by KEVIN DONNELLY – THE Indigenous Welcome to Country is so widespread that it’s heard at sporting events, at the start of public meetings and during musical events, the theatre and ballet.
It’s even printed on receipts issued at Coles supermarkets and imposed onto strapped-in passengers whenever planes land at Australian airports.
- It’s time to respect and value the 96 per cent of Australians who are non-indigenous.
- To do otherwise is to cause cultural suicide by denying succeeding generations their birthright.
- Western Civilisation contains within itself, almost uniquely, the ability to rectify injustices.
While there’s no doubt the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 led to significant dislocation, pain, suffering and death to Australia’s Indigenous people, there is also much to acknowledge and value about the nation’s Western heritage and the ongoing debt owed to Western Civilisation.
It’s time to respect and value the 96 per cent of Australians who are non-indigenous; especially those who trace their ancestry to the United Kingdom, Ireland and Europe.
COLOUR
It’s also time to launch a Welcome to Country that embraces all Australians, regardless of race, the colour of their skin, or where they were born.
A Welcome to Country that states:
“Before beginning, I’d like to acknowledge the sovereign land of Australia and the institutions and way of life that ensure our freedoms and liberties; one land, one nation, one people. We stand on the shoulders of giants and as a result of their legacy Australia is a beacon of opportunity, equality and justice in an increasingly dangerous and hostile world.”
Compared to many of the nations north of Australia – including China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao PDR, and North Korea – Australia is a Western, liberal democracy based on concepts like popular sovereignty, the separation of powers, the rule of law, and the right to liberty and freedom.
The fact we have inherited such rights and freedoms is no accident.
Arriving with the 212 marines and 778 convicts who accompanied Governor Phillip on their perilous journey to Botany Bay were two books seminal to a way of life many now take for granted.
The King James Bible taught the belief as all are made in God’s image all deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Parables like the Good Samaritan, the admonition to love thy neighbour as thyself and concepts like justice and committing to the common good stem from the New Testament.
Not surprisingly, Christianity is a vital force in the nation’s education, health, social welfare and aged care systems serving millions.
The fact parliaments begin with the Lord’s Prayer and the Preamble to the Constitution includes the phrase “humbly relying on the blessing of Almighty God” reinforces how significant Christianity is.
FIRST FLEET
The second book arriving with the First Fleet was Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England.
Central to Blackstone’s book is the conviction British common law guaranteed certain inalienable rights that have to be acknowledged and respected.
Such was the force of law, two of the convicts arriving with the First Fleet were able to successfully sue the captain of their ship for losing their property.
While the American colonies permitted slavery it’s also true that the Admiralty and Governor Phillip refused to allow slavery in NSW.
Equally as important in Australia’s evolution as a liberal, open society where our rights and freedoms are protected is we are an outpost of Western Civilisation.
While geographically part of Asia, our culture, language and way of life can be traced to the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Since the time of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Euripides, Homer, Marcus Aurelius and, more recently, Dante, Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci, Shakespeare and Tolstoy – to name a few – great philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, artists, composers have enriched and shaped our inheritance.
The fact we are able to share the benefits of an advanced industrial and technologically sophisticated society is the result of events like the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of the digital age unique to Western Civilisation.
Inventions like the printing press, the steam engine, the internal combustion engine, electricity and medical advances including penicillin, immunisation and open heart surgery could never have occurred in less civilised and less advanced societies.
FAULTS
It’s also true for all its sins and faults, Western Civilisation contains within itself the ability to rectify injustices and transgressions.
Ending slavery, introducing universal franchise and documents like The Rights of Man, Citizen, and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman are uniquely Western in origin.
The story of Western Civilisation deserves as much recognition and attention as Indigenous culture, history and spirituality.
To do otherwise, as noted by Douglas Murray in The Strange Death Of Europe, is to cause cultural suicide by denying succeeding generations of young Australians their birthright and their inheritance.PC
We all react negatively to the WtoC based on our particular family histories and are hurt by the exclusion of so many Australians’ contribution to our amazing nation. What I find particularly arrogant is the call to respect future/emerging Aboriginals! What rubbish.
People, especially many of the young, have long tired of the welcome, become weary when it sometimes takes too much time, and would prefer that it be used much more sparingly as opposed to being imposed on the populace much too much. Many are losing their goodwill towards the welcome when it is shoved down everyone’s throats all the time, whereas were we to hear less of it, we would be much better disposed towards it.
The new aboriginal feature which takes place before some wallaby tests is becoming popular, so far better to select what engenders general goodwill as opposed to bad will.
At last somebody (Kevin Donnelly) has shown the gumption to stand-up and represent the majority of residents of this country. I and many of my friends are sick and tired of the nonsense that is going on at this time, including “taking the Knee” the “Welcome” and other such nonsense such as the “Woke” movement and as well the “#me too” movement.
The good news, of all the attempts that have been made to stuff this country up; so far none have been successful.
‘Welcome to Country’ is perfectly okay IF it’s stated by an Australian – regardless of race – and IF it’s being addressed to visitors to this country. However, to have someone selected purely on race and addressing fellow Australians – as it is now – is downright rude, racist, and entirely inappropriate. Non-indigenous Australians do not need to be ‘welcomed’ to their own country!
In principle if you born in Australia you are indigenous to Australia. Given that there are cultural overlays in our upbringing, that may not hold true for all but my personal opinion is that by the second generation we are all definitely indigenous. Two of my forebears arrived chained in the hold of sailing ships as convicts, met and married on The Rocks in Sydney and worked hard to make a life for themselves and their four children. Over 200 Australians emanated from that union.
I pay respect to the Convicts, to Early Settlers, the Irish, Greeks, Italians, $10 Poms, British orphan kids, the Jewish refugees, the Chinese and the Vietnamese and all other Australian Immigrants who overcame real adversity to start a life here.
None of them getting on the Victimhood bandwagon.
Welcome To Country was introduced to the National Parliament in Canberra by the Gillard Labor Government after they were forced into an alliance minority Labor Government after the 2010 election.
The introduction was requested by alliance MP for Lyne NSW Independent Rob Oakeshott.
I am not aware if they sought permission from Ernie Dingo who was the creator.
Even in many Australian churches, the first prayer prayed is “Welcome to Country”! It’s madness of course, but if you don’t push back, such praises could soon replace grace at the family dinner table.
Slowly but surely the march of the Marxist socialists is penetrating our society and they plan for social change and I do not believe that the future they want is what the silent majority of Australians would accept, but will it be too late to escape from in the not too distant future?
Consider one of many points, national public debts combined Federal and States, Territories and Councils now. Federal alone current account of about $900 billion, forward estimate of $1 trillion in the near future. And over $400 billion the responsibility of Labor 2007-2013 including then failing to make provisions to fund NDIS and Gonski in their 2013/14 Budget. However, the now planned continuing transition to wind and solar subsidised for profit incentive installations plus firming equipment and transmission lines and a new grid of transmission lines for wind and solar estimated to cost another hundreds of billions of dollars plus every on average 20 years removal and replacement costs, Federal and States involved.
Add all of Labor’s ambitions together and the debt of today will look almost like petty cash.
Venezuela example, next Australia, both resources rich but subjected to socialism.