The sweet smoke of gum leaves and a pointed perspective on treaty

1 month ago 6

In this series, we explore all you need to know about Australia’s first treaty, between Victoria and its Indigenous peoples.

See all 12 stories.

Sweet smoke of green gum leaves wreathed the bluestone steps of Victoria’s parliament house, and Uncle Andrew Gardiner, cloaked in possum skin from beard to toe, offered a little pointed perspective.

Parliament House, he said, was built in 1856.

His Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung people had told stories around campfires for thousands of years before that, and the site on which Parliament House was built “is also our traditional ceremony ground”.

“We hosted members and delegations from the other [peoples of the] Kulin nation,” he said.

“We had discussions, made agreements, much the same as what happens in this building today.”

And looking directly at Premier Jacinta Allan, Uncle Andrew, of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, declared that “we entrust you do the right thing by us”.

He was referring to the final steps towards a statewide treaty – the first anywhere in Australia between a parliament and Aboriginal people.

First Peoples’ Assembly co-chairs Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray address the Victorian Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

The bill legislating the Victorian treaty received its second reading on Tuesday, and the smoking ceremony on the parliamentary steps was designed as a Welcome to Country for those debating the issue, and for those coming to pay witness.

The co-chairs of the First Peoples’ Assembly, Ngarra Murray and Rueben Berg, spoke from the floor of the Legislative Assembly as numerous First Nations elders took their seats in the gallery above the state’s members of parliament.

The elders came from all around the state, beyond the country of their hosts, the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung.

They represented variously the Gunnai, Yorta Yorta, Mutti Mutti, Gunditjmara, Boandik, Peek Whurrung, Kirrae Whurrung, Wamba Wamba, Ulupna, Waddawurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Dhudhuroa, Taungurung, Waywurru, Barapa Barapa, Wergaia, Boon Wurrung, Narrandjeri and more.

“The time for paternalistic government making decisions on behalf of our people ends with this treaty,” Murray told the parliament.

“No longer will policies be made about us, without us. Our people will no longer tolerate the political football that politicians kick around looking to further their own selfish interests.

“We are sovereign peoples with the oldest system of governance on Earth.”

She and Berg spoke of the process of enabling meaningful change by treaty as gellung warl – the “tip of the spear” in the Gunaikurnai language – and the name of a new democratically elected body.

Berg and Murray speak to Premier Jacinta Allan at Parliament House.

“A spear that is crafted with a task in mind, created with care,” said Murray.

Berg took up the analogy, declaring that spears were made from wood and straightened by hand, the point reinforced by fire and bound in fibre and sinew and resin.

The wood represented “our community”, he said.

“The binding is our treaty.

“The line of sight and the throw are our self-determination.

“We shape the point together, bind our purpose, and we take responsibility for the throw.”

Murray and Berg spoke as bearers of a long history of dispossession of their people and a long struggle to be heard. With a treaty finally within reach, they asserted their right to be heard now in the parliament.

For the past 200 years, Berg said, “we’ve had successive governments saying they know best about our business”.

The bill receives its second reading at the Victorian Legislative Assembly on Tuesday.

“Countless bodies, commissions and policies [have been] set up without the leadership of First Peoples,” he said. “Even with governments with good intentions, it just does not work.

“Today we can agree to move forward by discontinuing the centuries of ineffective and harmful policies.

“This is not a favour asked, but a right recognised.”

The bill is guaranteed to pass with the backing of the Labor government.

But in treaty making, nothing seems ever quite finished. The Liberal-led opposition has vowed to repeal the legislation if it regains government.

Instead, Liberal leader Brad Battin and the Coalition spokesperson for Aboriginal affairs, the Nationals’ Melina Bath, promised on Tuesday to establish a new body, First Nations Victoria, as a “stand-alone department [that] will add transparency, accountability and deliver measurable progress as we work to achieve the Closing the Gap targets”.