THE COUNTRY WE LIVE IN

We live in an incredible country. We have the big cities that draw us in with the bright glow of their lights. We have the ability to escape it all by getting in the car or boarding a train and disappearing out into the country. Our land is rich in culture, language and stories, a lot of which go untold. Our history runs deep into the soil, our first people connected with the land as long ago as any other civiisation, and yet we consider ourselves as a young nation. We have one of the world’s most beautiful natural wonders that follows our coastline, and at the centre of our vast land, stands a rock that has been there since the beginning of time. Our communities are more diverse than any other country in the world, as we opened our doors to people seeking a better future, some from war torn lands, others who were brought here as convicts to settle, and our first people who arrived here on boats from Timor over 60,000 years ago. We have built neighbourhoods on many different faiths, beliefs and traditions which have intertwined to create the fabric of the society we live in today. Our soils are fertile, that helps us produce the highest quality food that we can put on our dining table each night of the week to share with our family. Our earth is rich with minerals which have allowed our nation to grow and prosper, and to create futures for those generations to come. We have access to the most beautiful beaches in the world during summer, and snow covered mountains in winter. We share one language, but our communities are immersed with thousands from every corner of the world. And most important of all, each night we get to go to sleep knowing that we are safe, and knowing that tomorrow brings with it an opportunity to improve our lives, and the lives of the people who we care for most.

This is the country that we live in.

The history of our land started as long ago as any other civilisation. In 1788, the country we now call Australia was born, with the establishment of Port Jackson and what is now New South Wales. A country was to be built on the premise of learning from the mistakes of our home land. To become a classless society where it’s people had the freedom to pursue their own course in life towards fulfilment. The liberal agenda of the time implied that people could live the kind of lives they wished so long as they did no harm to others. Liberty implied that this right would be respected by others. It implied a culture of acceptance of differences and mutual respect for each other’s liberty, despite differences.

It is this liberty, that on the day we celebrate our nation, our freedom and our appreciation for what we have, that I question. How well have we and are we fulfilling this path to allow all Australians to share the same equal rights to pursue their own course in life towards fulfilment, to live the kind of lives they wished without harming others and that this should be respected by others.

In 2014 on Australia Day, instead of sitting in a pub with mates, I was compelled to understand more about our past so that I had a better perspective about our future. It was during this time that I realised that I had been blind for too long, and this did not sit well with me. As I began to understand the true history of our land that started over 60,000 years ago, how this history had been attempted to be wiped away from the pages of what is now called Austalian history with a document called Terra Nullius. This document referred to the land we now call home, the nations of people that were settled, their families, their homes, their communities as not existing. The term itself in latin means ‘Land of no man’, which was illegally determined by the British Empire that would allow them to claim the land and to settle it’s people on it.

At first, the natives and the settlers attempted to live side by side, until settlers started to put their claim on land. Disputes soon turned into aggression, aggression soon turned into lives being lost, and soon the original nations of the land went to war with the settlers over the ownership. The wars went on for over a century, it cost hundreds of thousands of first people’s lives. The land was taken, the men were killed, the women were raped and the children were sent to live in missionaries. The culture was stripped from the land, the languages all but lost, traditions lived on like embers of a fire, and those who remained were told to speak a new language, told to believe in a new god, told to dress according to what was acceptable and told to work as slaves for the new land owners. All of their rights to pursue their own course towards fulfilment had been stripped from them.

Being Tasmanian, I was not aware of the Black Line, which was the war that took place in the 1820’s. European settlers nearly annihilated the indigenous people of the land, forcing them to the southern most tip of what was then called Van Dieman’s Land to assist the settlers in increasing the value of their land that they had claimed. It is approximated that the population of indigenous Tasmanian people was decimated from 10000-15000 to just a few hundred remaining, including Truganinni who was one of the survivors forced to live on an out post missionary on Flinders Island.

To become aware of the Aboriginal Protection Act from the last 1860’s where first people were controlled with where they could live, where they could work, what they could do and who they could marry. It included the removal of approximately 50,000 indigenous children from their family in what would become known as the Stolen Generation. This was followed by the Half Caste Act in the 1880’s that saw concentration camps formed where indigenous children of mixed descent were sent, a lot of who were the result of their mother’s being raped by settlers. These children were forced from their families and communities to assimilate with white society.

There were great wars fought across Australia between first people and settlers, one that was declared in The Kimberley. This saw the rise of indigenous warrior Jandamarra who was forced to choose between his role as a slave for the european police, or protector of his people. He chose his people and became the protector of their land.

There is the story of indigenous man Bennelong who was kidnapped in the late 1700’s by settlers. With his wit and character, he formed a relationship with governor Arthur Phillip and learned the english language. It was this relationship that would see Bennelong make the trip by sea on the Atlantic to London with Arthur to be presented to King George III. On his return to New South Wales, Bennelong was built a hut on what became Bennelong Point, which is now the site of the Sydney Opera House.

In 1957 our first people were again forced from their land to allow for nuclear testing. It wasn’t until 1967 that a referendum saw a change to our constitution that saw our first people be considered as Australian citizens and counted as part of the population. And it wasn’t until 1992 after the work and death of Mabo, that the High Court over ruled the legal doctrine Terra Nullius.

Australia Day should be a day all Australian’s can participate in and enjoy, no matter what age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, social background, and how long they’ve lived in the country. It should be a day to consider what it means to be Australian, to consider how each of us contributes to the communities and society that we live in, the freedoms we share, the opportunities we can enjoy if we work hard for them, to reflect and recognise the past and to look to the future, to come and stand together as one, to appreciate the country we are fortunate to live in. It shouldn’t act as a reminder for the pages of our history that tend not to be shared. For the thousands of lives lost and changed forever. No Australian should be asked to forget about the past that has effected their family, and to move on as if it never happened. If the same events took place today, would we expect our grandchildren to forget that it ever happened, and to celebrate the day that it started?

Everyone should have the equal right to pursue their own course in life to fulfilment, including the day they celebrate the community that they are a part of, and the heritage that has shaped their past and will continue to shape their future. Everyone should have the right to live the kind of life they wish without harming others and this should be respected by others.

We should all be able to enjoy the freedom of the country that we live in. All be able to enjoy the freedom of speech, and the freedom for peaceful demonstration and not be told to forget our past, to forget the injustice and to forget the pain that is still felt by the generations of today.

This is the country we live in, this is the country that should be shared equally, enjoyed equally and appreciated equally.