"The Best Apology is Changed Behavior"

Posted by Devin Cooper

One of the most beautiful customs I have observed so far during my time here in Australia has been the acknowledgement and rich appreciation of the land and those indigenous peoples who inhabited it tens of thousands of years ago. The history of Australia as it relates to he indigenous peoples in most ways is not a particularly happy story, however it is still taught and acknowledged and is not hidden or removed from society like in some other cultures that may have histories that they are not proud of. 

In Australia (or at least in Sydney) it is customary to began speeches, performances, tours, etc. with an acknowledgement of the land and the indigenous peoples of the land. They often identify to which tribe or clan the land belonged (using the term “belong” loosely considering indigenous people did not claim ownership over the land), and thank the ancestors for caring for and preserving it. This is a custom performed both by those with indigenous heritage and by white Australians which I truly believe is a kind and likely appreciated gesture. 

As we began to dig deeper into our trip and the coursework, questions surrounding this gesture began to arise in my head. I became curios about what this gesture meant for descendants of indigenous Australians and even further (at the risk of sounding slightly cynical) who does this acknowledgement (as well as the formal apology for the stolen generation issued by the prime minister in 2008) truly serve? I really began to wonder about this after doing some research on political representation of indigenous peoples in the Australian Parliament. 

Political representation of the indigenous peoples of Australia is, in summary, low. Strides have been made to improve this issue, however progress seems to be extremely slow coming. One of the more recent happenings surrounding this issue was the Uluru Statement From the Heart, which asked for a formal supervised process for decision making (called the Makarrata Commission) and the creation of the First Nations Voice, which would have been a constitutionally bound group who speaks and votes in the interests and on behalf of the indigenous people. This unfortunately did not happen and instead sparked the idea to form the First People’s Body, which would essentially be a non-voting body in within Congress that would represent the indigenous people and their interests. This proposal was also denied. 

So all of this acknowledgement and appreciation is great as I mentioned before, but how can you express such gratitude and yet make it so difficult for the people your “appreciating”to make and influence decision made about the land they live on and have such strong ancestral ties to? Again, I don’t say this to be cynical, but it seems to me that the sentiments and the actions do not fully align. 

Being only a guest in this country, I realize that I could only mentally conjure up an outside perspective on this issue, however I really wanted to know what someone with actual aboriginal heritage thought about my viewpoint. Luckily, on January 12th the class took a trip to the Coal Loader Sustainability Center where we took a walk down and indigenous walking trail led by Karen Smith, an educational officer for the Aboriginal Heritage Office and a direct aboriginal descendent of the Burluberongal Clan (Burluberongal translate to “Kangaroo belonging people”). 

I started by asking Karen what the sentiments of acknowledgement and appreciation mean for her. She responded saying that it means a lot to her. It gives her a sense of identity and connects her to her ancestors. Karen shared with me that at the time her grandmother was raising children a great deal of displacement and genocide of aboriginal people was taking place. In order to protect herself and her children, she decided to move into to town and hide among he new settlers. To remain safe, she could not talk about her past or her culture; and she didn’t. Karen shared that it made her sad that she couldn’t learn about her heritage from her grandmother, however she values her history, culture and ancestors all the same. This is what makes the sentiments special to her. It connects her to her history even though she may not know certain details of her family story. Even further, Karen finds the sentiments special because it gives her an opportunity to share a piece of her culture with those around her and those who now live on the land. 

I then went on to explain to her the research I had done having to do with political representation and asked her what she thought about the contradicting practices. When I did this, she shook her head and responded that everything the Aboriginal people have was created by the Aboriginal people. The way that I interpreted her response was that she was unfazed by the low representation and the rejection of ideas that would create some sort of progress. She seemed to be saying that the Aboriginal people have survived this long on little government representation, so why should she expect much more now?

         This is a topic I continue to find myself interested in, especially as we learn more about the cultures of indigenous Australians and the interactions between them and white Australians. It makes me wonder how much longer it will take for more progress to happen so that the beautiful sentiments can align properly with the actions taking place within the country.