Reconcile with the ‘true history’
As National Reconciliation Week, with the theme "Don't let history be a mystery. Learn. Share. Grow.", has just passed and we approach NAIDOC Week themed "Because of her, we can", it is timely for Mr Campbell-Jones (SHN June 18) to contribute to the reconciliation discussion. Wingecarribee Reconciliation Group members took a more proactive approach travelling to the scene of the 1838 Myall Creek massacre to witness the 180th commemoration of that event with between 1000-1500 participants. They were intent on learning about reconciliation processes that enabled this event to become what it is today.
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It is a long story starting in 1965, while Mr Campbell-Jones was possibly a ringer at a NT cattle station, when Bingara resident Len Payne proposed a "memorial in the memory of those that died". From that early beginning the commemoration has grown with enthusiastic support from Bingara Shire Council and many other organisations, government departments and individuals. The key to success – the organising committee always had an Aboriginal voice; Aunty Sue Blacklock, a descendant of a survivor of the massacre; involved. This was followed by descendants of perpetrators of the infamous massacre and subsequent trial becoming involved. A path to healing and reconciliation was being formed. This massacre happened 180 years ago – the healing is still occurring. So much for 230 years of history in the past being forgotten. WRG went to learn, and now we share to enable all to grow.
Mr Campbell-Jones bemoaned that many of the people at the commemoration "looked more white than black" and were not "real Aboriginals" or "full-blooded" like those he knew in the NT. It would be interesting to know if Mr Campbell-Jones was paid a wage when he was a ringer, because at that time many Aboriginal pastoral workers in the NT were still being paid in rations of tobacco, flour, tea and sugar. History reminds us of 1966 when Vincent Lingiari and the 200 Gurundji Aboriginal employees quit slave-labour conditions at the Vestey's owned Wave Hill cattle station and walked off to set up a community at Wattie Creek. From little things, big things grow.
He fails to understand the history that the First Nations peoples of NSW; unfortunately including those of this area, were subject to the violence of the colonial invasion when men were killed, women and children, raped and stolen; occurred 100 years before the frontier reached the NT. He also fails to understand that the term "full-blooded" is straight out of the slave owner's handbook and is offensive to Aboriginal people. As are the initials KKK. While it is acknowledge that the Kollege of Knowledge Kommittee for Kids (KKKK) that Mr Campbell-Jones was instrumental in forming, has done some great charity work in the community, it still demonstrates an insensitivity to Aboriginal people.
Mr Campbell-Jones, quoting one Aboriginal person, believes "that the word 'treaty' means nothing". Does he feel proud to be in the only country in the world that does not have a treaty with its First Nations peoples? Obviously the word 'treaty' means nothing unless there is real conciliation, real agreement and real justice in a way forward for all people of Australia. It is the process of negotiating a treaty that acknowledges the truth of our history, the injustices it has created that seeks to find a way forward with healing on both sides, and reconciliation. The Myall Creek commemoration is a beacon that shines a light on hope for that future.
Mr Campbell-Jones bemoaned the prospect of reparations and compensation for past injustices. He fails to acknowledge his privilege, wealth, health and longevity are a consequence of the wealth, resources, land and water forcibly stolen from the Aboriginal people. That the Australian nation has become what it is, largely based on the natural resources that had sustained the Aboriginal peoples for millennia. The land, the grasslands, the water, the mineral resources were already here. They didn't arrive with the Europeans.
Consequently the many disadvantages Aboriginal peoples suffer in health, education, life expectancy, incarceration, child removal, lack of home ownership for example are all the result of colonisation and ongoing deliberate government policies. To suggest that reparations and compensation would be divisive is to fail to understand that 230 years of prejudicial policies have created that division.
In a nation as wealthy as Australia it is mean spirited and churlish to argue that we cannot afford justice, treaty and reparations for the First Nations people. If reconciliation is "failing", as Mr Campbell-Jones suggests, it is because he has failed to reconcile with the true history of Australia, he has failed acknowledge the dispossession, theft, rape, murder and all manner of atrocities that have occurred. He has failed to reconcile within himself the role his forebears may have played and failed to accept the advantages he has gained from the past. He has failed to understand that policies in action today are still disadvantaging Aboriginal people. Mr Campbell-Jones should take off his white blindfold, get over the great Australian silence about the past and throw his efforts behind finding solutions, firstly by listening to First Nations voices, to ensure we can move into a more just and equitable society.
On July 8 NAIDOC Week commences with the theme "Because of her, we can". This is an opportunity to honour and pay respect to all the women; Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, in our lives; our mothers, grandmothers, aunties, wives, sisters, daughters, nieces and cousins. It is an opportunity to reflect and pay respect to our Mother Earth that sustains us all.
