Past, present and future of the first landowners

Content warning: This article discusses the violent treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Yaama baayamba, dhiiyaan gaalanha ngurranbaa

Ngiiliy yanaay nhalay

Yikaadhu gi-gi guwaali dhubaanmali nhamali ngayiy gaalanha gaalanha ngayiy gayarragi waanda ngurrarnbaa wurrugao walaybuo

Hello friends, family and country.

I have come here today to speak about the past, present and future of the first landowners of this country, to have a future for a fair and just society. To start off with, I am a proud Gomeroi women, also known as a Koori or Murri, located in the central west NSW region and eastern Queensland. However, I am from Boandik country in the southeast of South Australia known as Mount Gambier.

The arrival of Lieutenant James Cook, and then Arthur Phillip in 1788, marked the beginning of 'white settlement'. From 1788, Australia was treated by the British as a colony of conquest. Until the 1850s, when local forces began to be recruited, British regular troops ran the Australian colonies with little local assistance.

Colonisation has resulted in inequality, racism and the disruption of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. Since colonisation began, Indigenous people have been subject to mass killings, incarceration and forced removal from land.

Then, missions were created to remove First Nations people from their land to “breed the black out of them”, resulting in the highest rate of child removal in the world. Let me say that again, the Stolen Generations had the highest rate of child removal in the world. They were stolen as children, not allowed to follow cultural practices or learn the way of the land or their own language, and forced into Christianity and the white ways of the world. Back on my Country, the men were handcuffed to trees while the women and children were buried to their heads in the road, and the white community drove over them with horses and carts and kicked/hit their heads with tennis racks until they fell off, making their deaths the most uncomfortable and most painful thing to occur.

The missions resulted in a lot of death where Indigenous people were treated very unfairly, with up to 12-20 children in a room. They were given only a bucket for their bodily fluids. If they did something wrong, their hair was cut and were whipped until blood was drawn. It is absolutely appalling that this is not recognised by Australia, and that they try and hide the dark side of our history.

The emotional toll and impact of this history on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people wasn’t the only thing. The animals and farming practices colonisers brought with them, as well as industry and mining, had a significant impact on the environment.

And do you know what’s even worse? These practices are still occurring today. Indigenous Australians are still sent to missions in every state and territory across Australia.

To add to this, Indigenous people are more likely to be killed than any other Australian, they are more likely to be hospitalised by sexual assault, and more likely to be sent to prison. Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women. Indigenous women are 35 more likely to be hospitalised by family violence. Indigenous Australians have the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Statically, Indigenous teenagers are more likely to go to prison than to finish high school, while Indigenous men are more likely to go to prison than university. Our life expectancy is 11 years lower than non-Indigenous people. Our life expectancy is the lowest for any Indigenous minority in the world.

We must move forward as a collective to achieve a more fair and just society with consideration and collaboration of First Nations people. We need a Treaty, and we need mutual respect to move forward for a better future.