Welcome to Country
Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country are sometimes used in Australia at the opening of meetings, launches, special events and official functions. The practice shows respect for the traditional custodians of a particular region or area.
A Welcome to Country is where an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander custodian or elder from the local region welcomes people to their land. This may be done through speech, song, dance or ceremony. Some report that the Welcome to Country has been a part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocol for thousands of years. Others, including Ernie Dingo, say the Welcome to Country is a more recent convention. Ernie Dingo claims his Welcome to Country in 1976 was the first modern-day Welcome to Country. Whatever the origin of the tradition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols or customs in relation to Welcome to Country are diverse and will vary from region to region.
The Acknowledgement of Country is usually a statement or a speech made by an Aboriginal or a non-Aboriginal to show respect to the traditional custodians of the land. The New South Wales Government has published a document with typical examples of the Acknowledgement of Country; one such example states: "I would like to acknowledge that this meeting is being held on Aboriginal land and recognise the strength, resilience and capacity of Aboriginal people in this land."
A Welcome to Country does not preclude an Acknowledgement of Country. Following a Welcome to Country by a local indigenous representative, additional speakers may provide an Acknowledgement of Country.
In Federal Parliament, both houses start each day with the Lord's Prayer and the Welcome to Country.
The first Welcome to Country at an opening of Parliament was led by Matilda House in February 2008.
Vowing that Welcome to Country would be a permanent feature of future parliamentary openings, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the nation:
It's taken 41 parliaments to get here. We can be a bit slow sometimes, but we got here. When it comes to Parliaments of the future, this will become part and parcel of the fabric of our celebration of Australia in all of its unity and all of its diversity.
In November 2010, Victorian Liberal Senator Julian McGauran called for the Indigenous Welcome to Country statement to be dropped from the opening of Parliament each day, saying the Welcome to Country is not a prayer and should not be given equivalent status. This was just a few months after Australia's first indigenous member of the House of Representatives, Ken Wyatt was honoured in a special Welcome to Country ceremony in the forecourt to Parliament House.
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