YES to the VOICE - Shane Howard
The Referendum for Constitutional Recognition for First Nations peoples in Australia draws closer, as must our hearts, to supporting the ‘Yes’ campaign.
What should have been a ‘fait accompli’ has now become an existential struggle for the ‘soul of our nation’.
Let us not forget first principles. The prosperity we enjoy in this country comes on the back of immeasurable suffering, misery and continuing hardship that First Nations people have had to endure in their beloved and ancient country, for far too long. We brought the trouble.
This country was stolen and our colonial history is one of cruelty and brutality.
The Statement From The Heart is a modest and generous proposal.
The proposition is simple enough. Should First Nations people have a Voice to parliament to make representations on matters of policy that will effect them?
To complicate such a modest proposal with questions about ‘not enough detail’ and ‘far-reaching implications’, ‘Aboriginal elites’ and ‘not wanting to privilege one group of Australians over another’, is simply duplicitous, nit-picking, fear-mongering and plain wrong.
It’s divisive and lacks moral authority.
Small-minded racism and meanness of spirit by ‘punishers and straighteners’, diminishes us as a nation and leads us down a vortex of moral and practical paralysis. Continuing to sweep our bad history under the carpet will not make it go away.
Unfortunately, the 'No' campaign have chosen the ‘low road’ of division and political bastardry. History will hold them to account for those cynical choices.
“We can destroy ourselves just as effectively with cynicism as we can with weapons,” wrote Kenneth Clark in concluding his historical work, ‘Civilisation’.
How do you celebrate winning a NO vote? How does it unify a nation?
What a pyrrhic victory it would be for the naysayers and a sad day indeed for our aspirations as an honourable nation. We would be a lesser people, a lesser nation, a mean-spirited people, failing to offer our First Nations brothers and sisters the most modest of opportunities to overcome the ‘torment of their powerlessness’.
And all this after we stole everything and negotiated no Treaty.
When I wrote the song, Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, 40 years ago, I dreamt of a better country, a decent country. I wanted to be proud of my country. As I travelled widely around the country, I wept often, as I began to understand the deeper history of the colonial invasion of this country and the chronic disempowerment and abuse that we had unleashed on First Nations people. I was ashamed as I heard, first hand, the woeful tales of our history from my First Nations brothers and sisters.
How can our children and grandchildren be proud of a nation inherited on the basis of lies and theft?
This referendum is a moment of history, of reckoning. A beginning. An opportunity to begin to seriously address the sad errors of Australia’s modern history. We owe it to our First Nations brothers and sisters and all our children and grandchildren to unite the nation.
All government efforts, historically, have failed. It’s time to allow First Nations a say in the laws that determine their future. This is not privilege, this is fairness and it’s practical. The evidence shows that policies work when First Nations people are involved in their design.
Neither is this a party-political issue. It goes beyond the politicians to each and every citizen of our nation as a moral and ethical decision that we are all called upon to make.
Powerful multinational companies, the Mineral Council, Farmers Federation, Bankers, Business Council, access and lobby ministers on matters affecting their businesses. Surely First Nations people should also have some modest powers of advocacy.
So many Aboriginal Elders I know have deeply considered this proposal and support the YES vote. Pop Neal, who was known as ‘Bush Lawyer’, who passed away at Yarrabah this year, was 101 years old. He was a staunch fighter for his people his whole life. He was part of the Lantern Movement in the 1950’s, the Referendum that gave First Nations people the vote in 1967 and he came out strongly in support of Yes to the VOICE referendum before his passing. “We have to get behind it and give it a try,” he said. He held out hope that Australians would acknowledge First Nations special place in this country’s history.
Anangu man, Traditional Owner and Uluru Statement signatory, Sammy Wilson at Mutitjulu supports the First Nations Voice. Patrick Dodson, Linda Burney and the list of distinguished campaigners goes on and on. So many of my old friends, staunch civil rights campaigners for decades, black and white, say ‘Yes’.
I understand the staunch determination of the Sovereignty movement but if a simple ‘Yes’ vote on a Voice to parliament is difficult, we’re a long way from mainstream support for Sovereignty.
The Voice is modest but beyond tokenism and can lead us down the road to purposeful Treaty and Truth Telling and meaningful change. It is the promise that accompanies ‘Yes’ instead of the stasis of ‘No’.
A Yes vote will not change the aspirations for Truth Telling and Treaty, so why oppose it?
Can our First Nations children wait any longer for meaningful changes in Closing The Gap on so many critical indicators? I don’t think so. ‘The perfect is the enemy of the good,’ wrote Voltaire.
If we’re serious about addressing over-representation with First Nations incarceration and the chronic need for reform with health outcomes, deaths in custody, life expectancy, cultural and economic empowerment and more, then First Nations people must have a voice to parliament to have a say in the laws they are called upon to obey.
The Voice campaign is a long-standing proposal and has been in development for nearly fifteen years. It has the support of a clear majority of communities and Elders and was developed with widespread consultation. It’s intention is to lead us, as a nation, to truth-telling and meaningful Treaty making.
It is the best option before us, when all else has repeatedly failed. If you feel that doesn’t go far enough, then write ‘TREATY’ at the top of the ballot paper.
History is calling us to honesty and decency, with an opportunity to address the sad errors and wounds of our history. Let’s consider deeply what is before us here, as fellow Australians and seize this moment to create a better future.
Who are we as a nation, as a people, if we deny First Nations people this most modest opportunity?
Can we make amendments to our Constitution that need changing? Of course we can. We are a clever and resourceful people. Let’s also be known as a brave, good-hearted and honourable nation. Why not stand, like a beacon on the hill, for justice, in a confused and troubled world? What is the alternative?
A little humility and a little generosity might suit us and our national aspirations, in the journey of our national history and the story we have to tell future generations.
At its simplest and most symbolic, we are being asked, ‘Do we believe First Nations people deserve a better deal?’
For the sake of our children and grandchildren, let’s get this right and vote ‘YES’ and get on with moving our nation forward, together.
JANUARY 26th, 2022
Changing Hearts & Minds – Shane Howard – AD22
In 1981, I journeyed to Uluru for the first time and through a strange twist of fate, witnessed a profoundly moving Aboriginal inma, song and dance. It was a catalyst that influenced the writing of my song, Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, that decried the dispossession of Aboriginal Australia. It became an unlikely but huge national commercial hit, recorded with my band, Goanna, 40 years ago. It threw me headfirst into Aboriginal Australia and I’ve been touring ever since, with my understanding of this country’s history continually expanding.
In 2019, a councillor for Burnie, Tasmania, Ken Dorsey, asked if I would perform, Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, at their 2020 Australia Day ceremony.
I politely declined, citing my objections to Australia Day as divisive and offensive to Aboriginal friends. I supported the Change the Date campaign. But Ken asked how we would ever move the story forward without engaging in discussion. He gave me pause to think.
On my advice, he drove to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, (TAC), in Hobart, to meet Heather Sculthorpe, where they came to an arrangement after much discussion. I would perform at Burnie at the ’whitefella’ ceremony and later, at the ’blackfella’ ceremony in Devonport. There would be a Welcome to Country at the Burnie event conducted by palawa artist, Dewayne Everett Smith. (Palawa is the word used for many Tasmanian Aboriginal people).
I contacted a friend, Theresa Sainty, a palawa woman, who was reassuring and asked if I would sing the chorus of Solid Rock, Sacred Ground in palawa kani, (a recovering language of Tasmanian Aboriginal people), if she translated it. I agreed of course.
I had no reason for not going.
On the day, in the Burnie town hall, Dewayne, a descendant of Mannalargenna and Fanny Cochrane Smith, welcomed people to country by telling a story of the hard-edged reality of colonial brutality in Tasmania and how his mixed race family had maintained a sense of their cultural integrity, against the odds, proudly supported by their white grandmother. “Our stories are intertwined,” he said and then sang beautifully, in palawa kani.
I spoke about the need for truth-telling about our often brutal, colonial history. Led by Theresa’s daughter, Merinda on fiddle, we then played old Cape Barren Island tunes and sang Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, in palawa kani.
Later, we performed at the equally powerful Invasion Day ceremonies at Devonport, organised by the TAC. At both events, black and white speakers talked of the need to reach out across the divide and work together to move our story forward.
I saw people changed that day. I was too.
I wondered if changing the date of Australia Day might be less significant than changing what we do on that day, or any other date, if what we do is done with respect and agreement.
As sorrowful as January 26th is, it is real, it has power, it marks change for all of us and calls us to face our history honestly and courageously. Terrible things happened and if you’re an Aboriginal person, it hurts. It marks when you lost just about everything.
The prosperity most of us enjoy in this country comes on the back of an enormous amount of hardship and suffering for Aboriginal peoples. We can’t go back and undo what was done, but we can go forward to a better future of healing and unity.
I don’t have the answers but beginning the day with solemn ceremony, like Anzac Day and acknowledging the tragedy of our brutal colonial history, might seem like a good and honest place to start. In many places, all over Australia, this is already happening. I was present today at Wugulora were this ceremonial commemoration took place.
To abandon January 26th could leave it vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by ultra-nationalist groups whose intentions may be less than honourable.
In mid 2021, I was approached by William Barton, the brilliant Kalkadungu musician and yidaki player, who was Creative and Cultural advisor for the Australia Day 2022 Committee, (AD22). William invited me to perform Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, at the Sydney Opera House as part of the opening presentation. I was honoured but cautious. I first met William in the Gulf country, with his parents, when he was just 11 years old. We’ve worked together on projects, creatively, ever since and we trust each other.
I expressed my concerns and when we asked hard questions of the AD22 organisers, we were moved by their intentions and the sincerity of their efforts to not only find a way forward to make the day respectful and inclusive for Aboriginal peoples, as well as everyone else, but to allow Aboriginal people to drive their own narrative.
I contacted Dr Diana James, who has dedicated much of her working life assisting Anangu people of the Western Desert to document the archetypal, epic tales, of the Anangu ancestors, particularly the Seven Sisters and the Wati Ngintaka, (Perentie), songlines.
Diana James said that her thoughts on Australia Day were inspired by the words of Nganyinytja Ilyatjari, a proud Pitjantjatjara law woman of great compassion and wisdom, who talked of, ‘Maru munu piranpa tjunguringanyi, Black and white coming together.’
Diana generously agreed to assist and we reached out to Anangu friends, Tapaya Edwards and Rene Kulitja, wondering if we could make a new way, a new story for this country, out of the old stories.
Tapaya is a young leading dancer and singer of traditional Anangu Inma and Rene, a painter, dancer, singer and woman of culture. Both agreed to be involved and to direct their own production of a small part of the epic Ngintaka Inma performance at Uluru for AD22. I had met Rene with her father, on my momentous journey to Uluru, back in 1981.
Tapaya said he was proud to be directing this performance with Rene and the senior Anangu at Uluru, sharing their culture with the whole of Australia. They were sharing a rare gift, ancient and precious.
I reached out to Emma Donovan to ask if she would join me in performing Solid Rock, to which she generously agreed. The APY singers of the Iwiri choir also agreed to take part and sing the chorus of Solid Rock in Pitjantjatjara at Uluru. Back in Sydney, Clarence Slockee, the First Nations presenter on Gardening Australia, was assisting with the translation of Solid Rock into the local Gadigal language, to be sung by the Kari singers. Brett Leavy was constructing the moment of first contact as a digital animation.
The production kept growing as an exposition of First Nations talent across the country and the AD22 team kept expanding their thinking and their budget to embrace the possibilities. Something generous and truly unique was unfolding.
Black and white were making huge strides together and there was a great spirit of trust and camaraderie to make something very special happen.
Diana James believes, “It’s time to sing a new song in this country, celebrating the spirit of this land that has been sung by the first peoples for over sixty-five thousand years. It is time to build on the bridges of respect and understanding laid down by those who have led the way, both black and white, over many years of struggle and pain.”
We need a lot of change in this country. At some point we have to find the courage and imagination to politely let a lot of old colonial relics go. We have the opportunity to face the past to heal the future.
All those years ago, when I wrote Solid Rock, I witnessed the profound beauty of Aboriginal culture and saw a great injustice. I dreamed of a different Australia, with a new vision that honoured the old traditions. I wanted to be proud of my country.
Is it too much to dream that we could make this a better country for our future generations and a beacon of hope in a troubled world? Are we bold enough, clever enough, imaginative enough and courageous enough, to redraft our Constitution, to create a Treaty or legal framework that defines our relationship with the First Peoples of this land and to create a Republic that defines our relationship to each other, with an Australian Head of State. These things are not beyond us, if we have the will and the political leadership.
Solid Rock continues to resonate 40 years later, because it is truthful and the truth is a good place to start. A Truth & Justice commission would lead the way.
Diana James maintains, “We who are born on this land or have journeyed a long way to get here, love this country and need to learn to take care of it together. We can lay the solid bedrock of treaty and conciliation for our sons and daughters, to stand on together.”
“On Australia Day we come together to mourn our losses and celebrate the rich tapestry of First Nations and immigrant languages, arts, music, dance and song that now weave the blanket of our shared belonging.”
As Dewayne Everett Smith said, very generously, “This is not about a black history or a white history. It’s about our history.”