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The forgotten people

7/2/2019

8 Comments

 
By Marg Lynn
 
NOEL Pearson, the Cape York Aboriginal leader, has written that Australia’s history is based on three great narratives.
 
The first is that we have the longest living culture on earth, a culture that sustained and shaped this land for 60,000 years, and whose people have much to offer us still in generously sharing the wisdom of the land.
 
The second narrative starts with colonial settlement and describes the achievements of 230 years, the prosperity created through the development and diversification of industry, the building of fine institutions through education and hard work, and the creation of solid governance structures that provide us with stability and security.
 
We have kept in the shadows of this narrative the dispossession of our First People.
The third narrative is our becoming the most successful multi-cultural country on earth.  We have evidence of this success in our own community. The Italian Festa encapsulates the confident expression of a loved heritage that will always be part of our very Australian Italian-Australian community members, and which they seek to share with the rest of us.
 
But in the shadow of our multicultural success is our treatment of asylum seekers who made the mistake of attempting to come to Australia when we decided to put up the “House Full” sign rather than put out the welcome mat.
 
Australia is all of these narratives. It is a pity that currently Australia Day privileges the second and third of them.  It was not until 1935 that this date was settled upon as Australia’s National Day, and not until 1994 that it was celebrated in all states as a public holiday. 
 
Aboriginal People named it a Day of Mourning in 1938, and have since called it Invasion Day or Survival Day – the day their dispossession began.
 
We could easily change the date to one that celebrates all three narratives and that doesn't cause ongoing injury to our world's oldest living culture.  January 26 has not been fixed as Australia's national day throughout history, and it need not remain our national day into the future.
 
And so I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, and I pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and future.
 
Marg Lynn is a member of the Bass Coast South Gippsland Reconciliation Group. This is the text of a speech she made at the Mirboo North Australia Day ceremony.

8 Comments
James
9/2/2019 08:46:15 am

Can't you let it go for another year Marg?

Realistically there were maybe 40,000 protesters at the #ChangeTheDate marches across Australia. Which means only about 5% of Indigenous and 0.1% of no Indigenous people felt sufficiently strongly to turn up and protest.

And why would they? The majority recognise that in modern Australia, regardless of its history, they have the opportunity to live their lives as they wish and embrace those aspects of their ancient heritage they choose to. A choice their ancestors never had.

The date Jan 26th is not celebrated for its origins but a convenient end of summer school holidays. If they changed the date to say Jan 30th I wouldn't really care that much. But this year the organisers of the march made clear it was about abolishing Australia Day altogether regardless of the date. So good on you if you marched and support that.

Australia is not perfect but has so many good things going for it can we not have one day to celebrate that and feel good about ourselves? And the doomsayers stay indoors and maybe pick a particularly cold, wet winters day to get out and protest with their miserablist friends.

Reply
Meryl Tobin
9/2/2019 10:51:29 am

Marg Lynn presents Noel Pearson's logical case for changing the date for Australia Day. Empathetic people sensitive to others are likely to see this as acceptable. Maybe those who can't could do as others have suggested and consider the scenario if Australia had lost WWII. Should the Japanese or some other victor have 'occupied/settled' our land and treated us the way 'European settlers' treated and some still treat Australia's First People, would we have rejoiced and happily joined in celebrating an Australia Day if the day chosen was the day Japan won the war and they or another victor took possession of our land? Congratulations on your wise and well-written article, Marg and thank you for sharing it.

Reply
Christopher Eastman-Nagle
9/2/2019 10:57:45 am

Most of us of a certain age will have known someone who 'made a meal out of a bereavement or some other significant loss,, to the point that even their friends began to stop feeling sorry for them.

There comes a point where someone ought to tell them, but no-one does, because the person has so much invested in their grief & pain, suggesting that they start to move on will only cause them further grief & anger.

So in the end, even their friends get tired of it & they move on.

The 'Sorry Story' in the end is a disempowering narrative for indigenous people, but it keeps a whole tribe of non indigenous (and nearly non indigenous people) in the stipend rich business of administering suffering & the status quo.

As capitalism rolled itself out it radically disrupted 'business-as-usual' everywhere it went, & forced everyone it touched to radically adapt. Most people did with varying success. It wasn't easy for anyone, including the bulk ofothe ruralf peasantry who lost their land during the enclosure movement in Britalin during the 1780s.

But it wasn't just a disaster. New opportunities appeared as well & there would not be a country in the world that offers the opportunities to any hard working, focused & enterprising person that Australia does. That is why it is a rather popular place to migrate to, especially from places that put Aboriginal sufferings into some kind of perspective.

At some point aboriginal communities are going to have to admit to themselves that the Sorry Story has made a real mess of their journey into the modern world and there is no alternative but to embrace it the best way they can by including themselves in....& letting their traumatic past go.

If they continue to fail in this, the only beneficiaries will be their white (or just off white) liberal, humanitarian 'benefactors' who not only thrive & prosper on the compassion & empathy train, but get all the jobs in running it.


Reply
Geoff Ellis
9/2/2019 11:41:55 pm

I apologize in advance to the editor for posting this comment - I know the Post has a policy of not facilitating personal abuse but .......

Anyway

According to a site I just found in a sad little corner of the web, there is a whole industry based on "The preparation of ideological lifeboats to meet the contingency of the emergence of post-modern times; storm proof, self righting, compassed, determined and secular; a practical guide for when all else fails, which is what one expects from a protracted history of living wildly beyond the available means and relentlessly moving from unsustainability to postremocide......

I'd suggest the parrot in that cage needs to clean it's mirror.

G



Reply
Geoff Ellis
10/2/2019 12:01:02 am

Keep at it Marg, I'm with you on this.
https://www.basscoastpost.com/geoff-ellis/acknowledgement



Reply
Meryl Tobin
10/2/2019 02:43:44 pm

Sadly, many Australians are in denial of our history or are unaware of it or how it impacts our present. This might be because of a sense of guilt, which they often do not wish to acknowledge, or because of self-interest as they are terrified of acknowledging and doing something about it which could impact their lives. While able to appreciate the great contributions of our pioneers, at the same time members of a humane society should be able to admit wrongs in our society and do something about righting injustices. If anyone wants to look at things from an Aboriginal perspective or from a social justice perspective and wants to understand why Aborigines find it hard to ‘move on’, they should read Stan Grant’s ‘Talking to My Country’. Respected journalist and TV presenter, Stan Grant and his people have experienced life and continue to experience life as secondclass citizens in their own country, and he illustrates with story after story how hard it is to move on.

Reply
Sunny
10/2/2019 03:02:37 pm

I agree with Marg, we need to find another date, those who argue to keep it are not sensitive to other's feelings and why it is important. We need to keep fighting to change the date, so it will not go away until we do, and rightly so. #changethedate

Reply
Geoff Ellis
11/2/2019 11:35:57 pm

NZ has had two Maori Governors General - how long before WE have an Aboriginal Governor General?

Reply



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