is quite a long list of the introduced diseases brought in by colonisation - and another list of diseases given to the colonisers by Indigenous Australians that has no entries. So your demand to be thanked for the doctors is ill informed. (I am sure you can find the list on the web).

Perhaps you are also mindful of the terrible and ugly tribal practices that were endemic to the British colonisers, such as child labour, the cat-o-nine tails etc not to mention the atrocities carried out towards their own mob. The history of Norfolk Island makes chilling reading as do the stories of the British prison system and their treatment of the vulnerable in their society. Are you suggesting that such Ugly tribal pracitices endemic to the British were nullified by coming to Australia?

The Welcome to Country is much more than a symbol - as well as a reminder of the traditional owners enduring connection to Country it can also be seen as an offering of peace and goodwill. In my darkest moments I sometimes wonder if it is wise to offer it, when so many non-Indigenous Australians are such an ungrateful selfserving lot.
Posted by Aka, Thursday, 26 May 2011 10:21:30 PM
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Looks like the aboriginal grievance industry is at it again, trying to find something, anything, to advance the cause of inter racial hostility.

"Welcome to Country" is not a traditional aboriginal practice. It is a ceremony intended to proclaim aboriginal racial uniqueness and prior ownership of the continent of Australia. It is funny that it continued use is supported by the same sort of people who claim that racial differences are an illusion, and that all humans are the same.
Posted by LEGO, Friday, 27 May 2011 4:32:50 AM
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<<The Welcome to Country address is a symbol of respect and understanding. >>

Two points need making in response to this. Firstly, “respect” is earned and cannot be demanded or mandated. Political Correctness has become the means by which “some” are trying to demand or mandate respect from “others”.

Secondly, in relation to this statement, an outcome of greater public knowledge (not spin) of the issues faced by our indigenous communities and peoples will “produce” that understanding. No amount of “Symbolic Understanding” will create it.

It is increasingly hard to develop an understanding or respect for indigenous issues when those who are indigenous (by any definition) and those who seek to represent them, cannot agree on anything!

It is self evident to much of the Australian public, that the indigenous communities do not agree amongst themselves, nor do they agree with some policies, some politicians, academia, much of the media, many Human Rights activists, the UNHRC and many of the so called educated urban elites who also claim to represent the same heritage. It is these entities that are the direct casual factors of the lack of respect and understanding which prevails.

You and your ilk “are THE problem”.

In addition to this we have other HR activists who grant a higher priority to those refugees who wish to get here, over those who are already indigenous refugees in our own country.

This whole sorry mess is an absolute festering disgrace to all Australians.

Malcolm, I find it incredible that as a media specialist, you can create yet another article so totally focused upon symptoms and absolutely no reference to “probable causes”. Sadly this makes you part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

I think the Australian public has developed a greater understanding and genuine compassion for our indigenous peoples than all the “Aboriginal Industry” players put together.

Just by creating the illusion that “Welcome to Country” somehow creates respect is tokenism gone mad. If anyone is to be labeled “tokenistic” it is those running around with the “stickers”, and that dear Sir, includes you.
Posted by spindoc, Friday, 27 May 2011 10:20:21 AM
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I belong to an organization which frequently employs local elders to give the welcome to country. It grates with me as the speech is given in a language the elder does not speak, and the original speech was written by a Wadjilla anthropologist. The only one I have heard one which had any meaning was given on the spur of the moment (the official elder didn't turn up) by an aboriginal woman who was not in her country. She at least spoke from her heart. The speech was in English so the hearers could understand it.

It also offends me greatly to see a statue honoring pioneers in Western Australia defaced by a plaque demanding respect for the original inhabitants of the area who greeted the pioneers, not with a welcome to country, but with a flight of spears which killed and wounded three of them. This of course, WAS the traditional welcome to country!
Posted by Jon R, Friday, 27 May 2011 10:51:53 AM
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I too rather detest the writer's obvious Toryism but it worries me when I read some of these posts. They are blatantly racist and make no apologies for their racism.

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/racism-still-a-problem-portolesi-20110527-1f786.html

I have no idea who this Minister is but the report makes startling reading.
Posted by Cheryl, Friday, 27 May 2011 11:31:32 AM
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Dear Csteele

'You both project a real bitterness and anger'

Just because someone does not agree with your point of view does not make one bitter or anger.

Aka you write

'So your demand to be thanked for the doctors is ill informed. (I am sure you can find the list on the web).

No it was a suggestion from me. It is the aboriginal industry that makes all the demands. Mine was a suggestion. Open your eyes.
Posted by runner, Sunday, 29 May 2011 12:37:51 AM
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I'm glad this has finally been broken. I've never done it, because I've felt that there has been many things wrong with doing so, and nothing right. And recently I've been vindicated.
I know, and have worked with, many aboriginal people, and have always been perplexed by some of the things they've said about their history, such as, that they've been in Australia for all time, or from the beginning. This is not true, on at least two levels. If they thinkthey've been here forever, then do they think they have evolved separately to the rest of humanity? Or do they just think that they came here a long time ago?
And how long ago? It depends on which aboriginal person you're talking to, and your definition of indigenous. It's on the public record that the aboriginal people of Tasmania are not genetically linked to the aboriginal people of mainland Australia. This is because they are two different peoples, who came at different times to Australia. The mainlanders arrived after the Tasmanians, exterminating them as they went, and pushed those they didn't exterminate south.
What has not made it onto the public record yet, but is known to researchers, is that this has happened 7 times in Australia's pre-European history. That is, those who claim to be indigenous in Australia are invaders like the Europeans, who displaced the peoples they found here before them. The only differences are that they have not kept a record of having done so, whilst the Europeans have.
The UN defines indigenous as, either, those who were the first inhabitants of a land, or those who were the occupiers of a land when Europeans arrived. The two groups who claim to be indigenous Austalians satisfy the second definition, but not the first. When they own up to their past, I'll respect them.
Posted by camo, Monday, 30 May 2011 11:58:24 AM
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Hi Loudmouth, your idea about signs around the country, letting travellers know when they are entering or leaving a tribal area, has a flaw (even if we deal with only the invaders immediately before the Europeans). The borders between tribal groups were frequently moving, because those tribes were frequently at war with oneanother over territory. Aboriginal friends have confirmed at least that part of their history to me, although left a lot else out.
I remember years ago seeing a report that estimated that there were 27 wars going on between aboriginal tribes when the English landed in Australia to colonise it. Maybe the signs should say that a paticular war was going on when the English arrived as travellers pass a spot?
Posted by camo, Monday, 30 May 2011 3:04:31 PM
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Camo writes

'I remember years ago seeing a report that estimated that there were 27 wars going on between aboriginal tribes when the English landed in Australia to colonise it.

There are still many wars going on between family groups today.
Posted by runner, Tuesday, 31 May 2011 2:38:21 PM
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There are still many wars going on between family groups today. Yeah and its all over religion. When will humans ever figure it out. Love and believe in the earth. Not only will you get great rewards, but you can see and feel the life running through your every part of your body.

Or join a cult and burn in hell with all other members that dont follow its strict guide lines of its 10 rules that nobody does, and if you have told just one lie.....thats it! your screwed. or be at peace with knowing that the dinosaurs and other living things where there much longer than 6 days:) and dont for get....no praying outside your home or working on Sundays.

Words from Pat Condell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BaGHKe5oi0&feature=related

Welcome to the country of Australia. more than a symbol:)

LEA
Posted by Quantumleap, Tuesday, 31 May 2011 10:38:36 PM
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