We get to make amends to the Indigenous people of Australia sometimes.
In 1967 we gave The Indigenous people the right to vote.
In 2008 Kevin Rudd said ‘Sorry’ to the stolen generation and those affected.
At this gallery, The Art Gallery of NSW, we have enjoyed an appropriate representation of Indigenous art for some years, to confirm their place in Australian culture.
In several sporting codes it is the non-indigenous voice that is left speechless.
In 2023, The Voice to Parliament proposes an independent, representative advisory body for First Nations people to the Australian parliament and government.
This is the next stage along the path to recognition.
There will be further steps in the path towards Reconciliation.
‘The Early Settlers’ were not equipped to acknowledge the depth of Indigenous culture. They were too occupied with maintaining the separateness of convict from overseer to notice the third actor in the play who was the aborigine. The Early Settlers were at the beginning of a two hundred year ‘culture shock’ produced from having left Britain. They were busy building wealth to send ‘home’ and to establish their affiliate aristocracy, the ‘squattocracy’. They built an alternate universe which made the landscape disappear. Fence the land, sheep on it for four generations, then gas it, all the while pretending the local inhabitants weren’t here. In the minds of ‘The Early Settlers’ the Indigenous peoples were an extension of the brutal landscape, and were to be treated as such.
We are The ‘Middle Settlers’. We are the settlers who are finally ready to see what we have done, to see who we have been, in our time here. The ‘Middle Settlers’ are able for the first time to hear The Voice that has been speaking since we arrived. With our enthusiasm and residual entitlement, we make less mess than we did before, but we still get it wrong. It is a long path and with our great sense of ourselves, we are very slow.
Nothing though, will change the course set towards Reconciliation. Necessity locks the rudder more than choice does.
With The Voice comes the notion of ‘Caring for Country’. From listening to Indigenous Knowledge we will not destroy the place we have come to love. The Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement to Country help us shift our appreciation of being here.
‘The Settled’ phase is the final phase of making amends. This phase will guarantee we are one entity, with the same privileges, the same opportunities and the same life expectancy.
We are not yet at that stage.
Federation allowed for the many parts of Australia to be brought together as one entity without losing the character of each part. The many parts that make up The Voice will be equally integrated here.
The words after the image below, are on the label next to my sculpture to provide context. This sculpture, titled, The Voice, is in its first outing at The Wynn Prize today.
‘The Voice at The Wynn Prize, 2023
‘This is the sound of The Voice, which has been speaking to me for nearly 250 years, nearly a quarter of a millennium.
I have been reluctant to listen, distracted by the task of finding myself in this place.
I have been reluctant to hear The Voice even while all that time The Voice was speaking, singing, waiting for me to hear it.
The Voice doesn’t shout. It draws you in, and as you listen to it, you find yourself more at home.
You may have run here, but from this place you will not need to run away.
This work is the shape of my listening.
Prototype of ‘Enshrined Voice Fountain’, 2023
The prototype above shows the addition of sprouting water to emulate a future ‘enshrinement’ of The Voice.