I set off a year ago carrying three message sticks as an invitation and a challenge. You are part of us and this land now
From its inception the Australian government has been in denial about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s political existence. Prior to colonisation our people were organised into over 500 nations, each with distinct languages and systems of law that prevailed for over 4,000 generations and 100,000 years. Terra nullius is a fiction.
No treaty has ever been signed. Why, when the colonists arrived, could they not see the intricate web of political organisation and law, the historical wisdom or the deep knowledge that was the culture of our people? Instead they looked upon us and they saw an earlier version of themselves – an uncivilised people lacking capacity and culture. They believed that we would not survive their cultural and industrial colonisation.
Continue reading...from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2QgyX3p
