| Aboriginal tent Embassy-214 Years Soveriegnty Never Ceded |
| Wednesday, 27th November 2002 |
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ABORIGINAL TENT EMBASSY – 214 YEARS SOVERIEGNTY NEVER
CEDED
The Aboriginal Tent Embassy, situated on the Lawns of Old
Parliament House
is the oldest running protest site in Australia and one of the
oldest in
the world. The first protest on this site in
Australia’s capital was in
1927 when two male elders from that area made protests against
the
construction of Parliament House, the most well known of these men
was
Billy Clements. Then in 1972 the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was
established
and spearheaded the Land Rights movement. The Aboriginal Tent
Embassy is
situated on the traditional homelands of the Ngunnawal people of
the
Wiradjuri Nation. Uncle Neville Williams of the Ngunnawal
people stated
these are the lands of my people, it was traditionally used as a
meeting
place for our people and that is why it is now the ideal platform
for our
people to take the many different problems we face in our
communities
directly to the governments perpetuating these problems.
In 1993 the fire for peace and justice was lit as a memorial
for
Aboriginal freedom fighter Kevin Gilbert and a portion of his ashes
were
placed in the fire. The sacred fire has burnt continuously
out of respect
for Kevin Gilbert and all the Aboriginal activists who have
continued in
the struggle for Land Rights and Sovereignty, especially in the
early
days. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy was placed on the Australian
Heritage
Commission in 1995, recognised as a site of special cultural
significance
and it is on the register of the National Estate . In 2000
Auntie Isabell
Coe, who has continued involvement with the embassy since 1972,
took the
fire for peace and justice to Victoria Park in Sydney as constant
protest
throughout the duration of the Olympic Games. Simultaneously
Uncle Kevin
Buzzacott led the sacred walk from Lake Eyre to Victoria Park and
joined
with the camp. In 2001 Auntie Isabell Coe
took the ashes from the sacred
fire all over the world and established an Aboriginal Embassy in
The Hague
and Ireland for the recognition of Aboriginal Sovereignty.
This fire has
become a site of deep spiritual significance to Aboriginal people
and
supporters of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and is important for
keeping
alive the struggle by indigenous people for sovereignty.
In late October 2002, there were repeated attempts to put out the
sacred
fire by Aboriginal persons. This division in the Aboriginal
community has
been fostered and utilised by the Australian government as
continuing
genocidal practices of divide and conquer, conquer and rule.
The A.T.E is
a platform for the grassroots community, those not on the pay roll
for
government departments or agencies and is thus a threat to the
government.
Notably, the Liberal Party’s National Council met in April
this year and
held lengthy discussions regarding the A.T.E.
Canberra’s branch leader of
the Liberal Party, Mr Gary Humphries, led the attack condemning
the
embassy as an eyesore and source of constant trouble proposing
a
resolution to condemn the A.T.E. that was passed unanimously. The
Liberal
Council concluded that due to the advancements made by Aboriginal
people
under Native Title, the A.T.E. was no longer relevant. Mr Kim
Keogh
proposed a resolution that would have the embassy forcibly removed,
but Mr
Humphries concluded that the forced removal of the embassy was an
issue
for the Aboriginal leadership (Canberra Times
15&16-04-2002).
In recent decades in Australia’s history there has been a
continued trend
for the government to coopt radical movements, form government
departments, reference groups and advisory bodies, thrown funding
towards
them and removed the politics from any discourse surrounding
issues. This
can be sumerised of the women’s movement in the 1970’s,
the environment
movement and in more recent times, the Land Rights movement into
Native
Title served by the Land’s Councils. The Native Title
Act has done little
to advance the conditions faced by the large majority of Aboriginal
and
Torres Strait Islander communities and peoples. Aboriginal
and Torres
Strait Islander people still are the most incarcerated, unemployed,
people
is this country facing the highest suicide rates, appalling
health
standards and living conditions with the highest infant mortality
rates
and the lowest life expectancy of any other group in this
nation. The
A.T.E. represents these aspects of Aboriginal Communities and this
is why
the government is quick to dismiss it as an ‘eyesore’
and have it shoved
under the carpet.
Native Title is not the same as Land Rights, and the Native Title
Act has
causes huge problems within indigenous communities as families
are
expected to prove there authenticity and continuing connection to
there
homelands when in many cases many were forcibly removed by the
same
Australian government. The legal
ramifications have proved very
stressful, have caused many complications and underhanded
situations in
communities, and have rarely delivered any form of justice to
successful
applicants. The Native Title Act has been designed to give
very little of
what Australia’s first people are rightly entitled too,
access and rights
of custodianship over their homelands.
Rights vary from region to region,
depending on the availability of natural resources in which case
most of
the rights afforded under Native Title have been vetoed under the
Wik
decision.
Elders at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in January 2002 declared
original
and continuing sovereignty over the Lands and waters known as
Australia
and state that Aboriginal Sovereignty has never been ceded, it was
merely
impeded by the use of extreme violence by the first fleet of boat
people
in 1788 and those who followed.
Only when genocide is formally recognised can reconciliation occur
and
only when the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are
recognised
as the sovereign nations of these lands and waters known as
Australia can
a spiritually, legally and culturally meaningful treaty take
place.
The fire has never been extinguished, the struggle continues.
B.Budden
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