On 8 Dec 2000, at 17:47, Chris Sitka wrote:
> There is already a tradition in practice for acknowledging Country.
> I have heard it used (and used it myself) numerous times at events of all
> kinds which I have attended. It is much more specific:
>
> It usually goes something like this in Melbourne:
>
> I acknowledge and give my respect and thanks to
> the Wurendjerri (clan) of the Woiwurrong language group in the Kulin Nation.
>
> (The Kulin Nation was/is a confederacy of allied language groups in the
> greater Port Phillip Bay area)
>
> I don't think it is completely appropriate make a general acknowledgement to
> Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in general. In the traditional
> Law of indigenous Australians one always paid respect to and asked
> permission from the custodians of the land you were standing on. Not some
> amorphous and artificial entity.
>
> I think it is important that if people want to make an acknowledgement they
> at least find out who the traditional custodians of their area are and the
> appropriate way to address them. Otherwise people could adopt the formula of
> thanking the Aboriginal people in general whilst remaining ignorant about
> the reality of the local indigenous land they are on.
> We need to avoid shallow gestures which salve the conscience of
> whitefellas yet do little to change the ignorance (ignoring) of traditional
> Law.
>
This very specific approach maybe OK for the East with a much more
decentralised base of administration. However, in WA there is only one
real centre of Administration, Perth, and it is in Nyoongar country. This
creates some problems in any broader acknowledgement so as not to insult
all the language groups in the State. Thus, most welcomes to country and
acknowledgements of ownership would then give an a priori case to the
Nyoongar peoples. This would be most unsatisfactory. There are many
surviving languages and societies in WA that also deserve, indeed should
demand, from the centre of administration at least some acknowledgement of
their broader presence.
And then even within Nyoongar country, it must be accepted that we are
talking of a "stereotype" of convenience for white administration, there
were/are perhaps 13 groups within that Nyoongar society that, indeed,
deserve their acknowledgement. As an example, the Nyoongar peoples from
roughly Geraldton to Esperance all had six seasons in their year, but the
names for each season varied from location to location, indeed the named
seasons in the north of Country were completely different from those of the
south.
And within what is now the Perth Metro area, there are perhaps five
element/groups of the greater Nyoongar nation, and maybe only two or three
of these "host" administrative events, simply because of the city is the
city is the centre of administration. Again, even grossly unsatisfactory
to be specific to an imposed edifice of colonisation to the remainder of
the Nyoongar Nation.
This is not a question easily addressed, but it can be acknowledged in the
opening address by referring to the specificity and the generic such as:
"...Ballardong people of the Nyoongar Nation and the other First Nations of
this imposed State of Western Australia and this continent...."
tra
jim
--- [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Jim Duffield ----- http://www.kultcher.com/ ---
The Australian mindset on Aborigines:"...the great Australian silence...."
Prof. W. E. H. Stanner, Boyer Lectures 1968
http://www.louis.asn.au ---=|=--- http://www.deathsincustody.com/
Don't send 'em - All Attachments deleted summarily!
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