Important article recently published in the Guardian. Well worth a read.
'Truth-telling is not just an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issue. Truth-telling is, and always has been, a national issue. Historically and contemporarily, much of Australia has been blind to the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Over a year ago, I was one of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates who gathered at Uluru to deliver the Statement from the Heart.
In the lead-up to this gathering, there were extensive consultations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the country.
The Statement of the Heart was the culmination of these consultations. It contains the collective wisdom of first peoples from different nations, language groups and walks of life.
The Statement requested three things: a truth-telling process, agreement making and a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.
The theme of this year’s Garma festival is truth-telling. This theme is timely. The time to tell the truth is long overdue.
A truth and justice commission would tell our stories; the atrocities of the last 230 years, yes, but also our stories from the beginning of time. It would provide a public space for our voices, our cultures, our stories, our grief, our histories, our trauma and our successes.
A truth and justice commission could fundamentally change the course of Australia’s history. It could fundamentally shape our national identity, moral character and the direction we take as a nation.
How can Australia truly own its national identity without properly knowing and celebrating its history? Without facing up to its past and making reparations?
Australia is home to the oldest living continuing culture on Earth. Remains of first peoples have been dated to between 60,000 and 85,000 years old.
Thousands of Australians travel to Rome and Greece each year to learn about their ancient societies and visit historical sites. These “ancient” cultures existed around 3,000 years ago.
We have an incredibly rich national heritage on our doorstep but all too often it is ignored. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are often thought of as a “problem” to be solved. While we face a number of challenges, our cultures are intricate, ancient, ongoing, evolving and, in some places, thriving.
Part of the truth and justice commission’s mandate would be to unearth the cultural histories and traditions of various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations. 230 years of colonisation has led to significant loss of culture for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While some of this can never be retrieved, much remains to be revived and rediscovered through truth-telling.
We are here. We have survived. We form the basis of Australia’s national and cultural heritage. And it is about time that our histories, cultures and stories are told and celebrated on a national level.
While no one alive today is to blame for the atrocities meted against us by their ancestors, many Australians feel a sense of sadness for what made this nation possible.
Every non-Indigenous person in this country today has benefited from our dispossession, whether they realise it or not. They are on our land.
Publicly acknowledging past wrongs and holding public space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ histories is a way for contemporary Australia to reconcile with its violent past, knowing that today’s society is doing what it can to redress historical wrongs and move forward towards a more positive future.
Engaging with our history provides an opportunity for national reflection about the kind of nation we want to be. Learning from the mistakes of our past in order to prevent repeating them is a critical part of consciously shaping our future.
Truth-telling is also a necessary precondition to our healing from the past and moving forward.
Intergenerational trauma, often misunderstood or dismissed by non-Indigenous people, is all too real for my peoples. Sometimes I hear, “Well that happened so long ago, isn’t it time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples got over it?”
To that I say: the stolen generations officially ended in 1967, but continued in some places into the 1970s. That’s 50 years ago. Many peoples living today were forcibly removed from their families or had family members forcibly removed. Their children watched their suffering, and inherited their grief and trauma.
This is not to mention dispossession, massacres, violence, rapes, discriminatory policies, mass incarceration, desperately overcrowded housing, racism, and countless other social wrongs.
How do you expect us to even begin the healing process if our circumstances are unknown and our stories are not publicly told and acknowledged?
Unaddressed trauma directly contributes to poor social outcomes. It is a source of great national shame that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are left with this burden, with little to no assistance.
I end this piece with an appeal to non-Indigenous Australians. To my mind, it is simply unfair that in a country we have inhabited and protected tens of millenia, our voices are routinely and systematically silenced. But this is the reality in which we find ourselves.
Support our request for a truth-telling process. Not just for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but for all Australians. Take a stand for our nation’s future.
•
Jackie Huggins is a Bidjara and Birri-Gubba Juru woman from Queensland and is co-chair of National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples'
'Truth-telling is not just an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issue. Truth-telling is, and always has been, a national issue. Historically and contemporarily, much of Australia has been blind to the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Over a year ago, I was one of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates who gathered at Uluru to deliver the Statement from the Heart.
In the lead-up to this gathering, there were extensive consultations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the country.
The Statement of the Heart was the culmination of these consultations. It contains the collective wisdom of first peoples from different nations, language groups and walks of life.
The Statement requested three things: a truth-telling process, agreement making and a constitutionally enshrined voice to parliament.
The theme of this year’s Garma festival is truth-telling. This theme is timely. The time to tell the truth is long overdue.
A truth and justice commission would tell our stories; the atrocities of the last 230 years, yes, but also our stories from the beginning of time. It would provide a public space for our voices, our cultures, our stories, our grief, our histories, our trauma and our successes.
A truth and justice commission could fundamentally change the course of Australia’s history. It could fundamentally shape our national identity, moral character and the direction we take as a nation.
How can Australia truly own its national identity without properly knowing and celebrating its history? Without facing up to its past and making reparations?
Australia is home to the oldest living continuing culture on Earth. Remains of first peoples have been dated to between 60,000 and 85,000 years old.
Thousands of Australians travel to Rome and Greece each year to learn about their ancient societies and visit historical sites. These “ancient” cultures existed around 3,000 years ago.
We have an incredibly rich national heritage on our doorstep but all too often it is ignored. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are often thought of as a “problem” to be solved. While we face a number of challenges, our cultures are intricate, ancient, ongoing, evolving and, in some places, thriving.
Part of the truth and justice commission’s mandate would be to unearth the cultural histories and traditions of various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations. 230 years of colonisation has led to significant loss of culture for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. While some of this can never be retrieved, much remains to be revived and rediscovered through truth-telling.
We are here. We have survived. We form the basis of Australia’s national and cultural heritage. And it is about time that our histories, cultures and stories are told and celebrated on a national level.
While no one alive today is to blame for the atrocities meted against us by their ancestors, many Australians feel a sense of sadness for what made this nation possible.
Every non-Indigenous person in this country today has benefited from our dispossession, whether they realise it or not. They are on our land.
Publicly acknowledging past wrongs and holding public space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ histories is a way for contemporary Australia to reconcile with its violent past, knowing that today’s society is doing what it can to redress historical wrongs and move forward towards a more positive future.
Engaging with our history provides an opportunity for national reflection about the kind of nation we want to be. Learning from the mistakes of our past in order to prevent repeating them is a critical part of consciously shaping our future.
Truth-telling is also a necessary precondition to our healing from the past and moving forward.
Intergenerational trauma, often misunderstood or dismissed by non-Indigenous people, is all too real for my peoples. Sometimes I hear, “Well that happened so long ago, isn’t it time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples got over it?”
To that I say: the stolen generations officially ended in 1967, but continued in some places into the 1970s. That’s 50 years ago. Many peoples living today were forcibly removed from their families or had family members forcibly removed. Their children watched their suffering, and inherited their grief and trauma.
This is not to mention dispossession, massacres, violence, rapes, discriminatory policies, mass incarceration, desperately overcrowded housing, racism, and countless other social wrongs.
How do you expect us to even begin the healing process if our circumstances are unknown and our stories are not publicly told and acknowledged?
Unaddressed trauma directly contributes to poor social outcomes. It is a source of great national shame that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are left with this burden, with little to no assistance.
I end this piece with an appeal to non-Indigenous Australians. To my mind, it is simply unfair that in a country we have inhabited and protected tens of millenia, our voices are routinely and systematically silenced. But this is the reality in which we find ourselves.
Support our request for a truth-telling process. Not just for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, but for all Australians. Take a stand for our nation’s future.
•
Jackie Huggins is a Bidjara and Birri-Gubba Juru woman from Queensland and is co-chair of National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples'