When my ancestors’ family landed in Brisbane in 1863, they settled in Coorparoo, close to the lagoons at Woolongabba. They played with the local kids there, who taught them how to swim, how to make and use a spear for fishing, and taught them their language. This was not an isolated case. There were many such ‘first contact’ stories all over the country. It was later that the trouble started, when settlers brought their sheep and cattle onto the land without permission, and started destroying the native environment; a process we continue down to the present day.
Ten years ago I was able to visit my ancient homelands of France and Ireland, which was a great healing for me. And one of the beautiful things I found was that there are still traditional owners there, and in the UK, who are in touch with their ancient past, maintaining sacred sites, ancient monuments and other signs of human habitation dating back millennia. If they can do it there, why can’t we accord the traditional owners here the same respect?
We Australians who came here after 1788 continue to benefit from the dispossession of the original occupants. Until we can accept this, we live in a state of denial and delusion.
Until quite recently we told ourselves, through our legal system, that this land was unoccupied, and belonged to no-one. The legal term was terra nullius. This fiction was finally overturned by the High Court of Australia in Mabo (1992); long overdue, given that King George III ordered Captain Cook to act ‘with the consent of the natives’.
In the past 30 years there has been a growing awareness and appreciation of Indigenous knowledge in all realms of human existence.
For me, the proposed cancellation of the handback of Council land on North Lismore Plateau sits in the same basket as the revival of a proposed new dam on Rocky Creek: these decisions, if taken, represent a triumph of greed, hatred and ignorance over the much touted ‘Australian’ values of mateship, tolerance and a fair go.
I urge Lismore and Rous County Council to think clearly before going down this emotional, knee-jerk road. Don’t stir up hate and division: be ‘human’ enough to honour previous commitments. There’s plenty to do, working together, without these distractions.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
