Aboriginal Way www.nativetitlesa.org Issue 75, Winter 2019 A publication of South Australian Native Title Services Above: Nukunu native title holders with supporters and lawyers. Nukunu native title recognised The Nukunu people have finally at settlement and that connection “Nukunu country was a largely unspoilt “We are real, we are here and today we witnessed the Federal Court continued. However, in another part country where my people respected welcome you to our land” he told those recognising their native title over of the claim area there was a negative the environment around them and assembled for the Court hearing. a large area around Port Pirie, 23 determination – that traditional connection made sure animals and plants were In delivering her judgement on Nukunu years after they lodged their claim. to that part of the area had been lost. never overhunted or over collected. My ancestors only took enough to feed native title, Justice Charlesworth At the Port Germein and Districts To begin the historic court hearing at the number of people there at the time spoke about the historical connection Hall on Monday 17 June 2019, Federal Port Germein, Nukunu elder John Turner and nothing was wasted. This ensured of Nukunu people with the area and the Court Justice Charlesworth delivered spoke about his country and people there would be food next time they or reasons for the loss of connection with a determination over the Nukunu before European settlement. someone else needed it. one part of the total claim area. Native Title Claim (Area 1). “Before colonisation, my people had “It is the responsibility of the Nukunu “In the 60s and the early 70s, two The court determination came via laws, they had ceremonial traditions, today to be custodians of our land, to women from the Australian National consent: the state of South Australia they had language and they had care and protect, to negotiate for its University, Doctor Luise Hercus and considered evidence and agreed that knowledge of customs and survival, protection. It is legacy handed down Catherine Ellis took audio recordings the Nukunu people had an ancient and social rules and kinship obligations. to Nukunu for thousands of years. of Aboriginal people across large areas ongoing connection to their country. What a privilege, what an honour it “Imagine what life was like for my of South Australia including recordings is for me to share this with you. The decision actually split the claim area ancestors before this area was of the voices of Nukunu people. in two parts, with the Court declaring that colonised. Imagine a land with no cars, “Today’s living Nukunu carry in our veins “One of the people whose voices were in one part of the claim area there could or factories polluting the environment, the blood of our ancestors. The stories we recorded was Frederick Graham. be positive determination – that Nukunu no tall buildings, no large farms and no were told were ancient, as they connected people had a connection to the country travellers from other parts of the world. us to our ancestors and the land. Continued on page 10 Inside: NAIDOC March and Family Fun Day 4 Treaty talk at Native Title Conference 7 First Aboriginal Minister for Indigenous Australians 9 Youth recognised at Government House 16 The uncomfortable truth about Reconciliation Address by Dr Chelsea Bond to the tells a truth about the relationship 2019 Reconciliation Breakfast. it has with Indigenous peoples. But it is not a truth about Indigenous It seems 2019 has been declared incapability or lack. by Blackfullas as the year of truth- telling, both in NAIDOC Week, and Reconciliation without critical convers- this week as we commemorate ations about race is not reconciliation. Reconciliation Week. It is window dressing. Truth is something that is fundamental It is murals on toilet blocks at schools that to all relationships and it is both an act refuse to embed Indigenous knowledges of love, and a test of it. in curriculum, its artwork on uniforms And this week, at morning teas across of a predominantly non-Indigenous the country, Blackfullas are testing this workforce, it is those nice morning teas nation’s capacity to be truthful about the that I just don’t attend. Accessorising foundation in which our relationship is one’s institution with Aboriginal art and built, as Indigenous and non-Indigenous culture at the expense of uncomfortable peoples. On the matter of truth, in the conversations about how power operates interests of transparency, I do have a in and through our relationships within small confession I need to make. I’ve I want to take a trip down memory reconciliation that he sought to rationalise and outside of our institutions operates to never really been into reconciliation. lane, back to 1997 and the National the ongoing erasure of Indigenous rights, mask the very structure that continues to Reconciliation Convention, where the new while insisting that Indigenous peoples bear down heavy on our bodies. And I just I never walked a bridge for it, though PM John Howard (our 2nd longest serving were unreasonable and irrational. can’t stomach it. in my defence, in the year 2000, when PM) infamously provided that opening Under Howard, reconciliation was Talking about race, requires a shift away close to half a million Australians address, in which he claimed he was almost definitely a white thing. from centring feelings and intentions – marched in capital cities across the really ‘optimistic’ about reconciliation, whether that be about Aboriginal peoples country, I was in country Qld dealing only after he had completely refashioned Now I refer to this moment, not to or cultures, or about whether one feels with an overt kind of in your face racism it on his terms. demonise Howard in the national racism exists. Instead it demands a in my everyday life, and the walk for reconciliation narrative but rather And look it didn’t go down to well – while preparedness to face head on, the reality reconciliation felt so very far away from to highlight the uncomfortable truth the Hon Patrick Dodson is affectionately and brutality of race as part of the air me, philosophically and geographically. about reconciliation, its limitations referred to as the Father of reconciliation, that we breath, and then, do something and contradictions. This is not to say I’m not up for a kind Howard appeared like the Grim Reaper. about it. It is disruptive and people won’t of peaceful co-existence, or that I’m not Some in the crowd booed and others Howard’s form of reconciliation centred like it – but if social change was easy, we inspired by the sheer volume of support turned their backs on the PM. And despite the feelings and rights of non-Indigenous would have solved so many of society’s for reconciliation across the country. the spectacle, it was not how he spoke peoples at the expense of ours, while ills. Not talking about a social problem, But inasmuch as I haven’t marched for that was the biggest problem, it was how performing a pragmatic approach that does not eradicate it. Talking about reconciliation, I also haven’t joined a he had reinvented reconciliation and the was supposedly benevolent to us. But it our culture too, does not eradicate the committee for one and yes I’m sorry, but ideological assumptions it was based on. was a lie, and a fairly unconvincing one. realness of race and racism. I’ve also dodged the morning teas. But if It was here that Howard brought us the Despite this, many of these ideas persist We have to think about what capacity I can explain, via Bell’s Theorem, and I’m term ‘practical reconciliation’, which Pat in Indigenous affairs and in those damn there really is for truth-telling in the not talking of the quantum physics kind. Dodson insisted was ‘the most virulent reconciliation committee meetings. And colony and its institutions. I’m talking about the Richard Bell kind. kind’. Howard juxtaposed it with ‘symbolic yes, I know I said I haven’t been to the This is not about whether Blackfullas can Richard Bell, the Kamilaroi, Kooma, reconciliation’ creating a false binary, meetings – but I’ve seen the minutes. be courageous to tell it, rather whether Jiman and Gurang Gurang artist, in his that suggested among other things, So I’m going to tell you three key truths non-Indigenous peoples will be able to 2003 Telstra Award winning artwork that the recognition of our rights had no about reconciliation as I see it… and don’t hear it; whether there is a willingness to Scientia E Metaphysica (also known as practical purpose. But Howard was the worry I’m not gonna pound on the lectern. shift beyond feelings, to a commitment master of dog whistle politics, effectively Bell’s Theorem) asserts that Aboriginal to shifting how power operates. This weaponizing reconciliation against us. Reconciliation that emphasises equal art has become a product of the times is hard work, but one that I can assure – literally a product, a commodity, to be rights at the expense of our unique rights In his speech, he spoke in his words is not reconciliation. you, the Blackfulla in your organisation, consumed, much like a reconciliation cup ‘frankly’ about what he considered to be that lowest paid one, turns up each day, cake. While being something created by ‘true reconciliation’. Here he insisted that It is just a more pleasant articulation working tirelessly to undermine it. And I Blackfullas it largely suits the interests the brutality of colonisation was nothing of colonisation.