Australian Native Peoples Reconciliation
A Night of Reconciliation Thursday 5 March 1998 Introduction
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia

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On Saturday 28 February 1998 the following article appeared in the local paper (The Manly Daily):

Garrett to lead meeting

Activist and former rock star Peter Garrett will lead
an impressive array of prominent people in a special
Night of Reconciliation meeting next Thursday
at the Many Warringah Leages Club.

The night will feature more than seven speakers including
journalist Peter Fitzsimons, Aboriginal leaders Mick Dodson
and Aden Ridgeway as well as several Aboriginal singing and
dancing presentations.

Manly MP Peter Macdonald has urged all peninsular residents
to attend the meeting to voice their protest about the
Federal Government's 10-point Wik Plan.

"The night is a chance to learn more about the meaning of
Native Title, the High Court's Mabo and Wik decisions and the
Federal Government's 10-point plan", Dr Macdonald said.

The meeting will be held in the Manly Warringah Leagues Club
starting at 7:00pm, with a $5 donation as admission.

More information is available from Dr Macdonald's office on 9230 2073.

There was some good surf pushing into the coastal regions of Sydney on that Saturday morning, and I can recall returning from the morning session and making a cuppa, as is my custom, when I happened to peruse the Daily and notice the above article.

As Dr Macdonald had an excellent track record as my local family doctor in past decades in Manly, I had followed with interest his move into politics as an Independent, his promotion of causes just and fair, and his attention to the common folk - specifically in the area of the provision of information and education.

Moreso, the sound and the lyrics of The Oils had been part of my life for many years, and I had great admiration for the efforts of Peter Garrett as an activist in various issues in which he involves himself on a regular basis.

However I began to think of what I knew about Native Title in terms of the conditions which presently affect our Australian Native Peoples. And after I had thought about this for some time, I had to admit to myself that I did not know the first thing about this issue. So I tore the above article out of the Daily, and resolved to find out.

This web publication is the result of my attendance at that community meeting on Thursday 5 March 1998, and the further research which has seemed warranted in the meantime. As always, if one is able to take notes on a certain matter, gather up the relevant source articles which constitute the threads which address this matter, and perhaps compile a reference listing of other information sources and summaries, then it is a good thing to be able to share these with those who also see themselves as students of life.

The confines of the Manly Warringah Rugby League Club were quite comforting compared to the grey and rainy conditions which set in during the early evening of this Night of Reconciliation. I arrived late and the auditorium looked packed. I made my way down the western side of the hall towards the front where I remained standing against the wall for the next two hours, listening to the progress of the meeting, and absorbing the ideas and the feelings which were being shared.

There seemed to be quite a cross-section of the community in attendance and each of the speakers and performers were received with interest and with genuine warmth. As the agenda was wisked forward by Peter Fitszimons, different perspectives on the issue of reconcilation and the Australian native peoples were voiced. This web publication hopes to be able to record and thus represent this communication for the ongoing resource and information needs of those members of the Australian community who were not present, or indeed those members of the global community who are interested in such issues.

It is the characteristic of eagles to be long-sighted, and the collection of speakers who sequentially addressed the community was not lacking in this quality. If the purpose of the meeting was to bring together a number of informed speakers - specialists in their own field - to prepare and disseminate a background information package of articles and brochures, and to take the first positive steps to educate the general individual resident in the general community in relation to the recent political developments concerning Land Rights, Human Rights and the proposed amendments to the Native Title Act, then I observed that this meeting was very much a success.

This was the question which I had asked myself when I first heard of the Night of Reconciliation Meeting, and my understanding of this matter was given a great educational boost after the meeting had concluded. This is not to say I now understood all there is to know in this matter, but rather, that previously unknown fields of endeavour were brought before my attention, and the cause and plight of the Australian aboriginal peoples was brought into focus.

It is therefore hoped that this question will address itself to the casual reader (and student of life) in a manner as to arouse further questions relating to the complex issues which have arisen out of a history of 210 years where the laws and culture of colonialisation (whatever they might be) have savagely suppressed the traditional laws and culture of an exceedingly ancient peoples.

As western civilisation and all who are associated thereto gear up to celebrate the entry into a third millennium, and the eastern civilisation possibly entry into a seventh millenium, the culture of the Australian native peoples is at least forty, and possibly one hundred and twenty millennia of age.

What is Native Title? What is Reconciliation?

It is hoped that this publication will provide some measure of resource to interested members of the community, local and global, concerning these questions, their implications, their legislations, and the landmark developments which have emerged in the recent years and decades out of a political ecology, and an ecology of generations of Australian peoples - some descended from the ancient indigenous peoples, some descended from immigrants, some from convicts, some from the colonial administration.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian.





Index | Intro | Agenda | Mayoral | McLeod | Little | Kildea | Bradley | Nettheim | Garrett | Ridgeway | TheSong | Editorial | Resources | E-Mail