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THE ISSUES
Sorry, that Sorry Day
wasn't a hit locally
WHAT a shame National Sorry Day and
Reconciliation Week passed by on the South
Coast with very little pomp and ceremony!
However, it appears from reports it wasn't
through lack of trying on the part of the
general community. Victor Harbor council
provides a classic example ol attempting to
"right" the past "wrongs". The council tried
to organise, admittedly with relatively short
notice, a "Sorry Book" to be signed on
National Sorry Day (last Tuesday), a flag-
raising ceremony at the beginning of
National Reconciliation Week and a naming
ceremony for the bikeway linking the Victor
Harbor and Alexandrina Council districts -
none of their plans came off. The reason -
ironically when you consider the aim of the
week is to bring indigenous and non-indige
nous people together - was that the council
was unable to co-ordinate the event with the
local indigenous community.
Whether or not we as individuals wish to
accept responsibility for the actions of our
forefathers when dealing with indigenous
Australians still need not detract away from
a formal acknowledgement of the injustices
that were committed many years ago. This
is what Sorry Day was all about. We all
should acknowledge that the removal of chil
dren from their families was a very arrogant
action, just because our forefathers believed
they were superior to Australia's indigenous
peoples. Our forefathers believed Aboriginal
Australians would be better off being taught
the way of "white" society, however, one
could ask how well our forefathers might
have survived had they been forced to live
under the indigenous community's condi
tions. We (non-Aboriginal people) could
learn a great deal about survival from the
traditional Aboriginal people. They have a
rich culture which, through their displace
ment, is being lost on a daily basis. We have
shared so much of our own culture with
them, perhaps it's time to learn some of the
positive, worthwhile elements of their cul
ture. That's what reconciliation is all about.
So much debate over reconciliation issues
comes back to the mighty dollar - how many
financial benefits Aboriginal Australians
receive compared to those non-indigenous
Australians - but what is often forgotten is
that Aboriginal Australians weren't the deci
sion makers when decisions of this nature
were made. We (I use that term as a non-
indigenous Australian) have always been
trying to buy back the wrongs of the past
instead of perhaps standing back and more
seriously analysing the more deep-rooted
problems created through the displacement
of our Aborigines. But, now this situation is
created it is unlikely it will be easily over
come. How easy it is in hindsight to realise
that perhaps the removal of Aboriginal land
rights 200 years ago may not have been the
best thing for the country as a whole, and
certainly not for Aboriginal Australians.
The problem of reconciliation and making
up for the past is not going to disappear
overnight and, the reality is that the scars
may well remain with us forever, but Sorry
Day and actions by the Council for
Aboriginal Reconciliation will at least go
part the way to improving the understand
ing of the two cultures from both perspec
tives.
Australia has developed such a diverse
range of cultures over the many years of
immigration. Let's also take the time to
learn about the culture and people who were
the original inhabitants of this great land.
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