Students Made to Say “Always Will Be Aboriginal Land”

Just when you think Aboriginal activism can’t get any worse, it does. Students at a Sydney primary school in the lower Blue Mountains region are being made to touch the ground and repeat “always was, always will be Aboriginal land” at the start of each assembly as part of an Acknowledgement of Country. Clearly, this is out-and-out indoctrination. These children committed no offence and are being told that the land they inhabit, which they were probably born on, is not theirs.

What even does this politically-charged slogan mean? According to geological records, Australian land has been around for a few billion years or so. If we accept that Aboriginal people came here around 65,000 years ago, well that still leaves us a couple of billion years where there were no humans here at all. Was it Aboriginal land back then before they arrived? After a few more billion years when all life on Earth is extinct, is Australia still considered Aboriginal land? Obviously, the slogan doesn’t make any geological sense. Just as if I said, “This land that I bought in the south of Brisbane was always, and will always be, my land!”

Not only are students being forced to place their hands on the floor, they’re also being forced to listen to Aboriginal instrumental versions of the national anthem, the one that you’re listening to now that was downloaded from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

As part of their Reconciliation Action Plan, the NSW Department of Education encourages the use of Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies in schools and workplaces to “promote greater understanding of and respect for Aboriginal people and cultures”, although, the department declined to comment on this particular instance of forced ground-touching and repetitive slogans. They continue, “All staff are encouraged to incorporate a Welcome to Country and/or an Acknowledgement of Country at EVERY meeting, event or other gathering.” They also provide a “list of traditional place names”, so that students can identify the real name of the land that their school sits upon.

In some schools across Australia, Aboriginal students, and only Aboriginal students, are being rewarded with prizes for achieving a C in Maths and English, and a school attendance of 85% or more. Tough luck non-Aboriginal students. Your efforts don’t count. Oh yes, this won’t breed resentment, will it?

In response to these reports of forced land acknowledgements, Dr Bella d’Abrera, a director at the conservative non-profit think tank, the Institute of Public Affairs, said, “This is an appalling example of activism and division being forced upon our students. It’s not surprising these ceremonies at schools are becoming more elaborate by the day. There is no place for activism in any classroom in Australia.”

Last month, Shadow Indigenous Australians Minister Senator Jacinta Price said the overuse of the Welcome to Country may actually make people feel unwelcome. She said, “You know, I was born here, I belong to this country just like anybody else, so why should we have to be continually welcomed to the nation that we’re born in? Again, I think reserve these things for special occasions, if there’s foreign dignitaries or something like that. I feel ridiculous when actually people will say, ‘I want to acknowledge and pay our respects to all the Indigenous people in the room’, and you look around the place, and sometimes you’re the only one in the room. And it’s like, OK, can we just get on with this thing? Why are we being singled out here? Let’s just move forward, let’s just get on with the job, let’s do things in practical terms to produce outcomes on the ground and just stop with the waffle and the nonsense.”

Anyway, I’m done with the Government and other activists trying to force our children to swallow this garbage. The only explanation I can think of is that they’ve given up trying to convince us adults, and have instead focused their efforts on indoctrinating our young children.

MUSIC
Australian Defence Force, Indigenous Instrumental – Two Verses