Part 1
Can you tell us a little about the history of your people / family
and the significance of this region / area to your people / family?
I am Gunditjmara person, so I originally came from Framlingham, born
and raised at Framlingham, spent the first 6 years of my life on the
Framlingham mission, near Warrnambool.
I see myself as a custodian of Wathaurong land, although it has been
suggested of late that my family may have been descendants of Wathaurong
people. There is no evidence to my understanding to suggest any truth
to this claim. This has come to light in the last few years, which
has been quite a shock to me. So what I can say in terms of my family
is that we have originated from the Gunditjmara and I am also a descendant
of the Yorta Yorta people from my grandmother's side.
I guess in one sense, it's probably a time in my life now that I
think that we should have a look , a realistic look at our family
history. Life has gone so quick over the last 20 years or so, that
I haven't given it a lot of thought and have taken it for granted
in terms of my family history. I guess now that I have grandchildren,
it is probably the time to do some investigation in terms of family
searching and family history, and in particular clarifying it. As
you would understand it is difficult to find the details, given the
assimilation policies and the moving of Indigenous people from one
reserve to another - one mission to another. I know that it's going
to be difficult. My mum and dad are still alive and active and they
certainly would have a lot of information to tell. I've got to get
the time to stop and talk to them and that is the essence of this
discussion.
So what do you know about life before colonisation and how do
you take notice?
The Geelong area is known in traditional terms as the Wathaurong
area. There is very little documented history of the local Indigenous
people and that is one of the sad things about this area. To my knowledge,
it is one of the only known areas in the State of Victoria where the
documentation indicates that there are no known descendants of the
Wathaurong people living. Now as I suggested earlier on, there may
be a dispute in relation to that and it may even reflect to my own
family history. I've got to be fair in saying that as a family member
and Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative Chairperson, we basically built
this organisation on the understanding that there are no known Wathaurong
descendants.
The fact that our history is an oral history makes it very difficult
for us know exactly our ancestry. This is especially true for the
Wathaurong people. This is a sad, sad situation.
What are the traditional boundaries of the Wathaurong peoples?
The traditional boundaries of the Wathaurong peoples start along
the coastline from Werribee to the Lorne Peninsula area. It traverses
inland to Colac, through to Cressy onwards to Ballarat. Within these
boundaries there are approximately 14 smaller clan groups who were
traditional and territorial owners of their particular site. There
is little recorded European documentation of the history of the Wathaurong
due to the loss of the traditional way of life since colonisation.
The Wathaurong Co-operative is the legislated body to deal with cultural
heritage issues within the Wathaurong area.
It's probably pretty difficult to comprehend, it's probably very
easy for us to take for granted but when you read the archaeological
reports of the area they identify remnants of Aboriginal sites that
may be left. In these archaeological surveys there is always a preamble
of the history and when you read those it's quite devastating.
Most of the history around Geelong highlights and promotes William
Buckley, - the non-Indigenous escapee, who lived for over 30 years
with one of the Wathaurong clan groups. William Buckley did befriend
the Wathaurong people, and I quite light-heartedly suggest that in
the last 12 months or so whilst Reconciliation has been high on the
agenda, that William Buckley was probably one of the first people
who unknowingly started that process. He did live with the people
for thirty or forty odd years and I think that is a very positive
point from a Reconciliation process, etc. This showed that our people
were willing to share with the invaders as such.
How did government policies and practices impact on your people?
Were some policies and practices more destructive than others?
You look at history and we go back to the assimilation policy which
we now know was the greatest destruction of all government policies
and obviously the way it was implemented was pretty disastrous. But
it was unknowingly disastrous, and it reflects upon our history as
it is today. And I suppose that would be probably one of the major
policies that destroyed our whole Aboriginal society and lifestyle
as such, you know.
There are differing opinions as to the impact of it, whether it was
meant, whether it wasn't meant. But the fact is that it was a policy
that was adopted by the Government for one reason or another and it's
absolutely devastating. Unfortunately the ripple effects are now being
felt in this country's history as such, e.g. the stolen generations
and deaths in custodies and so forth. They're all related to that
assimilation policy.
I could reflect further in terms of how that policy personally affected
myself, in terms of my family, and relationships and so forth but
that'll take weeks. But I mean that's the only major one I can reflect
on, as well as obviously the Referendum of 1967 which was said to
be a positive one which allowed people to become citizens and identify
with Aboriginal people, which is great.
It's quite ironical actually when you talk in terms of the 1967 Referendum.
Just recently we've had an exhibition at the Australian War Memorial
- Too Light for a Dark Horse - and that reflects the Aboriginal soldiers
who fought in 3 wars - the First World War the Second World War and
the Vietnam War. That was a very touching display that highlighted
the fact that Aboriginal people going to war in the First World War
were not even recognised as citizens and were still proud enough to
be able to fight alongside non-Indigenous Australians, not as enemies,
but to defend the country. We now know a number of Indigenous Australians
didn't identify themselves so that they could enlist in our armed
forces. To do this, they identified themselves with other cultures
which is pretty sad.
You can look at the 1967 Referendum which allowed Aboriginal people
to vote, and have their rights as citizens as such. That was certainly
a positive move, there's no doubt about that in terms of policy.
Are there some men and/or women who represent for your people
some outstanding leaders? Why?
There are some brilliant careers. I mean it is pretty hard to basically
identify a particular person or several persons, because it depends
on what line of subject we were talking about.
We've certainly have highly respected people in political arenas
and this applies also to high profile people in the sporting arena.
We have people within our own community with high profiles. And probably
in a lot of respects I believe that they're the people in the community
that go unnoticed and untapped in terms of their knowledge and resources.
Being a community person I have had opportunities in my sporting
life, and in political arena and so forth. I guess I chose to be with
my community to help lift its profile. So on a percentage scale, I
believe as citizens, we are as equal to any one else in the world.
As far as I am concerned we have got great people, so there's not
one high profile person that really inspired me. I think the holistic
view of average people having the ability to achieve is what really
inspires me.
You've got all sorts of people, from all sorts of walks of life,
urban Aboriginal, your country Aboriginal, traditional Aboriginal,
they have all achieved in their respective fields that they have chosen.
Artists, look at us, we have brilliant artists locally. So I can't
realistically say that there is any one particular person that made
me feel that I would liked to emulate. I am just a community person
at heart.
What do you want most to happen or have to achieve this year in
terms of reconciliation?
Reconciliation, okay, let me say this, that Reconciliation was a
term that I didn't pick up straight away. I can say honestly that
Reconciliation was a term, a subject, an event, that probably the
broader Aboriginal community hadn't pick up. For example we had never
discussed it at a board level, we had never discussed it to an extent
at a community level. In other words, it was a word that we heard
quite often, and we just went about our business. We had, up until
recently so much to do to achieve what we needed to in the community.
So Reconciliation for us as a community was for us basically a non
event. I think realistically that was because the confusion of who
was reconciling with whom and what was it all about. I mean, I understand
the Reconciliation was first set up in the early 90s and up until
the last few years there has been little said about it.
An invitation to speak at an open forum here at St Joseph's at Geelong
is what changed my perception on this stand. This was a significant
occasion for me. So both my wife and I were invited to attend, and
it was probably the most moving experience we ever encountered. There
were 1200 students there, with parents and teachers so forth. As we
walked into the assembly hall, you can feel the warmth; a genuine
feeling of softness from the kids and the people there.
What was presented in the program that day was just fantastic. It
was just a feeling of genuineness and I guess that what's really hit
me. That's what Reconciliation is really about. It was so emotional
that when I got up to speak but I couldn't speak. My wife was sitting
beside me and I looked around at her and she couldn't speak. It was
fairly moving and I am ever so grateful for that. It has changed my
perception in relation to Reconciliation.
There are a whole lot of people that are really committed to the
Reconciliation process. Now I have a clearer picture of what the processes
are about. The support shown at Corroboree 2000 was enormous and I
think that heartened me to accept and embrace the Reconciliation process
and promote it as much as I possibly can.
On to Part 2
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