Society/Culture The Welcome/Acknowledgment of Country thread

[jakson68]

So when it’s ordering a pizza, is it you doing the WTC?

No, actually more like as the person answers the phone and says "hello bla bla pizza, we would like to acknowledge the land these pizzas are cooked on"

Well done though on your attempt.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Advance as in developing agriculture, then technology, communications systems, democracy and things like that. The theory was without the horse, cow, camel or donkey it was very very hard to develop the early things necessary to advance technologically, and Australia had none of those things, not originally anyway.

As for 55,000 years from now, I doubt it. We will always have people crazy or selfish enough to destroy the world and it only takes a few.

I've always understood the theory to be that as a rule, indigenous Australians' culture was always based around the 'leave it as you found it's principle.

What we call 'advancing', they call '****ing up your environment'.

 

[captain blood 17]

Like everyone elee here i have witnessed a ton of Welcome to country speeches. An Unwelcome to country was a first. Props to old mate for something different and unusual.

 

[Handsuper47]

a lot of the time I don't pay attention to what's going on until the game starts, so by that metric it hasn't gone far enough

 

[PhatBoy]

What's an Aborigibal?

Why do you call them a race was the question? Or do you believe they're not a race?

So a typo is your argument?

It doesn’t matter what I believe.

The people I am related to - you know, like my two teenage Aboriginal children, for example, my Aboriginal ex-wife and my two Aboriginal counsellor step-children, and my Aboriginal girlfriend, who are indigenous Australians tell me what they are and how to refer to them and what their Aboriginality means to them, and that’s the only definition that counts.
So when they consider ‘Aboriginal Australians’ to be a broad term for the many races or groups or nations within Australian indigenous community? That’s what i go with.

So again, GFY buddy. See you in a few accounts’ time.

 

[fake tyrone]

I am torn on this stuff. Disclaimer: I have studied and teach indigenous history.

The irony is that if I type exactly what I think/know, I'll probably end up being censored or warned by a mod who probably knows nothing about the area, or thinks they know.

The reason I'm torn is because every country seems to inevitably benefit from myth-making, but I'll say that pre-colonisation indigenous culture was tremendously varied. Different languages, traditions etc. And most of them had no clue the others existed. At all.

Maybe it's for the best that we pretend they all felt intimate connections with 'the Land', had a 'dreamtime' and 'songlines', 'smoking ceremonies' ... and chuck in a rainbow serpent if you like, too. We all sign up to the claim that footy and marngrook are intimately linked, and perhaps it's better for the culture that we do, regardless of fact.

But I'll never lose sight of the irony that at least one of the cultural groups to which we now pay tribute before games was positively genocidal. Their word for all other indigenous groups translates as "non-human", and they considered it their primary purpose in life as to wipe them out.

This is why I (as a white person with European ancestry) prefer the term 'First Nations.' I'm no expert on the subject, but when I take a look at the map of all the nations and their language groups, plus the clans, tribes, and dialects within those nations and groups, I feel that we've essentially homogenised an entire population. I guess the next question for me is, 'at what cost have we done that?' What history, culture, language, and nuance have we lost from bundling everyone into the same big group? What have those very people we are talking about lost?

I also very much agree that myth-making is present in every modern nation and does serve some benefit. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject, but also don't want to derail the thread.

 

[Cmarsh]

Well I learnt that Aboriginal people have been here for 250,000 years before Cook.

 

[parano1a]

If people don't like it, just use the time for a toilet break or to get a snack/drink.

 

[ShooterMcGavin8]

People still listen to it ? I got the gist of it all after the first 1,000

 

[Coolangatta]

a lot of the time I don't pay attention to what's going on until the game starts, so by that metric it hasn't gone far enough

Me too. Don’t switch on till a couple minutes before bounce.

 

[Dee Train]

WOFTAM

 

[demondavey]

All that’s happened here is that a whole lot of hyper sensitive white people have taken umbrage to an indigenous fellow saying WTC wasn’t invented for white people and are looking for the slightest iota of ‘offence’ to make more of a scene. I mean, really?

 

[Cmarsh]

All that’s happened here is that a whole lot of hyper sensitive white people have taken umbrage to an indigenous fellow saying WTC wasn’t invented for white people and are looking for the slightest iota of ‘offence’ to make more of a scene. I mean, really?

There was no need to single white people out though. Could have said it wasn't invented for non-Aboriginal people.

 

[demondavey]

The guy who did the 'welcome to country' ceremony prior to the Giants V Lions game semi-final seemed to use the platform more as a divisive political tool than a genuine & proud showing of the way the indigenous people have done things for many years.

There has been a lot of condemnation for his comments, especially the "BC ...... before Cook" part with observers in the media calling for this stuff to stop. The irony was that he introduced himself as a "cultural educator from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council" but he was not culturally sensitive at all.

“A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people”.

If these indigenous leaders are going to use primetime TV as an opportunity to be somewhat insulting & controversial like he did, should the AFL discontinue the practice ??

How exactly was it insulting? I am desperate to get an answer or rationale for this. ‘Insulting and controversial’. Wow. You must be insulted really easily and so controversy in the slightest hint of rhetoric if it doesn’t suit your agenda.

Honestly. People like you will look for any reason to condemn and castigate WTC and Aboriginal Culture. It’s nothing but pure racism. And you sound incredibly racist.

 

[demondavey]

There was no need to single white people out though. Could have said it wasn't invented for non-Aboriginal people.

Oh dear, oh my. What a real ‘insult’. Excuse and pardon an Aboriginal man for referring to the term ‘white’ in a way that’s ‘offensive’. How dare he say anything out of sorts when using the term white. Wouldn’t want to offend all those white people whom were / are treated as second class citizens because of their skin colour.

 

[South of the Yarra]

The welcome to country has been overused to the point to where people see it as an annoyance and virtue signalling.
First, you don't need to welcome people to their own country. To even think that is the thing to do is ridiculous.

I don't have an issue with it been used in Government functions when welcoming foreign dignitaries, or overseas sporting teams who have come to play against Australia.
That's the extent it should be used it.

Its just another example of the AFL pandering for woke virtue points.

Oh my goodness

 

[demondavey]

The welcome to country has been overused to the point to where people see it as an annoyance and virtue signalling.
First, you don't need to welcome people to their own country. To even think that is the thing to do is ridiculous.

I don't have an issue with it been used in Government functions when welcoming foreign dignitaries, or overseas sporting teams who have come to play against Australia.
That's the extent it should be used it.

Its just another example of the AFL pandering for woke virtue points.

You’re right, we shouldn’t do anything to bridge the gap between our aboriginal citizens due to treating them as second class for so long.

 

[South of the Yarra]

He is 100% rolled gold correct that "Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people".

Staggered that anyone would take offence to this or seek to deny this.

Welcome to Country is actually a ceremony invented by white people to cater for other white people who want to feel better about themselves whilst engaging in symbolism only.

Incorrect

 

[demondavey]

Just went back and watched it and it is just divisive crap.

It is getting beyond a joke now, how wit is shoved down our throats everyday.
I have to do this BS at every meeting I have, even if it is on ZOOM.
Next I will have a WTC to order a pizza.

Australia has gone mad with the way the country is going.
Between the corrupt and weak Governments, to the people who protest for the sake of protesting all the way to the people who fight a cause they know little about.
Australia just isnt that enjoyable anymore.

The sooner I can retire and leave this overtaxed, over governed, miserable place the better.

The sooner you leave would be best for all of us…

 

[South of the Yarra]

I thought only elders were allowed to do them?

No Elders can designate

 

[LordLucifer]

How exactly was it insulting? I am desperate to get an answer or rationale for this. ‘Insulting and controversial’. Wow. You must be insulted really easily and so controversy in the slightest hint of rhetoric if it doesn’t suit your agenda.

Honestly. People like you will look for any reason to condemn and castigate WTC and Aboriginal Culture. It’s nothing but pure racism. And you sound incredibly racist.

Aaah, the race card ...........

 

[South of the Yarra]

Welcome to Country died the night the NRL got a blonde white chick to do it

How do you know she is not Aboriginal?

 

[demondavey]

The guy who did the 'welcome to country' ceremony prior to the Giants V Lions game semi-final seemed to use the platform more as a divisive political tool than a genuine & proud showing of the way the indigenous people have done things for many years.

There has been a lot of condemnation for his comments, especially the "BC ...... before Cook" part with observers in the media calling for this stuff to stop. The irony was that he introduced himself as a "cultural educator from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council" but he was not culturally sensitive at all.

“A Welcome to Country is not a ceremony we’ve invented to cater for white people”.

If these indigenous leaders are going to use primetime TV as an opportunity to be somewhat insulting & controversial like he did, should the AFL discontinue the practice ??

I guess like how the Murdoch Media uses prime time tv to spout racist agendas?

 

[South of the Yarra]

I'm sure there was a lot of white aboriginals wandering around in 1788

Did you miss the Stolen Generation?

 

[demondavey]

Aaah, the race card ...........

I don’t think you’ll get much sympathy from being ‘offended’ by an Aboriginal man saying WTC wasn’t invented for white people. So your agenda is a bit racist.