PVC- Indigenous Strategy UNSWIS_Final_SIGN OFF_18 October 2018 low res for | Page 21

Australians: that Australia was colonised without the
consent of its rightful owners. Now is an opportunity
for the First Nations to tell the truth about history in
our own voices and from our own point of view. And
for mainstream Australians to hear those voices and to
reconsider what they know and understand about their
nation’s history. This will be challenging, but the truth
about invasion needs to be told. ‘A statement should recognise “the fights of our old
people”.’ (Hobart)
‘In order for meaningful change to happen, Australian
society generally needs to “work on itself” and to know
the truth of its own history.’ (Brisbane) ‘The people who worked as stockmen for no pay, who
have survived a history full of massacres and pain.
We deserve respect.’ (Broome)
‘People repeatedly emphasised the need for truth
and justice, and for non-Aboriginal Australians to take
responsibility for that history and this legacy it has
created: “Government needs to be told the truth of how
people got to there. They need to admit to that and
sort it out.”’ (Melbourne) The Crown had made promises when it colonised
Australia. In 1768, Captain Cook was instructed to take
possession ‘with the consent of the natives’.
In 1787, Governor Phillip was instructed to treat the
First Nations with ‘amity and kindness’. But there was
a lack of good faith. The frontier continued to move
outwards and the promises were broken in the refusal
to negotiate and the violence of colonisation.
Invasion was met with resistance.
RESISTANCE
This is the time of the Frontier Wars, when massacres,
disease and poison decimated First Nations, even
as they fought a guerrilla war of resistance. The
Tasmanian Genocide and the Black War waged by
the colonists reveals the truth about this evil time.
We acknowledge the resistance of the remaining
First Nations people in Tasmania who survived the
onslaught.
Everywhere across Australia, great warriors like
Pemulwuy and Jandamarra led resistance against
the British. First Nations refused to acquiesce to
dispossession and fought for their sovereign rights and
their land.
‘We were already recognised through the Letters
Patent and the Imperial statutes that should be
adhered to under their law. Because it’s their law.’
(Adelaide)
‘Participants expressed disgust about a statue of
John McDouall Stuart being erected in Alice Springs
following the 150th anniversary of his successful
attempt to reach the top end. This expedition led
to the opening up of the “South Australian frontier”
which lead to massacres as the telegraph line was
established and white settlers moved into the region.
People feel sad whenever they see the statue; its
presence and the fact that Stuart is holding a gun is
disrespectful to the Aboriginal community who are
descendants of the families slaughtered during the
massacres throughout central Australia.’ (Ross River)
MOURNING
Eventually the Frontier Wars came to an end. As the
violence subsided, governments employed new policies
of control and discrimination. We were herded to
missions and reserves on the fringes of white society.
Our Stolen Generations were taken from their families.
‘The Stolen Generations represented an example of
the many and continued attempts to assimilate people
and breed Aboriginality out of people, after the era of
frontier killing was over.’ (Melbourne)
But First Nations also re-gathered themselves. We
remember the early heroes of our movement such as
William Cooper, Fred Maynard, Margaret Tucker,
Pearl Gibbs, Jack Patten and Doug Nicholls, who
organised to deal with new realities. The Annual Day
of Mourning was declared on 26 January 1938.
It reflected on the pain and injustice of colonisation,
and the necessity of continued resistance in defence
of First Nations. There is much to mourn: the loss
of land, the loss of culture and language, the loss of
leaders who led our struggle.
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