Dear parents and carers
Each year, schools recognise and commemorate NAIDOC Week. The National Aboriginal and Indigenous Day Organising Committee (NAIDOC) has a history going back many decades. It is a means of acceptance and embrace of the Indigenous peoples of this land.
Dating back to the arrival of the British in 1788, the relationship between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians has been, to make an understatement, very chequered. The early years of this century saw the so called ‘History Wars’, a debate over whether there had been extensive slaughter of Aboriginal people by white settlers. The key proponent of this view was Professor Henry Reynolds, who argues the case of genocide, and the key defender of Anglo-Saxon integrity was Keith Windshuttle. These days, most people accept that significant frontier massacres occurred as settlers’ need for pastoral land clashed with indigenous identity being tied to their ancestral land.
The philosophical tides that have swept through our society recently include post-Colonialism, where First World nations have displaced Third World peoples in the headlong rush of the 18th and 19th century for overseas colonies. Some argue the case for vicarious guilt, which could be said to apply to current Australians on the basis of the atrocities committed by their ancestors. Whatever anyone thinks of this, it should be obvious that we need to do more than virtue signalling in society; we need to close the gap on health, education and socio-economic indicators between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Australia.
Christian people, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous have been heavily involved in reconciliation. Details of this can be found in John Harris’ One Blood and in the magisterial two volume history The Fountain of Public Prosperity: Evangelical Christians in Australian History by Stuart Piggin and Robert Linder. One celebrated intervention was from Indigenous Christian leader, William Cooper, who in 1938 led a petitioning of the Prime Minister for an improvement in the lives of Indigenous people. He was ignored. Our current society’s concern for Indigenous justice is far more commendable.
The Christian missions, set up by various Christian churches, also have an ambivalent history. While usually well intentioned, and sometimes producing effective outcomes for individuals, they also have been part of the tragedy of The Stolen Generations, where young Indigenous children were removed from their families. Despite such affronting realities, it would appear that Indigenous people currently represent a higher proportion of Christians in Australia than is found in the rest of the population. This is a development which cannot have been foreseen by the early Christian missions in the outback.
While the current national image of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders may persist in categorising them as living in remote communities, the majority in fact live in Australian capital cities and navigate two cultures. Repatriation of them from exclusion to inclusion in mainstream society has been quite recent: it was not until the successful referendum of 1966 that designated them as Australian citizens, that they were counted as Australians. This is despite many of them fighting and dying in the Australian armed forces in both World Wars of the 20th century. It wasn’t until 1992 in the Mabo High Court case that the previous legal notion of ‘terra nullius’ was overturned. This Latin term had declared Australia an empty land on the basis that Indigenous people were nomadic and therefore justified British occupation of Australia, despite its first inhabitants. Mabo gave land rights to Indigenous peoples. The Wik decision of the High Court in 1996 extended Native Title of land to Indigenous people.
Reconciliation is a very Christian concept. The Lord not only wants all peoples to be reconciled with one another, but to be reconciled with him. The touchstone of the former will go beyond what we say; we will be judged on what we do.
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-19
At Covenant, in the Junior School, Indigenous perspectives are weaved extensively through the curriculum. This is actually a requirement of NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority). In the Secondary School, we have a long standing and deep relationship with the community of Yarrabah in far North Queensland.
Our special guest at our assembly on Tuesday 6 August is Pastor Ray Minniecon, a Christian Indigenous leader with a national, and indeed international profile. He will address our students and staff on the importance of NAIDOC Week and place the issue of reconciliation within a Christian framework.
Let’s then be people of reconciliation, as we honour our Indigenous Peoples and their long heritage in Australia, as the longest continuous civilisation in the world. Let’s rejoice, as the Lord calls many of them to himself.
Dr John Collier
Interim Principal
