“NO MORE SYMBOLIC GESTURES” : Melbourne Indymedia

STATEMENT from SUSAN CHARLES RANKIN

3rd June 2004

“NO MORE SYMBOLIC GESTURES”
Jaara descendant calls for the real deal

My name is Susan Charles Rankin. As a Dja Dja Wurrung descendant of the Jaara People (Ballug) from the Kulin Nation, I absolutely reject Steve Bracks' - Premier for Victoria (ALP) - sentiments expressed in the article “Aborigines win land Recognition” in the Sunday’s Age May 30th 2004.

The article stated that the plan is to “symbolically recognise that Aboriginal People lived in Victoria before white colonisation” and that “it would be the first time a state formally recognized its Aboriginal inhabitants in its constitution”. “Importantly it will recognise that the Aboriginal people were the original custodians of the land and have a spiritual, social, cultural and economic relationship with their lands and waters in Victoria” (emphasis added).

This symbolic recognition that Aboriginal people “were” the original custodians of the land is not good enough. We are still here. I as a Jaara/Dja Dja Wurrung descendant do not want to be written into your constitution. We do not want any more “symbolic gestures”. We have never ceded our sovereignty. We have never given up our rights to land and water or our spiritual, economic and cultural values.

The article also stated that “the changes were not intended to give Aboriginal communities new legal rights or affect the interpretation of any laws (emphasis added)”.

It is a constitutional fact that until 1967, Aboriginal people were classified under the Flora and Fauna Act and so the governments could not make or legislate laws for us because we were still classified as subhuman, as animals. This is why the 1967 referendum was put in place; to make Aboriginal peoples citizens of Australia and to give us the right to vote. Aboriginal people were not given a choice. The poll was set up, so that there was a Yes vote only campaign. There was not a No vote campaign. Which in turn made this referendum the most successful Yes vote in Australian history.

This current constitutional amendment celebrated by Steve Bracks, is just another attempt to enable the State government to make or legislate laws for Aboriginal people.

I call on Steve Bracks, all ministers at state and federal levels and the Crown to produce all relevant written formal documents showing where Jaara people gave consent to the occupation of Jaara Lands? I also ask; where does the state government get jurisdiction from to make or legislate laws for Aboriginal people or to now include us in the constitution?

I invite Mr Bracks, the Crown representatives and State and Federal governments to come, negotiate and bring an end to the 230 plus years of intergenerational acts of aggression and warfare inflicted upon the Jaara People. Australia is in breach of maritime law, which states: that no other country can enter into another People’s country/territory or waters without that countries consent or else this can be seen as an act of aggression and a declaration of war.

These issues are more than “symbolic” and urgently need to be addressed.

CONTACT:
Susan Rankin: 0431 143 065
Breony Carbines: 0438 574 927
malgoonanga@riseup.net