Aboriginals Attacked for Their Land

[00:00:00]First, indigenous activists had vowed they will [music] squat in Melbourne's CBD until the King's Domain Parkland [music] is given to them. Now, the Parkland includes the Shrine of Remembrance and the Maya Music Bowl. It also features a memorial to 38 Aboriginal people whose remains were reburied there in 1985.

[00:00:21]The activists are led by Robbie Thorpe.

[00:00:24]Now, he's the uncle [music] of independent Senator Lidia Thorpe. Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker, [music] and I begin by acknowledging that we meet on the land of the Ngunnawal and Nambri people.

[00:00:34]>> [music] >> Land that was, is, and always will be Aboriginal land.

[00:00:39]>> But if he wants to to stay [music] there in his tent forever and a day, which is what Mr. Thorpe has threatened to do, that's exactly where he's going to be cuz they're never going to give King's Domain back to Aboriginal people. It's one of the most significant parks in Melbourne.

[00:00:54]>> More footage is emerging this morning from the ugly and racially charged scenes that played out in Melbourne.

[00:01:00]Demonstrators, including suspected neo-Nazis, stormed Camp Sovereignty, a First Nations gathering site in the Botanic Gardens.

[00:01:08]>> Aboriginal leaders have condemned this attack as a brazen display of racist and fascist fascist ideology. Earlier in the CBD, this splinter group of men dressed in black then [music] stormed the Camp Sovereignty site, which is in the Botanic Gardens just south of the CBD, and they then, according to the footage that we've been able to see, they appear to spit [music] and stomp on an Aboriginal flag. They also were trying to pull down the letters of Camp Sovereignty without success.

[00:01:39]>> The destruction is a reality lived by First Nations people fighting to protect country across this land and across the world.

[00:01:46]>> The Australian colony >> [music] >> is an imperial occupation of the lands of hundreds of sovereign nations.

[00:01:54]>> We went from 100% of the population >> They will never take the tan from us.

[00:01:59]The tan is the walking trail that goes around King's Domain.

[00:02:03]>> to 1% of the population.

[00:02:05]>> I can run from that. I can hide and pretend.

[00:02:07]>> For thousands of years, people have gathered in this place to share stories.

[00:02:15]>> I don't want to be a part of that.

[00:02:16]>> The Aboriginal people, this is their country. We took it from them.

[00:02:19]>> Australia's just one hell of a crime scene.

[00:02:21]>> And I want to give them my land.

[00:02:23]>> Oh, really?

[00:02:24]>> We've treated them badly.

[00:02:25]>> What is the King's Domain >> [music] >> in Melbourne Park land?

[00:02:28]>> Camp Sovereignty is also a place where the remains of 38, representation of 38 nations across [music] the state are buried, repatriated, and therefore it's a burial ground. We have the Shrine of Remembrance up the road, ironically. You know, the nation stands still for to remember those soldiers [music] who've fallen. Camp Sovereignty is our shrine, and people come there to heal and to [music] connect and to remember those frontier wars and the warriors of our resistance. It is special to all of us, and it should be special [music] to this entire nation, given we are the oldest continuing living culture on the planet.

[00:03:12]>> They're not the biggest problem here.

[00:03:13]The biggest problem has been created by our political and cultural elites who keep saying things that they don't mean.

[00:03:19]>> Hey guys, did you know it's better to watch my videos in 4K? Double check your settings to make sure you are watching this video at its highest quality. And if you're watching this video from your television, help this channel grow by pressing up on your remote and hitting that like option [music] and consider subscribing. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much. Now, let's get this video started.

[00:03:42]>> [music] [music] [music] >> What's up, guys? I'm here at a place called King's Domain in Melbourne. It seems to be like a park here, very beautiful park, but it originally this used to be sacred land for the Aboriginals here, a burial ground for them.

[00:04:09]Uh fast forward to today, they use this area, parts of this park as a place where they set up camp at. The camp is called a sovereignty camp. Um they use the camp to protest, to educate um people about their cause. And I I guess what they're they're fighting for and protesting is equal land. But what they want is land rights, which I thought they already had um or they do have, but here in Melbourne they're protesting it. And um actually was doing a little research a couple months ago, there was some huge incident here. Um I don't understand why, but there was an incident between some of the locals in Melbourne and the people here who are protesting, and it became an all-out brawl. So I have to be very careful on how I approach this community. I don't want to offend them, so let's see how if we can get to understand who they are, their mission, and uh learn a little bit more about the Aboriginals of Australia, okay? I have to reiterate that the reason why I'm not just going to one city is because there's Aboriginals everywhere in um Australia. Some that live in the modern cities and some who live in the Outback.

[00:05:28]And there's different layers layers of them, but there's just one I feel like one big fight. And so I'm trying to understand the full picture. It wouldn't be right if I just focus on one city and give it to you like that's the truth. So that's what we're working on.

[00:05:43]All right, I got a map here. This is Shrine of Remembrance.

[00:05:48]I think that's the area where a lot of people this weekend are going to remember their lost ones for Anzac Day, which is like the Memorial Day here in Australia. And then I have no idea where else I'm going.

[00:06:02]All right. I think I would have need to cut left this way.

[00:06:06]So, we're going to cut left and see if they're over here.

[00:06:09]>> This place here is called the King's Domain in the Botanical Gardens.

[00:06:14]And um back in 2006, which is 20 years ago now, we came here during the Commonwealth Games, and we set up this camp here right in the middle of the games, the Commonwealth Games, you know.

[00:06:28]We took advantage of international media.

[00:06:31]>> So, they could know that this is actually affecting you guys.

[00:06:35]>> And we put up our issues, which is issues of genocide, sovereignty, and lack of treaty in this country.

[00:06:45]Those are the free mind legal issues that needed to be resolved.

[00:06:49]Um I don't know if you know much about the history of this country, but it's pretty brutal.

[00:06:55]It was um like a total genocide here.

[00:06:59]Similar to American Indian.

[00:07:02]Difference is they had they had treaties.

[00:07:05]And they had a acknowledgement of a war and an ending of it. We never had an end of it, you know.

[00:07:11]It's been ongoing for 250 odd years.

[00:07:16]>> What tactics did they use for genocide?

[00:07:19]>> Um smallpox, biological warfare.

[00:07:24]>> [snorts] >> And then they let that have its effect. Pretty deadly disease, biological biological warfare. Smallpox the worst It's the worst um disease known on.

[00:07:38]So, they let that run, and then after we had they weakened our people, they come in and shot us out.

[00:07:44]Shot us out. Massacres all over this continent. All over it.

[00:07:49]Thousands of them. Massacres.

[00:07:52]And and they tried to completely exterminate us. They called it terra nullius. Do you know what terra nullius means?

[00:07:59]Terra, land.

[00:08:01]Nullius, nobody.

[00:08:03]No one home. Empty. Continent's empty.

[00:08:07]So, they they went about making it that way, too.

[00:08:10]And then they Whoever that Basically, it was a holocaust.

[00:08:15]Whoever survived that that ended up in a in concentration camps or what they call reserves.

[00:08:21]Reservations.

[00:08:23]And we spent three generations in there.

[00:08:27]Where they with our churches churches and stole our children.

[00:08:35]Weren't allowed to speak language.

[00:08:37]Nothing.

[00:08:38]We were expected to assimilate into whoever survived, expected to assimilate into the wider community. Shut up.

[00:08:47]Australia I call Australia just one hell of a crime scene.

[00:08:52]And I've actually got a court I've got a um a an organization called crimesceneaustralia.com.

[00:08:59]You can check that out.

[00:09:00]That's all of our court cases listed.

[00:09:03]I've got the king I've charged the king coming up on June the 5th June the 3rd.

[00:09:10]Um 30 years of work doing genocide cases.

[00:09:16]Um the governor and the coroner here, the governor.

[00:09:20]Our closest neighbor.

[00:09:22]We vic- victor him.

[00:09:24]So, that's another case. The attorney general taking on the you know, the heavyweights.

[00:09:30]That's what we do.

[00:09:32]Um we've been here um the last 2 years of had fire burning for the last 2 years solid. It doesn't go out the fire.

[00:09:40]>> Oh, that fire is symbolic. I noticed it.

[00:09:43]And you're the one that started the fire?

[00:09:45]>> Yeah.

[00:09:46]>> Wow.

[00:09:47]>> It's um this is our law. Our law is represented by that fire. In fact, we say the oldest law is around the campfire.

[00:09:57]That's where the oldest council is for everybody on this planet.

[00:10:02]That's where the law was made originally.

[00:10:04]And you know, because we we keep burning becomes a healing space as well.

[00:10:09]>> Mhm.

[00:10:10]>> Uh so, it's got energy.

[00:10:13]We keep it going. Peo- people donate wood to us.

[00:10:17]There's a lot of good people in this country, too, but it's the system that's they're killing for us.

[00:10:23]>> You mentioned um being in concentration camps and one of your family members choosing to enlist in the army or >> Yes.

[00:10:31]>> was that a choice for him to?

[00:10:33]>> I think it was a probably a better option to to see the world, fight alongside the white man, be treated equally.

[00:10:43]That didn't work out. He got killed.

[00:10:46]They treated us pretty badly.

[00:10:48]None of the None of the blacks got a sole settlement.

[00:10:51]And we got paid a third of the wages.

[00:10:54]Uh pretty rough deal, but it was probably better than sitting in a concentration camp just dying around in those places, yeah. They denied us proper health care.

[00:11:05]Um forcefully assimilating us, moving us from our country elsewhere, breaking it all up. And over over 250 years, you know, they've done a lot of damage to our people.

[00:11:20]So, >> speaking about 250 years, you mentioned Well, I was just talking to one of them um campers here, and uh she mentioned about how they was an a some form of organized attack happening.

[00:11:37]>> Yes, recently.

[00:11:39]With the Nazis turned up here and had a guy bashed.

[00:11:42]>> Why did they come here?

[00:11:44]>> Cuz they didn't like the what what we were doing here.

[00:11:47]And I probably set up you know system sets them on to us, you know.

[00:11:52]Uh police can't trust the police here.

[00:11:56]And the system, you know I I call Australia a Nazi wet dream.

[00:12:03]It's it's I think we educated Nazis and Yeah.

[00:12:11]>> What is the What is the issue between them and you your group? What What What are they mad about?

[00:12:18]>> the Nazis mad about mad about? They just don't like us getting anywhere. They like and we put it out there like you know we're telling them Australia is basically a crime scene.

[00:12:29]Um and we want our We want our most basic and fundamental human rights recognized.

[00:12:35]That's a problem for them.

[00:12:38]And they want to keep us under the under control.

[00:12:41]And they use the Nazis to oppress us.

[00:12:46]Just groups of people, you know. But it's basically the government's the worst one. The government is the worst.

[00:12:51]They're the problem. They're the main problem.

[00:12:53]>> What would you What do you want from this protest right now? What What would you guys want or need from the government?

[00:13:03]>> And Well, we we want this bit of land back.

[00:13:06]Take this bit of to that land back sign.

[00:13:09]>> Land back sign? Yeah, I see that.

[00:13:10]>> We actually want to take the whole park and turn it into an art precinct.

[00:13:16]>> Okay.

[00:13:16]>> So, every two every summer two weeks, maybe three weeks two music festivals will be here.

[00:13:24]>> That's beautiful.

[00:13:25]>> Yeah.

[00:13:25]>> And to educate the people coming into the country >> Yes.

[00:13:29]about this the the history. That's beautiful. And that that could actually boost uh revenue here.

[00:13:35]>> Adelaide with a night light.

[00:13:37]>> I've never been but continue.

[00:13:39]>> Adelaide's um they do it two two weeks of the year.

[00:13:43]The whole whole [snorts] botanical gardens is taken over.

[00:13:47]Turns it into a We're going to do it in Melbourne.

[00:13:50]And that's that's my plan. Just there is a um a big um venue music venue right there.

[00:13:58]>> Right.

[00:13:58]>> It's an old Aboriginal site.

[00:14:00]>> Mhm.

[00:14:01]>> Before it become the botanical gardens, it used to be an Aboriginal reserve here.

[00:14:06]This was a reserve land for Aboriginal people.

[00:14:08]The very first one in Victoria.

[00:14:11]And they they they got rid of all people.

[00:14:16]Rounded them up. Disappeared them.

[00:14:18]That was the 1840s.

[00:14:21]And you know We're we're we're the proverbial um uh phoenix, the rising phoenix. So we're we're coming from the ashes, our people.

[00:14:34]That's just We're not all in the position to fight like I am. I'm lucky.

[00:14:39]I have strong family, strong community I grew up in.

[00:14:43]Others and we take everyone with us, you know.

[00:14:46]And we educating our own people along the way.

[00:14:50]So And we got we got support non-Aboriginal support as well.

[00:14:55]The people don't really know the real true history here.

[00:14:59]So we're working on that.

[00:15:01]>> You have a busy day coming up Saturday.

[00:15:04]>> Yeah, looking forward to that.

[00:15:05]>> [snorts] >> Might might get a little bit uh uh crazy. You guys they do a celebration here every every year for Abs Day at this very park. And um >> We're down there at the Shrine.

[00:15:17]It's called the Shrine of Remembrance down there. Big message.

[00:15:21]>> And the Shrine is I guess built for people who want to remember soldiers who passed away. It's basically like I mentioned something of the Memorial Day.

[00:15:30]>> with that. Even though we we There's a lot of our people involved.

[00:15:34]>> Right.

[00:15:35]>> We're not really recognized.

[00:15:37]>> I heard some of your elders went to speak over there and there was a crowd that booed them a little.

[00:15:43]>> dis- Yeah, big time. There's Nazis running around here, too.

[00:15:48]Unbelievable. The coppers will back us up on that. I said any Nazis give them a ring.

[00:15:54]>> So, they're saying that because of that they maybe there'll be certain groups who will use the opportunity to rally a crowd against this establishment here.

[00:16:05]So, you're going to have some extra people to make sure to help protect this place. You guys are from what I'm seeing here, non-violent protest.

[00:16:15]>> yeah.

[00:16:15]Yeah, we can't we can't take them on like that.

[00:16:18]Have you seen the rock over there?

[00:16:20]>> No, I haven't.

[00:16:21]>> Come over here. Come have a look at that there. I I was here back in 1985 cuz a lot of our people are in the museums.

[00:16:29]>> Right.

[00:16:29]>> Our remains.

[00:16:31]And you know, the eugenics >> Okay.

[00:16:35]>> our remains and >> Right, because you guys are like the oldest uh considered one of the oldest is the oldest civilization.

[00:16:44]>> That's right. We're the oldest.

[00:16:44]>> 80,000 years.

[00:16:46]>> Amazing old history.

[00:16:47]>> Right.

[00:16:48]>> And um they try to wipe us off the face of the earth.

[00:16:53]And when this rock was put here, I was here.

[00:16:56]I actually fought in the um struggle to get the uh the remains from the the Melbourne University and the and the museum.

[00:17:04]After a long struggle, we got some of the people back.

[00:17:08]We put them here.

[00:17:09]>> Wow.

[00:17:10]>> So, this makes it connects us. It's a burial site for our people.

[00:17:14]>> Right.

[00:17:14]>> So, they have struggle they have trouble removing us now.

[00:17:19]We're going to do practices on >> Because of the right.

[00:17:21]>> So they There's nice little touch there. Because they didn't know who they were, they put the name of every Aboriginal tribe across Victoria.

[00:17:29]38 tribes across Victoria.

[00:17:31]>> Right.

[00:17:32]>> And they put all the names there.

[00:17:35]All the names of the Aboriginal tribes.

[00:17:37]>> Wow. And these are the different tribes right here.

[00:17:39]>> Yeah, cuz I because I couldn't really identify who they were, so they had to put everyone's name there.

[00:17:45]>> Okay.

[00:17:45]>> All the tribes across Victoria here.

[00:17:47]>> Right.

[00:17:48]>> So which was like a blessing for us, too.

[00:17:51]Like cuz anyone from our from Victoria can come here and camp here. This is a This is a burial site for our people.

[00:17:58]>> Right.

[00:17:59]>> What are you going to do? Move us?

[00:18:01]So they They have trouble there.

[00:18:03]We put that flag pole there. We built the flag pole.

[00:18:07]>> What does the flag I noticed you got the the Aboriginal colors right here flag.

[00:18:11]>> used to be the flag.

[00:18:13]>> Okay, that used to be the flag.

[00:18:14]>> But the government paid for it, bought it.

[00:18:18]This is our our land rights and uh uh symbolizes our struggle, but then the government bought it. We said, "Well, see you later. We'll get another one."

[00:18:28]>> To the world, they say this is your flag, but you guys have a different flag now.

[00:18:33]Okay.

[00:18:34]>> Yeah, cuz we have we want to be made independent of them.

[00:18:39]And that that was very important flag, that.

[00:18:42]And um then the government bought it, paid for it.

[00:18:46]>> Why did you buy a flag?

[00:18:48]>> Cuz it was it was a trouble. Someone was saying it was belong to them and they were >> Well, did they have rights to create the flag or they have rights to sell the flag?

[00:18:56]>> Someone Someone actually created it and then claimed the copyright on it.

[00:19:00]>> Okay.

[00:19:01]>> government said, "I will buy it." We said, "Well, >> Oh, got you.

[00:19:05]>> See you later.

[00:19:05]>> Right.

[00:19:06]>> So we we got a we got our own.

[00:19:08]This one is older than this one.

[00:19:11]That that That's older than one.

[00:19:14]This is the original flag at the original Tent Embassy in Canberra. You ever heard of the original Tent Embassy?

[00:19:19]>> No.

[00:19:20]>> Which is 50 more than 50 year old stock battle on the ground in front of the parliament.

[00:19:26]>> Right.

[00:19:26]>> And we just just set up camp.

[00:19:30]>> So, you want your land back.

[00:19:32]What else you want?

[00:19:33]>> Uh We want this war to end officially.

[00:19:39]>> The war is a rift between the Aboriginals what Part of that would be getting your land back, I guess, or or >> We want an official end to the war. We want a war crimes commission.

[00:19:52]It's how it goes for all the uh issues of end of a war, how you sort that out.

[00:19:58]Uh we want restitution. We want restoration. We want reparations.

[00:20:05]>> Right.

[00:20:05]>> For what happened to our people.

[00:20:07]We went from 100% of the population to 1% of the population.

[00:20:12]>> Right.

[00:20:13]>> They killed everyone. That's brutal.

[00:20:17]Brutal history here.

[00:20:18]And and um Australia was the last continent colonized.

[00:20:24]The very last continent colonized.

[00:20:27]Time they got here, they knew how to kill the people, right?

[00:20:30]You know, they um It's like on the back of um the war of independence in America.

[00:20:36]>> Right.

[00:20:37]>> That's when they attacked here, all right?

[00:20:40]>> Right.

[00:20:40]>> After 2 or 300 years there, then they came here.

[00:20:44]So, time they got here, they really knew how to kill the land.

[00:20:48]>> So, they give you land here.

[00:20:52]But what what other land can they give you? A tribal land?

[00:20:54]>> Yeah. We want to We've got claims on everything.

[00:20:57]>> Right.

[00:20:58]>> Everything.

[00:20:59]Yeah, we didn't sell none of it.

[00:21:00]>> You know, and you mentioned the natives uh There's a lot of natives in the United States that uh let companies use their land for casinos and stuff like that. Is that where you guys going or what? I'm just I'm just >> I I thought this. I know.

[00:21:15]All that.

[00:21:18]>> If there's business >> with business with These These people are crazy gamblers in Australia. They love gambling.

[00:21:25]We'll take it off them.

[00:21:27]Yeah.

[00:21:28]>> Percentage, something.

[00:21:29]>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:21:30]>> Even if the even this park here, maybe a percent goes to the to your tribes.

[00:21:36]>> That's right. And we've got such beautiful land with water.

[00:21:40]Got all these things, you know, and beautiful country.

[00:21:43]We got nothing happy, you know, and we look after this land for 100,000 years.

[00:21:49]Socially organized society.

[00:21:52]And we lived in harmony with all the other tribes across here.

[00:21:55]Something like 300 languages spoken on this land here.

[00:21:58]>> Wow.

[00:21:59]What tribe you're from?

[00:22:04]>> That's my tribe I do. That's my tribe.

[00:22:06]>> Okay.

[00:22:07]>> Um That one, that's my main tribe there.

[00:22:11]Crow to tongue along.

[00:22:12]>> So these tribes like break off of each other depending on the parents.

[00:22:16]>> Some are close together. They're part of a a nation.

[00:22:19]>> Right.

[00:22:19]>> Uh And then there's others.

[00:22:23]Um that's my tribe, Jup Wurrung.

[00:22:26]Um Kurnai is like the nation of our people.

[00:22:30]Uh We're still refining all that, you know, and So they When they put us in these concentration that we were in there for three generations.

[00:22:42]>> Wow.

[00:22:42]>> People died off. So they're all the knowledge is gone, you know.

[00:22:45]>> Language?

[00:22:47]>> Killed that off.

[00:22:48]>> Do you have any of it? Little bit?

[00:22:50]>> I know swear words.

[00:22:53]I don't have Um Not much, you know, like my my my cousin does a lot of the language revival stuff.

[00:23:01]>> Right.

[00:23:02]>> I I I do legal fighting.

[00:23:04]>> Right. Everybody gets their role.

[00:23:06]>> Yeah. We we spread around a bit.

[00:23:10]>> What do you think about the Aboriginals in in the Outback compared to you guys?

[00:23:18]>> I do it hard, too.

[00:23:20]Although they're they're on their country, they're on their land.

[00:23:23]>> So did they own their land still and if they >> There's There's a lot of problems.

[00:23:28]Um >> mining and a bunch of >> What's What's happening to them now happened to us 100 years ago.

[00:23:37]They're going through the process of being colonized.

[00:23:41]And it's big mining company. Australia's one big hell of a mining company, the whole lot.

[00:23:48]They're just tearing it to shreds.

[00:23:50]So, if you're in the way these multinationals are coming after your land.

[00:23:55]You know?

[00:23:56]>> And no they don't have rights to those lands regardless.

[00:24:00]>> Okay.

[00:24:01]>> It's all mixed up under their law.

[00:24:04]That's why we we I remain independent of everything.

[00:24:08]No no law, no No, we're sovereign. We can't We We can't sovereignty, right?

[00:24:13]>> Right. Right. I see it.

[00:24:14]>> So, um >> Yeah.

[00:24:16]>> We're not We're not a corporation.

[00:24:19]We're a sovereign body, and we deal with that.

[00:24:22]I I have a legal outfit.

[00:24:25]I do legal stuff.

[00:24:26]>> Let me ask you a question cuz you mentioned you you're into uh R&B music.

[00:24:31]>> Yeah.

[00:24:32]Well, jazz jazz and and Afro beats.

[00:24:36]>> Right.

[00:24:36]>> Yeah. I didn't I didn't know him very much about it until I joined the band, right?

[00:24:40]>> Okay.

[00:24:41]>> So, I'm learning.

[00:24:42]>> Okay.

[00:24:43]>> I know Fela Kuti is.

[00:24:44]>> Okay.

[00:24:45]>> And um I I started to learn a lot.

[00:24:48]But I I love Bob Marley.

[00:24:52]You know, he knew.

[00:24:53]>> Right. Right. Right. Right.

[00:24:54]You like You You that the the the the beat, the cadence, and everything.

[00:24:59]>> And we cuz we were very musical people, too.

[00:25:01]>> Right.

[00:25:01]>> And dancing and all that stuff.

[00:25:04]>> Do you feel any connection to Africans in a way or >> We We're black, all right?

[00:25:09]And get treated like black, too, all right?

[00:25:12]That's one thing we have in common. But I I don't know if there's any blood connection.

[00:25:16]>> Right.

[00:25:16]>> I don't >> Well, you guys were like you left uh your tribe, it says.

[00:25:20]>> They say that, all right? History, we don't know. Who knows?

[00:25:23]>> Well, there's a story about s- uh a group leaving what was considered what is now considered Africa. They didn't have a name before.

[00:25:33]But then migrating to this um this landmass. So, you don't know.

[00:25:38]>> We have a story where >> Right.

[00:25:40]>> In the beginning, all right? The creation talk.

[00:25:43]>> Right.

[00:25:44]>> One big landmass.

[00:25:46]One big landmass that broke up.

[00:25:50]>> There you go.

[00:25:51]>> And then we we drifted away from each other.

[00:25:54]>> That sounds accurate.

[00:25:56]>> Yeah.

[00:25:57]And the further they dig here, further they go back in the time, all right?

[00:26:02]So, we're not competing with anybody.

[00:26:06]I don't know.

[00:26:07]>> I really believe like you guys were part of Pangaea, which is that one big landmass.

[00:26:13]>> We have stories about this.

[00:26:14]>> And then it just broke off and slowly some groups were on one side and the next.

[00:26:20]>> Yes.

[00:26:21]>> But uh yeah, there's a lot of people, especially black people, who feel a connection from the Aboriginals here. I just wanted you to you to know that.

[00:26:31]>> Well, I I think they didn't call us the original for nothing.

[00:26:35]>> Okay.

[00:26:35]>> We've been around.

[00:26:37]And we we got amazing history ancient history.

[00:26:41]And they all trying to say that we come from somewhere else.

[00:26:44]There's no evidence of this.

[00:26:46]All right?

[00:26:47]>> Right, right.

[00:26:47]>> So, I was saying that we're from here.

[00:26:49]>> Eighty thousand years, good luck trying to find anything.

[00:26:52]>> creation stories >> Right.

[00:26:54]>> And we remember animals being created.

[00:26:57]Now, like the platypus, you heard of a platypus?

[00:27:00]>> Oh, right. Yeah, of course. Yeah.

[00:27:02]>> We know who the mom and dad is, all right?

[00:27:04]It's a what they call a wrong way marriage in the dream time.

[00:27:08]>> Mhm.

[00:27:09]>> where they two different species married.

[00:27:13]All right, the platypus. We know the story.

[00:27:16]>> What is the dream time?

[00:27:18]>> The dream time is the the time of creation.

[00:27:21]>> Okay.

[00:27:22]>> In the time of creation, things came out of the land and created the land.

[00:27:26]Like big like snakes.

[00:27:30]And they dug they dug places and it would become a lake, mountains.

[00:27:36]And now we remember this.

[00:27:38]And um we have a thing called uh um songlines.

[00:27:43]And we can follow those old stories cuz that's where the food and the water is, right?

[00:27:50]And those ancient animals, they were looking for food.

[00:27:54]>> songlines >> songlines >> And that mean is it a song or words?

[00:27:59]>> mob can sing the song and they it's like a a GPS.

[00:28:05]A global positioning for them after they sing the song.

[00:28:10]>> Oh.

[00:28:10]>> You check it out, man. It's powerful.

[00:28:12]>> So >> unbelievable >> You guys believe in the supernatural?

[00:28:17]>> Yes.

[00:28:18]>> Okay.

[00:28:19]>> Yes.

[00:28:20]Cuz we are supernatural.

[00:28:23]>> I think you gave me more than enough.

[00:28:25]Thank you so much.

[00:28:26]>> my brother. My original name is Jarrah Bundjalung.

[00:28:30]>> Okay.

[00:28:31]>> And my my colonized name is Robbie Thorpe.

[00:28:35]>> Robbie Thorpe >> Check out my websites.

[00:28:37]Uh crimesceneaustralia.com >> And I'll put that in the the doc.

[00:28:42]>> Yeah.

[00:28:42]>> I'm looking forward to Saturday. You got me hyped.

[00:28:46]>> This is a great venue.

[00:28:48]And we have we have bands here.

[00:28:49]>> All right, guys. We're crossing the street to this interesting building right here. Wow.

[00:28:54]>> This is called Federation Square.

[00:28:56]>> Uh it is a heritage building, including pretty much most of the buildings in here are heritage buildings.

[00:29:02]>> Nice.

[00:29:03]>> So, that that's Federation Square.

[00:29:05]>> All right. This part of Melbourne used to be a swamp.

[00:29:10]>> Right.

[00:29:10]>> And basically it has is a it has a lot to do with the indigenous people. So, it was a place where they stopped and have their, you know, replenish themselves instead of moving inland and all of that stuff. So, that they have access to the river. And the river is basically is a river, but at the same time it's actually a saltwater river. So, this leads onto the sea. So, in here they have a gallery in here. So, that gallery you can visit. And they also have like a walking tours that they do that's led by an indigenous person.

[00:29:41]And basically they'll walk you onto the river and show you around and tell you about the history of the place. So, that's this part of it.

[00:29:49]>> I wonder what this represents right here. This is interesting.

[00:29:53]All right. So, guys, in the exhibit you see stuff like this. This right here represents the wires that were used to keep the Aboriginals in their camps. And this actually was made by one of the artists there, Sirlene.

[00:30:07]Lorene. Sorry if I pronounce it wrong, but basically she was saying how when she was creating this she was just thinking about her mom how these wires were used to keep her and her family in the camp.

[00:30:21]And so, this actually showcases as proof of what was happening at the time. All right.

[00:30:30]Interestingly enough, what I've noticed from time time, um so far, this country has a way of not hiding these truths. But you have to come see them, but they are available here, and I want to make that clear. It's not like country, in my opinion, is hiding everything.

[00:30:50]It's a lot of stuff, a lot of history involved that most Australians know.

[00:30:55]Whether they they keep it as it being important to them is questionable.

[00:31:00]I think it should be, but I'm not Australian. Nevertheless, this is important history, Australian history. And, I love the fact that it's here.

[00:31:10]In America, you're not going to see this. Well, at this time, they're taking stuff away like this away because they they say in America that it makes people feel uncomfortable.

[00:31:20]And, so certain history is celebrated, and other history is not talked about because it's just a dark side. But, honestly, it it shuns half of the citizens of the country. So, it's important that they stuff like this involved. Are you from this community here?

[00:31:37]>> from here, bro. I've lived here for 50 years.

[00:31:39]>> Oh, I'm checking it out. What what >> Okay.

[00:31:43]>> Hang on a second. This is Footscray.

[00:31:45]This used to be the biggest hub out of Victoria out of Melbourne.

[00:31:48]>> Oh, okay.

[00:31:49]>> Used to be Footscray. And then, obviously, the suburb has spread.

[00:31:52]Footscray now has become when when in the '70s when the Vietnamese we had we asked a lot of because they're very involved in the Vietnam War, our government said, "We'll take in Vietnamese residents."

[00:32:04]>> Right.

[00:32:05]>> We we really believed that. So, we had a lot of Vietnamese coming to this area, and it's been great.

[00:32:10]>> All right. So beautiful. I love Vietnamese.

[00:32:12]>> This is This is This is a real multicultural, mainly Vietnamese.

[00:32:15]>> Okay.

[00:32:16]>> But, uh >> I heard there were a lot more black people in this side too.

[00:32:20]>> Yeah.

[00:32:20]>> Okay.

[00:32:20]>> of black people. But, really, we're all Australians.

[00:32:23]>> Right.

[00:32:24]>> Cuz in Australia, we're all immigrants here, man. Everyone.

[00:32:27]The The Aboriginal people, this is their country. We took it from them.

[00:32:31]The British came and stole their country. We always have to respect country and the Aboriginal, the indigenous people, man.

[00:32:37]>> Oh, really?

[00:32:37]>> them badly.

[00:32:39]>> Really?

[00:32:39]>> 100%.

[00:32:40]>> You know, I when I came here, I didn't really know too much of the history.

[00:32:44]>> the history is British colonialism. Colonials. They came here, they put a flag on the on the sand and said, "Hey, this is our country now. You guys can live here, but hey, this is ours."

[00:32:56]And we've treated the Aboriginals terribly.

[00:33:00]We are straight the multi-cultural country, you know.

[00:33:04]>> You know what? If there were more of these people like you, I think >> we are we we are the majority, but um you know, the the the minority, the ones who speak the hate, they always seem to be loudest.

[00:33:16]>> People always tend tend to focus on the negativity.

[00:33:18]>> bro?

[00:33:22]>> Going on, guys. Today is Anzac Day. What they like to do here in Australia is they like to start the ceremony of acknowledging all the servicemen of the country early. So, they have a dawn ceremony, meaning like when the sun comes up. That's how they started. I think this is a beautiful thing, them honoring their loved ones. And so, you'll see they have pictures of many soldiers. I don't know if it's all from World War I, but it's basically to honor all servicemen, especially the men who lost their lives outside of the country.

[00:33:53]of the men from here in New Zealand went to I think Turkey and lost their life, and they weren't able to bring their bodies back. So, Australia did was create these monuments. And this one's huge compared to the one I've seen in Sydney.

[00:34:06]>> My rosemary fell off.

[00:34:07]>> And the the idea is to remember the the loved ones. And so, yeah, this is like I think the monument of remembrance, if if I can't recall.

[00:34:20]And so, every Anzac Day, which uh the name derives from the platoon that went to Turkey, um they come here early in the morning to commemorate a rate um this special moment.

[00:34:37]So, why am I here? There's a There's so many different reasons why I'm here. Of course, I'm in Australia. I have to see this. But honestly, I wanted to see the memorates of everybody including the Aboriginals.

[00:34:52]So, last year there was a rift between some, very little in my opinion, but some of the intendents.

[00:35:02]They didn't like what was one of the speakers was saying. He was Aboriginal.

[00:35:06]What some people were upset at was the fact that he was saying welcome to his forefathers' land. I think pretty much that was the gist and people were like, "Wait a minute, aren't we part of this land as well?"

[00:35:18]>> [gasps] >> Keep in mind, I'm not from this land.

[00:35:20]I'm just just retelling the story what I'm hearing.

[00:35:25]And I totally can understand the idea of identity.

[00:35:30]And that's a that's very important.

[00:35:33]And honoring and acknowledgement, that's even more important, too.

[00:35:39]The facts and so the facts are this land has original owners and they are still here.

[00:35:48]And so, to walk over them or act like they don't exist, that could be a problem.

[00:35:54]That doesn't work out.

[00:35:57]>> Good morning and welcome to the Shrine of Remembrance.

[00:36:01]The dawn service will begin soon. Please make sure your mobile phones are on silent.

[00:36:06]First up, I'd like to introduce one of our ambassadors for this year's Anzac Day commemorative march is Warrant Officer Ricky Morris.

[00:36:15]Ricky is an indigenous veteran and the 21st member of his family to serve. He's a veteran of East Timor and Afghanistan and he's the formation elder for Victoria's fourth brigade.

[00:36:30]Good morning, Ricky.

[00:36:32]>> Thank you.

[00:36:33]Good morning. My name is Ricky Morris.

[00:36:36]I'm a proud Gunditjmara man from Southwest Victoria.

[00:36:40]And today, Anzac Day is a very special day for me and my family as it is with many veterans and descendants of veterans that are here today.

[00:36:51]I served with the Australian Army from 1990 and served in East Timor and Afghanistan.

[00:36:59]And as a proud Gunditjmara man, I'd love to welcome a fellow warrior, Uncle Mark Brown.

[00:37:09]>> I am Uncle Mark Brown, elder and senior cultural heritage officer of the Bunurong people.

[00:37:17]And today, I'm here to welcome everybody to my father's country.

[00:37:22]>> [screaming] >> Beautiful Bunurong country.

[00:37:25]But before we do that, as always, we take a moment, we pay our acknowledgements, we pay our respects to all of my ancestors.

[00:37:38]We pay our respects to all OF MY ELDERS.

[00:37:42]WE PAY >> [screaming] >> OUR RESPECTS TO ALL OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS, PAST.

[00:37:50]>> THANK YOU, UNCLE MARK, AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH, RICKY, for being here today.

[00:37:54]The dawn service will begin very soon with the official ceremony.

[00:37:57]>> As much as you heard the booing, [music] there were just as many people trying to drown it out with applause. Some were clapping because they support the welcome to country. Others were trying to preserve [music] what was meant to be a quiet moment of reflection and honoring those who served and those who never came back home. As a foreigner, I didn't understand what a [music] welcome to country was. So, before I formed an opinion, I decided to do my own research. And then I realized I had a misconception [music] about what it actually meant. Earlier in this documentary, I showed you a map of the Aboriginal nations of Australia. On that map are hundreds of different [music] territories. To an Aboriginal Australian, each one of those territories is its own [music] country.

[00:38:37]When they say country, they are not talking about Australia as a whole.

[00:38:41]They're talking about their own ancestral land, [music] wherever that may be on the map. Think of it like Europe. Europe is one continent made up of many countries. In [music] a similar way, Aboriginal Australia consists of many different nations. Each one connected to its own country, language, culture, and [music] history. Once I understood that, I also began to understand why some people see [music] it differently. For some Australians, it can feel like they're being welcomed into the only country they've ever known. I understand why that feeling exists, but I also understand [music] the Aboriginal perspective. For them, it is an acknowledgement of a connection to the land that has existed for thousands of years. Now, getting [music] back to the ceremony itself, outside the building, I thought it was a beautiful event. They took time to honor the generations of servicemen and women.

[00:39:29][music] They even recognized an immigrant who helped Australian soldiers and granted him Australian citizenship.

[00:39:35]Throughout the whole ceremony, [music] one phrase kept being repeated, "Lest we forget." To me, that means we got it to remember the people who sacrificed for this country, [music] so their service is never forgotten. But while I was standing there, I could not help but notice something. The Welcome [music] to Country happened before the ceremony officially began. Then the Anzac ceremony started. It almost felt like two separate events. And yet, [music] during the ceremony itself, I didn't hear any recognition for Aboriginal servicemen and women. [music] Now, I want to be fair. I'm only talking about the Melbourne Dawn Service that I attended. Anzac ceremonies happen all across Australia, [music] and others may have done things differently. But in this service, I felt like there was a missed opportunity. If the purpose of Anzac Day is remembrance, [music] if the purpose is to make sure we never forget, then surely there was room to honor Aboriginal Australians who have served [music] in uniform. After the ceremony, I spent time with members of the community, took part in some of the local traditions and games, and even met Aboriginal servicemen. And I also met this remarkable woman.

[00:40:37]>> [laughter] >> Today is very special for all these people out here seeing all the returned servicemen, all the uh soldiers from the army, navy, and air force, and I think it's absolutely fantastic.

[00:40:53]I had two of my best friends who were in the um in the defense force.

[00:40:59]My uh second eldest stepbrother, he was in the army reserves.

[00:41:05]Unfortunately, he did not get to go overseas to Vietnam.

[00:41:09]And my other friend, who was also she was in the navy, she did not get to go overseas, either. They both passed away, unfortunately.

[00:41:19]>> Speak about your love for your your country and patriotism.

[00:41:25]>> Australia is a beautiful country. I support everyone, all nations.

[00:41:31]Yeah, it's just an absolutely fantastic morning to see everyone come out and support all the veterans and ones that are now serving overseas.

[00:41:44]>> I will appreciate >> you taking the time.

[00:41:46]>> I definitely did try to get a little bit more interviews. I guess it's just I don't know, people just are not in the mood for that, just want to celebrate the military on their own and do their own thing, and I get it, so.

[00:41:59]But yeah, man, beautiful thing. One of the highlight, though, cuz I saw a group of military guys, military, army, and navy. Um two in the army who were Aboriginal one um who was in the Navy not and you know they were just hanging out together.

[00:42:17]And I I wanted to show that but these These guys are really young and they just got into the military. But I wanted to show that camaraderie cuz they were just hanging out and everything and I think that's the most important thing to realize that Australia is a a melting pot of people who got who have different backgrounds, come from different walks of lives, different lineage, history, but what unites them is this country.

[00:42:47]What unites them, brings to the them together, and they're willing to fight for.

[00:42:54]No matter how you feel, it's for this country.

[00:42:57]And that unity needs to be recognized. Later that night I went back to camp sovereignty. This time the camp was hosting its own community gathering. Aboriginals and non-Aboriginal people came together to listen to the speakers, experience traditional performances, and learn more about Aboriginal history, culture, and their plight.

[00:43:16]>> I am a white Australian, but I'm here today because I think we really need to uh understand some truths about this nation uh and things that we've been conveniently forgetting, especially on this day when we're supposed to remember uh you know fallen soldiers and all that kind of stuff.

[00:43:40]>> So, this morning I was not to cut you off. This morning I was at the dawn ceremony.

[00:43:45]There was this one phrase they kept saying >> Lest we forget.

[00:43:48]>> Yeah, I think it was an interesting thing.

[00:43:50]>> Yep.

[00:43:51]>> Yeah, I think it's important. Go ahead.

[00:43:53]I'll leave it on to that.

[00:43:54]>> kind of what what I'm saying, you know, we also need to [music] remember some other truths that we conveniently forget, especially on this day like uh that this is stolen land and that uh a lot a lot of fireworks are going off. Now we're celebrating. Uh yeah.

[00:44:13]>> I mean, it's it's a interesting day, but continue.

[00:44:16]>> Yes. Um so, and what what For example, the frontier wars, we need to remember the people that fought to uh protect their land and their country and their people. And I'm so happy that we can be here at Camp Sovereignty and remember those people and also the survivors and the um descendants of those people that survived because uh I'm yeah, as I said, I'm a white Australian, but I'm here living in the >> Embracing the whole of the whole history of Australia.

[00:44:49]>> uh I think other other people that are in this nation and are part of this nation need to remember and >> [music] >> understand those things, too. Yeah.

[00:44:58]>> It's a interesting day cuz I see you talking and the fireworks boom. It's like I think it could be looked at as like when we remember, we honor the people of our past, and we sometimes we celebrate them. This is including the Anzac and Anzac Aboriginals and Aboriginal Aboriginal history.

[00:45:17]>> Yeah, it's just that sometimes uh Anzac Day has kind of been made into some kind of a behemoth, like some kind of weird nationalism kind of thing where that I don't I don't want to be a part of that. That excludes [music] other people. It's kind of an exclusion thing where >> I don't think everyone feels like that.

[00:45:39]It's just like a cult like a certain group.

[00:45:42]>> Yes. Yes.

[00:45:44]Uh I know not not everybody feels that way for sure, but um we kind of white Australians have kind of made it into part of their national identity in some way.

[00:45:56]Uh and I find that quite [music] negative because it excludes other people. It's kind of like they're making it into a a white nationalist kind of thing.

[00:46:05]>> What should I look at to see your perspective?

[00:46:09]>> Uh well, you can you can just go to a library and and find out some things about Aboriginal Australia and and maybe go with a bit of an open mind, not so um Yeah, it's it's just where we it seems like we're getting more and more divided in our society and >> That's for nothing. That's like some group of people just just don't or not educated. They don't know. They don't really know what's happening on that side and because they're not educated, they don't know and they don't see it all the time. It's not important to them.

[00:46:42]>> Not important. Yeah.

[00:46:44]>> [laughter] >> Um well, I think it it should be important because this is the land that we're living on >> Right. Right.

[00:46:52]>> And it is most important to understand uh yeah, this country and what >> history.

[00:47:00]>> Yeah, the whole history.

[00:47:02]>> Right.

[00:47:02]>> Exactly.

[00:47:03]>> Uh tonight is just amazing. I'm looking up at the moon and the clouds. The moon just shining down on us. And tonight has been an amazing experience. Just um looking at the watching the smoke coming over people and and feeling the spirit and the solidarity of everyone just talking about each other and and welcoming each other to country and um saying that we're in this together.

[00:47:39]People across the Pacific just in we're in this together and different people have faced similar issues, but uh they want to support each other and >> Aborigines.

[00:47:50]>> Yeah.

[00:47:51]>> Well, I kind of know the answer, but are you Do you Are you Aboriginal? Do you have any Aboriginal >> have any Aboriginal um but part of my ancestry, but I fully support Aboriginal people in Australia and I want to actually give them my land if I can.

[00:48:14]So, that's why >> Why do you have a conviction of that?

[00:48:18]>> I've always thought that that the land belongs to them.

[00:48:24]Yes, so I don't know how I can do that because I only part on the land that I'm on.

[00:48:31]>> Right, right.

[00:48:32]>> I always have a conviction that that's what I should do.

[00:48:35]>> You know what? It's interesting that you say that because it's like I think that's what most people feel like Well, a lot of people, not most all the Aboriginals want to take what's ours.

[00:48:48]>> Yeah, but it's actually theirs. So, we've taken what's theirs actually. So, it's the other way around really.

[00:48:56]>> I really don't think they want to take what someone has, but at least benefit from their land if anything.

[00:49:07]What's your thoughts?

[00:49:08]>> Definitely, but but I don't think they should be in a position where they're having to beg and ask and scrape and try and get things from society.

[00:49:23]>> Right.

[00:49:23]>> They actually deserve it.

[00:49:25]>> Wow.

[00:49:26]>> They shouldn't have to ask.

[00:49:28]>> It should just be like, "Hey, this is >> Right. Kind of like in America, you have the indigenous there and some of the tribes have their own land and their own rules, police, own governance and the if they do choose to allow people to use their land, they get a particular cut from people using their land. Like for example, casinos, hotels, and stuff and that money goes back into the tribe itself to sustain the tribe.

[00:49:56]>> Yeah.

[00:49:57]That sounds pretty good to me.

[00:50:00]>> Okay.

[00:50:00]>> Yeah.

[00:50:01]>> Appreciate you. Wow, you're amazing.

[00:50:03]You're amazing. Wow. Okay.

[00:50:12]>> My name's Rebecca. I'm a proud Aboriginal woman from Lutruwita, Tasmania. I've been living here in um for the last 10 years.

[00:50:20]What sent me on the journey to reach this sacred fire was as a young person, I looked around the world and saw so many confused, scared faces, and not being able to trust in our government to where we're heading as peoples.

[00:50:34]Um and also saw the just um the lack of regard for the First Nations people that were here on this land and total wash of the history of what happened, and the more I came into myself, I experienced something that was not even explained in the white books or in that Western education system.

[00:50:56]And my elders at the time, you know, rubbed my belly and said, "Go on your healing journey and don't get caught up in this bureaucracy or the um these corporate corporate idealizations." And so having these experiences that are so far beyond what the Western society tells us, um it leads to a place where we need truth. We need grounding. We need these sacred fires. We need connection to come back to whole, to come back to human. Um I found myself on the journey in these Western education um institutions where they're trying to decolonize spaces and center indigenous voices, but in doing so, they're still aligning that to the Western imperialist um strategies.

[00:51:44]And so our, you know, our reconciliation, our sovereignty gets wrapped up in these strategies that are still linked to the imperialist beast.

[00:51:54]And it's very tiring for our people, and it's only been like second, third generation of indigenous peoples through the educate West Western education system to be in these positions to have their voices heard at the table.

[00:52:07]And then in doing so, we're so it's so tiring, and we're told to only focus on this and not focus on whole liberation.

[00:52:13]But, we know liberation is a whole holistic way of living and being. And so, when they keep trying to put our indigenous knowledge and ways into these boxes, and not feed all that knowledge back out to community who have been detached, um it keeps this separation, this gap between um indigenous and a non-indigenous, but also creates this further gap between indigenous people and indigenous people who are inside that society and those institutions and those positions.

[00:52:41]And but, we hanging when you're in those positions, you're hanging on to make change so bad that you turn around and you see your family struggling, and you have to keep going, and you feel like it's the only way through. And we've got some elders inside these institutions that are leading that way of going, the way through is for indigenous people to get a middle-class status in this society, and that's not sovereign.

[00:53:03]That's not connection to country. That's giving something up to be inside the system. And there's no matter how much you fight to try and have your stance and voice heard inside the system, it's still perpetuating that system, that violence, that um ownership, that hierarchy. And the more we let that in and continue that to that develop, you know, we're going to be part of that global um um imperialist, and you know, we won't have space to practice our culture on the more we keep going in that direction.

[00:53:33]So, there's this big conversation around our indigenous leaders that have to come back to community and go, are some of us choosing to buy into this beast and some of us choosing sovereignty? What does that mean? And to be very clear with an open and honest with that cuz at the moment the it continues conflict it continues at keeping us separated and they win. They control the narrative by that. So, we need to take power back. State what it is that we're doing, what our purpose is and really own that in our sovereign voices and that's what this fire is here. That's why this fire was lit and it's absolutely incredible to be able to be here on this sovereign land and be able to share in culture and sharing truth which is the unwritten law. You can't change change what's written in this country.

[00:54:19]>> What do you say to people who feel like the Aboriginals don't want to conform, they don't want to uh to be a part of Australian modern society or they have a huge problem with literacy?

[00:54:35]All of that and those things conform.

[00:54:38]>> Yeah, thank you. Well, I think the main thing to remember is that we're all for connection. Indigenous people is about connection, is about relationships, is about deep listening and so we want to participate but we can't participate in a society that's built off lies because then we have to lie. Then we have to put on a mask and play charades and we can't do that to our souls. Our spirit our souls don't allow that to happen and so um there's a lot of like the non-Indigenous people make space for us to come in with a little bit of anger.

[00:55:06]Don't say don't come in with no anger or don't fight us. Like be happy that the Indigenous people aren't angry um and wanting to push us off the land.

[00:55:15]They're wanting to be with us and be in one and in harmony and we need to make way for that to happen. Yeah.

[00:55:23]>> Okay. All right. Anything else you want to say or what?

[00:55:26]>> Can you ask the question again cuz it was really um >> It was basically you know the story this is actually >> But I guess it's like um Australian like because of colonization we have things like the wheel [clears throat] or like electricity and all these things and almost blame you know taking responsibility for the modern world to be a result of colonization, but that actually isn't the fact.

[00:55:48]Um we had so much more deeper telepathy ways of knowing and being that it far advanced the technology that we have today.

[00:56:00]Um so what does it mean to be in the modern world where we you know, we love connection with country. We love being in bush. We love being you know, dirty in with with Mother Nature.

[00:56:11]Um and so but sometimes in society, they're very much looking for you know, you have to look polished to be accepted to be heard. And so we don't want to rock up to education um spaces that you know, really push that capitalist way of being. So of course we don't want to be in those spaces. So then we miss out on a bit of that education. And then we have you know, we don't we can't we feel vulnerable to share the knowledge because we don't have all the right English words to express it. And then we you know, there's this a lot of dyslexic in community because you know, there's a lot of shame come because we're not speaking the English words the right way.

[00:56:50]Um and so it's hard to be a part of that. It's hard to be then wanting to go into those spaces and learn. So it's a bit it's a bit like oh you don't want to be in here and it's like well, are you making space for us to be here?

[00:57:01]So I think there's yeah, there's a lot of different ways to look at this and it's definitely a very blinded closed mind way to to think that indigenous people don't want to be a part of society. Absolutely. But we don't want to be a part of a blind feeding um society that's just happy to be racist and put our people um in jail cells and they get to walk around doing the same thing, you know. So it's tricky. Yeah.

[00:57:27]>> Okay.

[00:57:27]>> Yeah.

[00:57:28]>> Now um if somebody watching this is like what can I do or how can I educate myself?

[00:57:39]Because honestly, I'm so happy living in my bubble.

[00:57:44]I go get my matcha.

[00:57:47]I just like go to the Outback and eat some kangaroo meat and all that and why is this even important to me? I mean can you help me out? Explain that to me.

[00:57:58]>> Yeah. Yeah. It might not be important to you now.

[00:58:02]Um but imperialist is a worldwide problem.

[00:58:06]Imperialism is a worldwide problem and it um pins some people as more important than other human other people. So therefore we have an immediate constant battle that is inhumane.

[00:58:18]Um and I don't I can't see how anyone can just sit back and um think that their future is going to look pretty um and allow that to unfold. I feel that people think that it doesn't affect them. Um are the ones that are going to be sitting back one day going I wish I had have done something sooner. I wish I had have been a part of this movement. I wish I had have come and sit down and listen to community talk and really understand the struggle cuz it's not just our struggle. It's all our struggle. We as the black people are just pitted as the lower class so that this hierarchy or system can exist and continue um to perpetuate um damage and genocide and um and I'd say >> Well, there's a couple of things. Well, one of the questions is what are what are you guys facing like right now in terms of things that are affecting your community not only here but all over Australia.

[00:59:12]>> All over Australia, the incarceration rates, um a huge drought indigenous people and more likely to be uh to suffer injury or death in at the hands of those that are meant to be looking after our safety.

[00:59:27]The other thing is a lot of the funding uh for our communities, either metro, regional, or a remote, um, are all going to like political party, like the money goes to political members who are engaged in other activities that aren't so much connected to community. And so they think they have the right answers. So instead of money coming to community to do community outreach programs, this money's going to businesses and corporations, and they continue to run their business and corporations that don't center indigenous people. So it's just a waste of money, and it's a money-making scam for for politics. Um, it also then allows them to say, "We've given all this money, and look at the community." And it's like the cuz the community hasn't benefit, they haven't received the funding. And if anything, they're taking away, um, and making the youth more vulnerable to boredom and to want to participate in activities that aren't the best for our mob.

[01:00:23]>> What about land ownership?

[01:00:25]>> Land ownership is so challenging because you need a strong mob with you and claiming back land, which is physically being on the land and claiming it back.

[01:00:35]To do it through the system, um, it's the negotiations only progress when it suits, um, those wanting to do the business partners wanting to do mining or, um, some sort of surveillance on the land.

[01:00:48]That's when, um, yeah, that's when movement does happen.

[01:00:53]But in that, we then um, there's not much where we can say, "No, this is our land, don't take it." It's having to negotiate with what you're going to take and to what cost.

[01:01:02]>> All right.

[01:01:02]>> Yeah.

[01:01:03]>> You know what? I can't help but notice your appearance, right?

[01:01:07]>> Mhm.

[01:01:07]>> When as me as an American, you know, okay, like my like my audience is going to be like, "Yo, is she's indigenous?"

[01:01:16]Because American education and this is this is what I learned in Sydney, too.

[01:01:21]Um, what can you tell people because the idea is this if you wanted to you could live your life as an white Australian.

[01:01:30]>> Yeah.

[01:01:31]>> No one would know.

[01:01:32]>> Yeah.

[01:01:32]>> Why does it matter for you to take up this mantle the way you are right now and go ahead.

[01:01:39]>> Yeah, I've had to do a lot of work on the fact that my skin color is white but black for the heart and it started off as a young person. We always knew we were indigenous. We always offered our nan he's out in the bush. Wasn't until we started school and the teachers literally told us that Aboriginal people don't exist. So they told us you don't exist and we're like wait, hold up. Um and they even got the book out and they showed us in the book how there's um indigenous people with blonde hair. So don't be confused that it's the dark haired white fella lying about being indigenous, you know? And so and this happened this was spread across the whole of Tasmania and we there with my brother. My brother's My brother's black looking.

[01:02:17]>> Right.

[01:02:17]>> You can't escape that. And so we go out into the playground and all these kids are about to ask us how do you exist when we were just told that Aboriginal people don't exist.

[01:02:26]I can run from that. I can hide and pretend but my brother there he couldn't. And he's standing there and he's just getting picked on and there's a geography term called [ __ ] instead of Aboriginal it was like [ __ ] And so all the kids started calling him [ __ ] and so I stood there with him.

[01:02:44]His older brother gone off to high school. There were not no one else. It was just us and we had to we had to really own that word and go yeah we are [ __ ] What are you going to do about it? And confuse the kids. It allowed us to bring back that conversation and they go oh and they can't call us [ __ ] now cuz we're owning that and they're like well we've got nothing else. Can you talk to us?

[01:03:01]And they started talking to us but if I didn't stand there with my brother he would have been picked on. And he couldn't hide from it. He had curly hair, brown skin. There was no hiding from him for him and I'm like well he can't stand there on his own. I wasn't going to let him stand there on his own.

[01:03:15]So standing there with him and um and I guess um because I've been in those spaces with my sisters and brothers and seen the weight of that and they can't escape from it. I've Well, if if not me, then who? Who's going to stand here and do this? Because I'm looking around, there's not many other people putting their hands up. Um I could have run away from it, but it wouldn't make sense to me. I was experiencing this world in such this energetic spiritual way that I had no words to put to it, but it aligned my indigenous ways of being and so that's really why I've allowed myself to go on that journey. It's it's run through time and time again.

[01:03:49]>> Was it like instilled through you from your family or father or mother side or >> Yeah, so it's through my mom's side, very strong, but my dad's side was shame of it. So, we weren't allowed to talk about it around my dad's side of the family.

[01:04:01]>> Okay.

[01:04:02]>> So, this is the privilege thing that we have is because we're white skin, there is spaces where you can hide from it, but um knowing the displacement of all these people, I So, I did a lot of um liberation work actually with uh mob all over Australia and um I've sat and had to be made to do receive like work on racism, internalized racism, external racism whilst having white skin. So, I've done a lot of work on that one. So, to be able to stand here and have my voice heard in a space that >> Well, I see you. This is not my first time meeting you. You're you're literally in the field.

[01:04:43]Yeah, you're not just here hey, okay when it's like pretty time, you know.

[01:04:47]You're here when no one's here.

[01:04:49]Yeah, so I think that's amazing, but it's important for me to showcase that to the world. And I think you're important and right now you're still standing by your brother.

[01:04:59]>> Yeah, absolutely.

[01:05:00]>> That's amazing. Yeah, that's amazing.

[01:05:02]>> I get to I get to jaywalk. He can't.

[01:05:05]>> Right.

[01:05:06]>> If he jaywalks, he could get locked up.

[01:05:08]I can jaywalk cuz my skin's white.

[01:05:10]>> But you're going to you jaywalk and you help them out. There go whatever you Okay. [laughter] know Hey, they're coming. Are you ready?

[01:05:18]>> On that actually, cuz you've you've just raised something. I will just share this extra bit as well.

[01:05:21]>> Yeah.

[01:05:22]>> You know, everyone's had a different journey of what it means to be mob and coming home. We've had indigenous white indigenous people brought up in community. We've had black indigenous people brought up in community yet have a complete different outtake on where they're at in life.

[01:05:36]Um We we still live in a capitalist world, so that has, you know, people choose to whether they want to engage in that to whatever degree, but we have had some indigenous people that have found out that they're indigenous later on in life.

[01:05:48]And and you know, that can cause some issues as to well, they're standing if they're standing on the indigenous identity now in workplaces, do they have that lived experience to know some of the struggles of what they're speaking on?

[01:06:02]>> But some of the times those institutions, they don't care cuz it's just a number. So, they just want more indigenous numbers in the doc cuz it looks good for their stats. So, we could be having people that haven't had any indigenous like lived experience making decisions on our culture that can really affect us and completely oblivious to to the disposition of that.

[01:06:23]>> So, how do you fix that?

[01:06:26]>> We dance and we get into these places and make sure that we've got a seat at the table and have enough voices heard. And it's tricky. It's tricky. There's been a lot of times I've had allies after meeting say, "Oh, thank you for speaking up and asking the hard questions." I'm like, "Yeah, but I can't do it on my own anymore. I need you guys in there asking the hard questions for us." So, if there's anyone out there watching and they want to be part of this change, um if you've ever had your voice quieted, get at the table, raise your voice, and ask the questions for the minority voices that can't be shared in those rooms. Yeah.

[01:06:59]>> Thank you so much. What about coming here? If someone >> Come here, join us, get a smoke in, put a leaf on the fire, have a cleansing, smell the medicine of this land, and get deep deeply connected to the culture.

[01:07:12]>> And it's everyone's welcome?

[01:07:13]>> Everyone is welcome.

[01:07:15]>> What day I can come?

[01:07:16]>> Please do. It's on a Sunday at 2:00 from 2:00 p.m. We have a big smoking ceremony right here.

[01:07:23]And we've got to keep this fire burning, so let's do that.

[01:07:45]>> As the evening came to an end, people gathered around for a traditional [music] smoking ceremony. Burning eucalyptus leaves has long been a part of many Aboriginal cultures. The smoke is used as a form of cleansing, [music] a way of leaving behind negative energy, offering protection, and a marking of a new [music] beginning. One by one, people stepped through the smoke, each one carrying on their own thoughts, their own experiences, [music] and perhaps their own questions. When I first came here, I didn't know what I was really going to make a video about.

[01:08:16]But somewhere along the way, I realized it was really about people, people trying to preserve a culture, people trying to be heard, people trying to be remembered. Whether you agree with everything you seen in this film or not, I hope it leaves you with something more valuable than certainty. I hope it leaves you with understanding, because understanding doesn't end with we all think the same. It begins with we're willing [music] to listen. Thanks for watching this video. More on the way from Ace, and I see you in the next video.

[01:08:47]>> [music] [music] [music]