As we approach the first anniversary of Peter Adam's
Australia: Whose Land? lecture, Alison has coincidentally finished her three part series:
My Country, Your Country. It's worth checking out, particulary for the final post in the series. Here's an excert:
One quote made me stop in my tracks. It was a woman talking about how she had never really understood who she was because she had never been able to be with her own family in their own place. I wanted to be sick on the spot. Only fifteen minutes beforehand, I had been lost in my own memories of family, and the place that my family felt it belonged to. At what cost were these memories created!? Which Aborignal people were removed from Ebeneezer so that white people could farm? Which indigenous families were torn apart so that I could grow up safely with my own?
Under John Howard, people said that the stolen generation was not this generation's fault. Maybe that is true. I personally can't take any direct responsiblity for destoying countless Aborignal families.
But I was blind to the way that I personally have benefitted from the pain that many many others have suffered. That afternoon at Reconciliation Place, I realised. I am truly sorry.
You'll find the series here:
- Thought 1
- Thought 2
- Hard Hitting Thoughts
