I Gratefully Acknowledge The Traditional Author Of This Piece
April 25th 2008 06:41
I was at some event launch arts thing that was, like all event launch arts things, on at an incredibly inconvenient time in an incredibly inconvenient place, where all the people there could look one another up and down in the judgmental knowledge that the person they were looking at clearly had nothing better to do.
The event began with a "brief" introduction from some local politician, one of those people who appears as if their middle name is "grassroots", and looks disproportionately happy that she's been asked to do anything that has an audience. "Before we begin," she said, "I'd like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional occupants of this land."
Everyone nodded in self-congratulatory concern... well, they didn't, because everyone's used to this sort of thing by now, but about ten years before this particular event, that's what everyone did when someone else said it.
In the meantime, I was unable to do anything for the remainder of the event but think about how happy the descendants of the un-massacred Ngunnawal people must be that some obscure councillor had gratefully acknowledged that they once lived here. Whose interests does such an announcement serve?
I tried putting myself in the position of the Ngunnawals.. I imagined somebody stealing my car, and pictured the thief starting up the engine, turning to the person beside them, and gratefully acknowledging me as the traditional occupant of the driver's seat.
I imagined someone stealing my wallet, and gratefully acknowledging me as the traditional owner of its contents even as they charged a new entertainment unit to my traditional credit card.
So, as I sat there listening to a speech that could not be less consequential if all the words had been spoken in a random order, I thought this: if we're all in agreement that the Ngunnawal people used to live on this particular plot of land, and the government is happy to admit it to the extent that its councillors open every single speech with a confession to this effect, then why don't we give it back to them?
Well, obviously that's not going to happen. We have an entire country dependent on the fact that people need to keep their homes and businesses need to remain on their premises. I think what I'm actually wondering is this: what's our moral argument for not giving it back? What's the line between an acknowledgment of traditional ownership and an acknowledgment of potentially judicial guilt?
After wracking my brains for the time it takes to make a coffee and get distracted by a twenty-four news channel, I was unable to find one. I've therefore changed my mind: practicalities be damned, let's give it back to them. All of it. Yes, it will probably plunge us into some sort of civil war, but it's preferable to the ridiculous cycle of moral ambiguity we're currently engaged in.
I can't help but feel that briefly acknowledging we've fucked over a race of people before we move on to the main presentation is incredibly patronising to them. You know, a lot like trying to apologise for cutting someone's leg open by briefly rubbing lots of salted razor blades into it and then going to lunch.
I'm also aware that me proclaiming exactly how the Ngunnawal people should feel about this is also very patronising, which is something I felt I should point out in order to shoot down any possible argument that either side could have, especially given both sides are white as sheets and the Ngunnawal people haven't actually been invited to the debate. But, if it's any consolation, I gratefully acknowledge them as the traditional instigators of this argument.
The event began with a "brief" introduction from some local politician, one of those people who appears as if their middle name is "grassroots", and looks disproportionately happy that she's been asked to do anything that has an audience. "Before we begin," she said, "I'd like to acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as the traditional occupants of this land."
Everyone nodded in self-congratulatory concern... well, they didn't, because everyone's used to this sort of thing by now, but about ten years before this particular event, that's what everyone did when someone else said it.
In the meantime, I was unable to do anything for the remainder of the event but think about how happy the descendants of the un-massacred Ngunnawal people must be that some obscure councillor had gratefully acknowledged that they once lived here. Whose interests does such an announcement serve?
I tried putting myself in the position of the Ngunnawals.. I imagined somebody stealing my car, and pictured the thief starting up the engine, turning to the person beside them, and gratefully acknowledging me as the traditional occupant of the driver's seat.
I imagined someone stealing my wallet, and gratefully acknowledging me as the traditional owner of its contents even as they charged a new entertainment unit to my traditional credit card.
So, as I sat there listening to a speech that could not be less consequential if all the words had been spoken in a random order, I thought this: if we're all in agreement that the Ngunnawal people used to live on this particular plot of land, and the government is happy to admit it to the extent that its councillors open every single speech with a confession to this effect, then why don't we give it back to them?
Well, obviously that's not going to happen. We have an entire country dependent on the fact that people need to keep their homes and businesses need to remain on their premises. I think what I'm actually wondering is this: what's our moral argument for not giving it back? What's the line between an acknowledgment of traditional ownership and an acknowledgment of potentially judicial guilt?
After wracking my brains for the time it takes to make a coffee and get distracted by a twenty-four news channel, I was unable to find one. I've therefore changed my mind: practicalities be damned, let's give it back to them. All of it. Yes, it will probably plunge us into some sort of civil war, but it's preferable to the ridiculous cycle of moral ambiguity we're currently engaged in.
I can't help but feel that briefly acknowledging we've fucked over a race of people before we move on to the main presentation is incredibly patronising to them. You know, a lot like trying to apologise for cutting someone's leg open by briefly rubbing lots of salted razor blades into it and then going to lunch.
I'm also aware that me proclaiming exactly how the Ngunnawal people should feel about this is also very patronising, which is something I felt I should point out in order to shoot down any possible argument that either side could have, especially given both sides are white as sheets and the Ngunnawal people haven't actually been invited to the debate. But, if it's any consolation, I gratefully acknowledge them as the traditional instigators of this argument.
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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haha i got a good laugh out of that
i guess the thing is that you and the theif would have passed away 200 years ago and it might now be the theifs great great great great grandson who would have to choose to give it back to . . . well who exactly?
maybe the profits the first generation english land barrons made might want to be donated back into the aboriginal community? but in more recent years alot of land has been allocated to the aboriginal community . . . some would say too much, some would say not enough
i think they never really "owned" land like how the english settlers did, like fencing in off and not allowing others to walk on it . . . they inhabited it . . . and i think they deserve enough spaces to maintain their traditional culture, they (the current generation of aboriginal people) should be cared for and respected
we cant undo the past we can only do the right thing in the future . . . and very proportionately few current generation australians are direct descendants of first settlers anyway . . . we have immigrants from countries all over the world who now own land here
and thanks for the post, it was and interesting conversation starter!