Reconciliation not just a black and white issue
The question of reconciliation between the original Australians and
later arrivals is one which has exercised the minds of politicians at all
levels of government for decades.
It is an issue in which I have been deeply involved in one way or another
for a large part of my career.
Even a casual examination of our history shows that the original inhabitants
of this land lived in peace and harmony for a very long period of time.
They had well established customs, a hierarchy which delivered orderly methods
of government, as well as a rudimentary but effective system of justice.
It is easy to comprehend their bewilderment when the first boat loads of
new arrivals landed on their shores.
The newcomers were a different colour, dressed differently, had different
customs and habits and spoke differently.
But let’s not forget that the outsiders must have felt a massive culture
shock also.
Arriving in a foreign land so different from their old country must cause
massive personal and social dislocation.
Yet what is often forgotten in this entire debate is one essential fact.
The newcomers chose to come here - the original inhabitants were forced
to accommodate the desire of others to settle the land that once belonged
entirely to them.
This central truth is at the heart of our efforts to achieve reconciliation.
From my modest observations, it will not be achieved until both sides agree
to recognise that fact and discover some way to live and work together in
the future while acknowledging sins of the past and resolving never to repeat
them.
I liken it to the situation in my own household.
Some years ago – too many for me to remember exactly – my good
wife, Devon, invited her close personal lady friend, Leslie O’Connor,
to move in with us.
At the time, we were living in a humble little house in what was then one
of Canberra’s outer suburbs.
I was working as Assistant Under-Secretary (Stockfeed Subsidies) in the
Department of Agriculture and the Arts.
Devon and I had not been long married when she announced Leslie (who incidentally
accompanied us on our somewhat disappointing honeymoon) needed a place to
live and would be taking up residence with us.
Leslie - or as Devon often referred to her, “Les O” - arrived
one Saturday morning while I was out shopping. She and Devon had decided
it was best if they shared the large bedroom, so they moved my belongings
into the spare bedroom – the one I had earmarked in my own mind as
a nursery for future little Badinages.
Not one to argue, I accepted my wife’s explanation that Les was experiencing
some “women’s trouble” and they needed to be together as
much as possible.
I felt immense sympathy for Leslie and her unstated plight, and still do
all these years later as she apparently still suffers the same “trouble”.
But, I digress.
The point is that because of this experience, I can empathise with people
who feel displaced, even though my own case may be on the smaller side of
the scale.
Over the years I came to accept the arrangement and Devon and Les and I
soon settled into a routine in which we acknowledged each other’s presence
in the house and respected each other’s right to be there.
It is that sort of solution we must all work towards if we want to secure
reconciliation on a national scale.
The need for reconciliation has dogged Australia for more than 50 years.
Only if we as the original inhabitants of our land come to terms with the
presence of newer arrivals can reconciliation have even a slight chance
of succeeding.
Only then can we all work together and attempt the same type of reconciliation
with Aboriginal Australians.
Rufus Badinage MBE, now retired, is one of Australia’s
leading experts
on politics and public administration having worked
as a senior bureaucrat for various state and federal governments.
