Daniel Johns' piece, published in News Ltd press 8 July 2007 on the commencement of the Across the Great Divide Tour for reconcile.org.au
Like most people my age I’ve never paid too much attention to party politics. I don’t know a lot about government policies and things like that and I’m not a spokesperson for anyone except myself.
I certainly don’t pretend to have the answers to society’s problems. But when it comes to Reconciliation I do have a few questions. For example:
How come an indigenous man’s life expectancy is 17 years shorter than mine?
How come there’s still so much bad feeling between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians?
How come some people have a problem with saying sorry for the bad things that have happened?
I think most of us have had similar questions occur to us at some point in our lives. Reconciliation Australia is attempting to turn random questions like these into a lasting conversation. They’ve established Reconcile.org.au to encourage people to look for some answers to these questions within themselves and their communities.
Powderfinger and my band, Silverchair, have decided to use our combined Across The Great Divide tour to draw some attention to Reconcile.org.au by making them the presenter of the whole thing. Hopefully it might help all of us start to find some answers to some of our questions about Reconciliation.
We’re not trying to talk people into anything. And in any case, I think most people want to reconcile – we just don’t know exactly how to do it. We all know that some very bad things have been done to Indigenous Australians since white settlement and the impact of those things affects how they live today. It’s therefore an unavoidable part of both our past and our present. It’s embarrassing and more needs to be done about it to make things better in our future.
I know it’s unavoidable that some people will think we’re trying to take the moral high ground by associating ourselves with this issue. These people’s reactions are as unavoidable as they are wrong. My bandmates and I just feel that if we speak up about our own questions and feelings on this issue then it might encourage some other people to do the same and talking about a problem is the first step to solving it. It’s really as simple as that.
In these more jaded times it’s easy to believe that nobody can make a difference on these sorts of issues but Cola companies and other such brands regularly pay lots of money to associate themselves with other music tours. This must be because their market research shows that – rightly or wrongly! - music and musicians can influence people’s choices. Hopefully we can use whatever influence Across The Great Divide has to provoke a conversation about how all of us can get along with each other rather than using it to provoke a conversation about which cola truly “rocks�!
I know from personal experience that music and musicians can influence people. Midnight Oil is one of my all time favourite bands. When I saw them wearing their famous “Sorry� suits at the 2000 Olympic Games it made me start asking some questions about what saying “sorry� really meant. Embarrassingly, it was the first time I ever really gave serious thought to that whole issue. I talked about it a lot over the following hours and I now remember those conversations as much as I remember the fireworks that we all watched from Sydney Harbour that night.
These days I don’t understand why it should be such a big deal to say sorry for the injustices that have been done to Indigenous people. I know some people feel differently but, to me, saying sorry just feels necessary as a first step towards moving forward together.
Maybe it’s a generational thing that people don’t feel it’s their responsibility to apologise for things they didn’t do personally. But, to me, the injustices are still there and are shown in things like the 17 year gap in life expectancy. I think we’ve just got to take responsibility at some point. If these things were happening to any other group in our community, nobody would put up with it – we wouldn’t hesitate for one second to do whatever it takes to give everyone a fair go.
My sense is that Aboriginal people understandably need to hear a sincere apology - a recognition of what’s been done to them - and the more we delay that apology, the further apart we’ll drift as fellow Australians.
There are obviously complex problems on both sides of the fence which need to be solved including problems of health, education and housing. Saying sorry will not fix any of those particular problems directly but I think it would show that we want to patch up some big holes in our collective conscience, and move forward together. It’s not the answer to all the difficult questions but in my opinion it would be a good first step.
DANIEL JOHNS
By Carol Omer - West Richmond, SA
Australia Day is Invasion Day for some. Well, I am going to declare "Thankyou Day" for my Aboriginal friends and colleagues.
I'm very sorry that most non-Aboriginal people have had few personal connections and even fewer role models and teachers from the Aboriginal community and may never know the depth of knowledge, wisdom and spirituality that defines traditional Aboriginal ways.
I am a non-Indigenous Australian, and I would just like to say that I fully support a sincere apology to Indigenous Australians, for the way that they have been treated by non-Indigenous Australians since our arrival. Also, I firmly believe that if this entails compensation, then so be it.
I sincerely hope that I have not been personally (i.e. intentionally) responsible for harm to Aboriginal Australians, but I fully accept that all non-Indigenous Australians continue to reap the rewards of our presence in Australia, to the ongoing detriment of the earlier inhabitants and their descendents. Therefore I am complicit, no matter how unwillingly, in the oppression of Aboriginal Australians.
I would like to add my "two cents worth" regarding the symbolic significance of an "apology". I was sexually abused all of my childhood by my grandfather. He never apologised, and some of his immediate descendants deny his actions, or accept his actions but deny that he caused any harm. An apology (assuming it is sincere) would not undo the damage, but it would be significant to me as an acknowledgement of the harm done, and recognition of my loss. It therefore distresses me when I hear non-Indigenous Australians insist that a "symbolic apology" is meaningless. They obviously have never suffered serious injustice with no significant prospect of righting the wrong - as have so many Indigenous Australians.
I firmly believe that Indigenous Australians are entitled to differ in their expectations regarding an apology and compensation. For some individuals, I imagine that an apology may be meaningless without compensation, for others, an apology may be extremely significant and compensation not important to them individually.
I feel that it is inappropriate for some people (both Indigenous and non-Indigenous!) to claim that all Indigenous Australians should be unanimous in their needs, and to deny individuals the right to have varying views regarding the very significant issues of apology and compensation. Just as adult survivors of child abuse (or any other crime/injustice) have different views of what the feel they need in order to have their experiences acknowledged, so too must we recognise that Indigneous Australians are each unique individuals with different needs and experiences, and different visions as to how best to reconcile the harm done to them, or the harm that they have witnessed done to others.
I sincerely hope that a heartfelt apology to Indigenous Australians will help to acknowledge, for some individuals, the harm done to them and to earlier generations. For other Indigneous Australians, an apology will be of little or no meaning - and they are entitled to that view. But for those to whom an apology is meaningful, their needs should be respected rather than dismissed. Nevertheless, an apology should only be the start of an ongoing process. There have been many vocal critics insisting that it is time for Indigenous Australians to "move on", but I know from my own experience that it is so much more difficult to "move on" when others deny that any real harm has been done.
For those Indigenous Australians who find it meaningful, I offer my own sincere and personal apology for the harm done to them and their ancestors, by current and past generations of non-Indigenous Australians, and for any harm that I may have unwittingly contributed toward. I respect the right of other Indigenous Australians to consider this a meaningless and empty gesture, and I hope that for those many individuals, we non-Indigenous Australians can find alternative ways to repay our collective debt.
Kind Regards,
Anne Morrison
(a non-Indigenous Australian, South Australia)