acknowledgements to country are not your obligations, they are mine

in the footer of this website is the statement .. as Yuwaalaraay and Muruwari, I recognise that I may be on another community’s land and announce my presence, voice my respect to them, their Ancestors, their future leaders and their lands, skies and seas. This statement is my way of fulfilling my obligation to other Aboriginal Australians, the best I can in this modern world. I am saying I am here, is that ok, is there anything I need to know?

in the past (and most likely in the future) people have expressed frustration at my voicing these words prior to starting a meeting or group training etc. I’m surprised every time because I wonder why they are so caught up in an obligation that is mine and not theirs, even though those same people would grant me the respect to carry out my ritual if I was in prayer or playing in the Allblacks.

growing up, I learnt that traditionally Visitors announced themselves before coming onto country so that Custodians could decide if they would take a gamble on trusting these newbies to not harm the living breathing mass that was their homeland. Today, though modern technology has limited my physical presence on other lands, I choose to continue that obligation when I may be stepping on lands that are not my own

i have also been questioned as to why I am bothering with such a declaration, if i am the only Indigenous Australian in the room. Well, my words are not directed toward individuals, they are for community, for Ancestors past and for Ancestors that are to come. My declaration is to my world, as i experience it. More importantly though, my Ancestors ensure that I am never the only Indigenous person in a room.

some people have demanded “verification” of the ritual, accusing me of making up the terms “Welcome to Country” and “Acknowledgement to Country”. I don’t think I was born when these words were first coined but i’ll have a go at explaining. YES YES YES, they are English words, of course they are made up. How would English speaking Australians, know what our cultural obligations are, if we didn’t explain it to them in English. There would be hundreds of different ways to “name” the ritual because there are hundreds of different Aboriginal countries across the continent. The English Terms are for English speaking people. If I just started speaking Yuwaalaraay or Muruwuri at the start of a group session, how would people know what im doing

which leads me to the most common complaint, “You all do it differently, it must be made up”. The methods and content in which individuals choose to express their culture, faith, beliefs etc is directly influenced by the life they have led. There may be a commonality in having faith, celebrating the new moon devotion but there is no one way to pray, to mourn or to come-of-age. I am a Yuwaalaraay, Muruwari and Scot Australian. My people come from areas to the east of what is now recognised as the Queensland and New South Wales Border, near Goodooga and Walgett and Lightning Ridge, and from the cool winds of Bellshill, Scotland. Of course, I’m going to do it differently. Don’t you?