Reconciliation in action | Truth-telling courage

Truth-telling.

It is a relatively new word for our country, but one whose importance has been known at a deep level for many generations.

Truth-telling.

A process of openly sharing truths after periods of conflict to allow for the resetting of relationships based on justice and human rights.

Truth-telling.

Having the courage to tell the heart-wrenching stories. To say what needs to be said. To tell the truth, the facts. To tell them in a way they can be heard.

Courage.

To be brave enough to listen, to not turn away. To really hear and understand the stories, the truth. To also understand the humanity of the speakers — a shared humanity.

These two words have quietly bumped up against each other since the boats of the First Fleet arrived on the shores of our country.

But as time has gone on and as the long-standing silence about — and refusal to acknowledge — the full history of the colonisation of this continent has been questioned, this quiet bumping is now changing.

As author David Marr commented last year, “Australians are beginning to face the question of what it does to the soul of a country that its foundations rest first in conquest and then in crime.”

The truth — although still dogged by doubters and those who prefer to turn their heads and close their ears — is being revealed.

In Victoria, the pioneering Yoorrook Justice Commission — Australia’s first formal truth-telling body — is a crucial part of this work.

Yoorrook is tasked with establishing a record of the impact of colonisation on First Peoples in our state. To hear from First Peoples across the state about their experiences of past and present injustices. To also seek information from the (or other) institutions about their past and current policies and practices.

The starting point is hearing the stories and understanding the impact of systems, laws and policies on individuals, families and communities. It also involves recognising the diversity, strength and resilience of First Nations in keeping cultures alive.

It is from this point — the truth — that a shared understanding among all Victorians of the links between the past, the present and the future can be developed.

Truth-telling can bring into stark relief those actions many of us would prefer not to know, to turn away from.

The ongoing work by the University of Newcastle’s Centre for 21st Century Humanities in mapping the Frontier War massacre sites provides clear evidence of systematic, state-sanctioned and organised killing of First Nations people from 1788 until 1930.

Shocking as this is, it is the truth.

The policies that led to the herding of First Nations peoples on to reserves and missions, the banning of language and cultural ceremonies and the imposition of punitive restrictions on so many aspects of everyday life designed to subjugate and control were also strategies to clear the land, allowing for its ‘taming’ by settlers.

Again, the evidence is there.

Many of us have heard about the Australian Human Rights Commission’s Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families — or the Bringing Them Home Report — that was tabled in Federal Parliament on May 26, 1997.

But how many of us have read the stories told in the pages of this report and felt the pain, anguish and heartbreak that pours off the words? Have you reflected on the courage of those who told their stories? I understood the importance of and recognised the courage of this truth-telling.

And how many of us have understood its importance for us as a nation? And had the courage to reflect on this truth-telling?

To consider how we have skirted around the stories of the killings and the ongoing practices of removal of children, even today, and how these current practices have a starting point in colonisation?

We should consider that our country is living a limited version of who we could be as a nation because we fail to face the truth about our past.

Acknowledging the truth of the ongoing colonisation of this country takes real courage.

It requires sitting in the fire of truth-telling.

It is not enough to block out unpalatable parts of a nation’s history. This only allows the void to be filled with lies or conflicting or confusing versions of the past.

The unity of a nation depends on a shared identity, which in turn depends largely on a shared memory.

That shared memory demands truth-telling and courage.

Emeritus Professor Judy Atkinson, in the 2022 Thea Astley Address, sums this up: “Confronting the past may be hard, painful, shameful, but pathways open, and we can see a future that can hold all our stories. For these stories are our future.”

Stories can provide the basis for transformation — for practical action and changes to systems, policies, practices and laws — that will ultimately benefit us all.

To be part of this local truth-telling, join us at 7:45am on Tuesday, February 13, for the 2024 Apology Breakfast in Queen’s Gardens, Shepparton. It is an opportunity to reflect with courage on the acknowledgment by the Parliament of Australia on February 13, 2007, of the practice of removing First Nations children, but also to deepen our shared understanding and our commitment to change.

To find out more about the Yoorrook Justice Commission, go to https://yoorrookjusticecommission.org.au/

To find out more about the University of Newcastle’s Centre for 21st Century Humanities mapping of the Frontier War massacre sites, go to https://c21ch.newcastle.edu.au/colonialmassacres/