When
I was asked to speak at the forum ‘First
Nations Women Speak for Treaty’ held at Redfern Community Centre I considered the questions that are
usually pondered; what is a treaty, why would anyone want a treaty and how do
we get a treaty?
The
discussion surrounding treaty, for me, is inherently frustrating. There are so
many obstacles to treaty; from the lack of awareness of non-Indigenous
Australians as to what a Treaty is and why on earth Indigenous people would
want one; the political factions (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) competing
between Treaty or Constitutional recognition as if it is a one or the other
dilemma; and ultimately, the political machinations of how a treaty would be
put together functionally to ensure maximum support of the Indigenous people
and the government.
Despite
many attempts to rewrite and sanitise history, we know that, under English law
at the time of Governor Philip’s claim, there were three legal regimes
under which a colony could be acquired:
1.
Settlement – where territory is uninhabited and
the ‘settlers’ brought English law with them;
2.
Conquest – where territory was inhabited and
the native laws survived provided they weren’t discordant with laws of the crown; or
3.
Cession – where the territory was inhabited
and the sovereignty was ceded to the Crown and the applicable law would be
determined by agreement, but in the absence of any agreed changes, local law
would continue to apply.
The prevailing
legal doctrine is that Australia was acquired
through settlement despite the presence of an Indigenous population because the
English common law contained a definition of ‘uninhabited lands’ which considered
lands uninhabited if they contained peoples ‘uncivilised’ by the 18th
century English norms.
Ultimately, through the doctrine of terra nullius
– Indigenous people were subverted as savages and this was integrated into the Australian Constitution which was drafted on the premise of
Indigenous people being so inferior as to not garner a mention and considered
to be a fading race in any event.
Terra nullius was a deliberate social
construction designed to enable settlement, parcel of land at a time to enable
expansion of colonial settlements and to do so without any compensation to the
lawful owners.
The illegality of the actions of the
Crown was clear even as far back as 1832 where the Chief Protector of
Aborigines at Port Philip, George Robinson wrote;
I
am at a loss to conceive by what tenure we hold this country, for it does not
appear to be that we either hold it by conquest or by right of purchase.
This
is not new to Indigenous people, we know that this country was not ‘settled.’
We know that sovereignty was not ceded. It is this disparity of understanding
between what we know and what white Australia is told happened that we need to
overcome.
This
is a critical point to the success or failure of any cause – the truth and the
wide acceptance of truth as fact. The average Australian simply does not know
about the fight for equality and rights that the Indigenous people have been
waging for 227 years.
The
don’t know that Indigenous people were the subjects of forced and violent
dispersals from their cultural lands; they were the victims of massacres and
murders; rapes and retributory attacks to any resistance; there were genocidal
policies based on pseudoscience of Indigenous inferiority; there were sinister
attempts to murder countless Indigenous people when the introduced diseases
weren’t killing enough Indigenous people to the white man’s liking and there
was a pervasive mindset of the Indigenous
people being sub-human.
Some Australians may recall the 1967 Referendum and all of the hope
and positivity surrounding the concept of equality in the lead up to the vote
and think that following this purportedly momentous event in Australian history
that the Aboriginal people then had the equality they fought for.
We know that is not the case, however, there
are many generations - especially the younger generations, that are simply not
taught about the history of this nation, that are not taught about the
Indigenous culture beyond boomerangs and spears, they do not know that
statistically we have the highest Indigenous incarceration rate compared to
non-Indigenous people in the world, they do not know of our appalling mortality
rates, they do not know about the welfare indicators that demonstrate
Indigenous people are the lowest on the socio-economic pyramid.
This is not an indictment on the Australians
that do not know, this is an indictment on the education system and those that
draft the curriculum that perpetuates the ignorance that pervades our country
and it is an indictment on main stream media for failing to report on the real
issues, on the brave men and women agitating for the very thing that Australia
hangs its hat on: A fair go!
A fair go cannot be achieved without a
Treaty.
A Treaty would be the basis upon which the
sovereign Indigenous people of Australia and the Government could negotiate the
terms of rights to land, minerals and resources and the self-governing of
communities. It would be a binding agreement that would have sanctions that
would deter breaches of the terms of the treaty.
Whilst I advocate for treaty, I am not flippant
in thinking that getting a treaty is going to be easy because it is the least
palatable option for Governments because it holds them to a set of obligations
that they ordinarily would not live up to.
Treaty is essential because 227 years after
colonisation we remain at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid; because
after 227 years children are still being removed arbitrarily from Aboriginal
families; because after 227 years racism remains rife in society and none more
so against Aboriginal people; because after 227 years we are still being
subjected to cruel punishments including water being switched off, communities being
closed and being forced into work programs that provide less than the minimum
wage and then having to buy groceries in government run shops that charge $6 for a kilo of flour.
To arbitrarily decide the fate of our people
without our consultation and agreement will always be met with resistance.
And for those who champion the Recognise campaign and its intent to change the
constitution to recognise Indigenous people, I say:
Constitutional change is symbolic, it is not
a cure all.
A treaty is vital to the future of this
nation, of this I am certain. But again, I do know that it is not a cure all.
A Treaty is the first meaningful step in
ensuring that there is engagement of all in the success of its outcomes. It
will leave Indigenous people empowered and part of something positive in
history as opposed to disillusioned and disappointed at the millions of broken
promises and setbacks we have suffered over the last 227 years.
The two critical elements to bridging the
cultural divide, in my mind, are empathy and education.
In my mind, one cannot achieve true empathy
without an education that sets the context for empathy. Education is critical
and the education of this nation’s black history will provide the major shift
in consciousness that we yearn for.
White Australia
Now I gather on this land, enjoy the country seas and sky,
Yet, to enable me to do so, many had to die.
You see this land wasn’t empty, there were “natives” in the way,
And my invading “fathers”, came to end the “native’s” stay.
Of many places where I gather, there are stories to be told,
Of others here before me, that would probably send me cold.
But I do not know these stories, my “fathers” kept them hidden,
Buried in a colonial history, by the victors written.
For the “native” culture’s failure, under civilising forces,
It seems my civilising “fathers”, served up deadly courses.
Strychnine strudel and arsenic pie, a fare to make you cower,
Death pudding on the menu, in poisoned bags of flour.
Hidden from the history books, the poisoning of the water,
Along with guns and germs, the genocidal slaughter.
Driving cultural destruction, with alcohol and drugs,
The “civilising” machinations, of the colonising thugs.
So no more would they gather, nor their faces again be seen,
But it wasn’t me who did this, surely then, my hands are clean.
It was the hands of my “fathers”, and they’re not really me,
Besides it’s through their lens of history, that I am want to see.
Now this land that I am sitting on, today they call Australia,
And I would not be sitting here, but for the “native’s” failure.
Though ‘tis thanks to my “fathers”, who murdered “native” souls,
That it is now me and mine, gathered round the waterholes.
For I am white Australia, now the dominant power in the land,
My claimed right to be so, delivered by the civilising hand.
Yet my Indigenous brothers’ history, has a different tale to tell,
My white colonial “fathers”, brought an apocalypse from hell.
This poem was evocative for me because it
illustrated the change in psyche upon understanding the truth of history and it
also illustrated the realisation of the disingenuous platitudes of “it was my ancestors not me” or “it is history, move on.” These are
comments that we Indigenous people here frequently and it is the height of
insult, but one that cannot be understood without education.
People need to learn about Indigenous history
and culture and do so with an open mind and pure heart. Once they know and
truly understand and consider the impact such devastation would have on their
lives, their well-being, their resolve to fight another day – only then will we
really be able to have a meaningful discussion about what it is going to take
to heal hurts and have hope for a future our ancestors would be proud of.
Treaty is the insurance policy we need that
we can hold the government accountable for their actions so real gains can be
made for the Indigenous people of Australia.
