Sea of Hands Katoomba - Design by Bill Hardy (Gundungarra)

Page last updated - 26 June 2006

An apology to the Stolen Generation and a treaty with indigenous peoples are the cornerstones of any possibility of a harmonious future relationship between indigenous and non indigenous Australians. Unfortunately, however, in the past 5 years the wave of goodwill and movement towards reconciliation that might have led to these things being made reality, not wished for ideal goals has been submerged in fear and a preoccupation with terrorism and anti-refugee feeling. This has been fostered by a government bent on maintaining power at all costs and willing to tap into peoples fear and self interest to serve that end.

There can be no basis for healing and future mutual respect that does not allow indigenous people rights under law and in the Australian Constitution which recognise their prior occupation and "ownership" of this land. We speak glowingly of Australia's reputation as one of the foremost exponents of harmonious multiculturalism and yet our record of  treatment of our indigenous peoples and their complex and ancient culture is abominable.

These are the only bases for true self determination for indigenous Australians and what many non indigenous Australians see as divisive in such an approach is really a projection of their own unconscious fear and guilt: fear that indigenous Australians will ask for more than a token, which of course they must, and guilt about the appalling wrongs that were done to indigenous people in this country. Only by facing the fear and seeking a place of mutual respect and trust, and by acknowledging the wrongs fully and openly can we move forward beyond guilt or the attempt to deny it. Many Australians, indigenous and non-indigenous were moving strongly in this direction until 11 September 2001 but that event has derailed many positive things that were happening and seen a descent into repression and anti-progressive sentiment in many western democracies. Actions prior to 9/11, such as250,000 people  marching across the Sydney Harbour Bridge for reconciliationl in 2000 and such events as the cermonial recognition of past attrocities and massacres in which indigenous and non-indigenous people come together to acknowledge these past events and lay their ghosts by meeting in spirit of true reconciliation, seemed to be building towards a sense that reconciliation could be more than just a token. These things were not, as our current Prime Minister calls them, the "Black Arm Band View of History", but the beginnings of a healthy relationship with our indigenous people and our own past. There was a sense of something more powerful in those events because they  would possibly  give rise to something not only symbolic but culturally, politically and personally meaningful as well.

One truly wonders now whether that spirit can be recaptured in the near future. We must hope and continue to strive towards it.

Rodney Ravenswood - June 2006