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On Australia Day 2021, I acknowledge…

This is an annual post that I make leading up to “Australia Day”. I make minor adjustments to it each year as I hopefully learn and grow.

Last year was one where I grew a little bit more in my understanding. My understanding of the significance of trauma, the wounds and the scars it leaves, and the work required to ensure that trauma is not visited upon subsequent generations. So, for me, there is yet another level of significance to my acknowledging.

Here is the 2021 instalment. I trust that some of you find it helpful. (Photo’s from yesterday’s Day of Mourning/Invasion Day gathering in Melbourne.)

I acknowledge that I live, love, work and play on the land of the Wurundjeri people, of the Kulin Nations.

I acknowledge that my parents migrated to, were married, raised a family and gave birth to me on the land that the Wurundjeri were dispossessed of.

I acknowledge that I was raised by a migrant family that for whatever reasons, as part of my upbringing and formation did not tell the story of the Wurundjeri, their dispossession and the ongoing consequences generations later.

I acknowledge that it was not until my 20’s that I started to become aware of the dispossession of the Wurundjeri people.

I acknowledge that I have learned that Australia’s first peoples have survived overwhelming systematic and coordinated efforts to exterminate them.

I acknowledge that against all odds, Australia’s first people are still here, having endured, and continue to endure much suffering, illustrating the profound resilience of their culture, customs and traditions, and have much to teach me and my family about life on this land.

I acknowledge that since I have learned about the struggle of Australia’s first people, I have experienced and continue to experience all sorts of emotions regarding the dispossession of the Wurundjeri people, including anger, guilt, frustration, shame, powerlessness, apathy, hope and a desire to make a difference.

I acknowledge that the 26th of January is a date that is difficult for many of our indigenous sisters and brothers.

I acknowledge that many descendants of settler Australians cannot or indeed will not choose to understand or empathise why the 26th of January might be difficult for many indigenous sisters and brothers.

I acknowledge that it is my responsibility to compassionately figure out how to build a bridge between those two groups, for the duration of my life on this land.

I acknowledge that this is my reconciliatory work.

I acknowledge that one small step in that direction is to keep the conversation in our family alive, learning the story of the Wurundjeri people, and hopefully sparing my children the ignorance I experienced as part of my own upbringing.

I acknowledge that empathy and compassion are the only avenues to transformation.

I acknowledge that against all hope, the future might be different.

#alwayswasalwayswillbe #neverceded