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A land acknowledgement (or territorial acknowledgement) is a formal statement that acknowledges the Indigenous peoples of the land. It may be in written form, or be spoken at the beginning of public events. The custom of land acknowledgement is present in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and more recently in the United States. [1]
First Nations Australians have expressed their interpretations of traditional custodianship through academic writing, political advocacy, traditional stories, poetry and music. Numerous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures share an understanding that, contrary to Western views on land ownership, the land "owns us".
The Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country have become core Australian customs. [31] Some jurisdictions, such as New South Wales, make a welcome (or, failing that, acknowledgement) mandatory [dubious – discuss] at all government-run events. [32] The Victorian Government supports Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country. [33]
The term "on Country", or "on [a specific people] country" is often used. [6] Connection to country, "the most fundamental pillar of Indigenous identity", is a difficult concept for non-Indigenous Australians to understand, and disconnection from country has been shown to have an impact on Indigenous peoples' health and well-being. [7]
Today, Indigenous sovereignty generally relates to "inherent rights deriving from spiritual and historical connections to land". [1] Indigenous studies academic Aileen Moreton-Robinson has written that the first owners of the land were ancestral beings of Aboriginal peoples, and "since spiritual belief is completely integrated into human daily activity, the powers that guide and direct the ...
"Always was, always will be" is sometimes incorporated into the Acknowledgment of Country. [9] [10]Always was, always will be was the name of a temporary installation (2012–2017) by Reko Rennie in Taylor Square, Sydney.
The Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia of 1836, which were issued during the period of British colonisation of South Australia, included recognition of the rights of the Aboriginal peoples of South Australia [6] [7] – the first ever recognition of Aboriginal rights on the continent – but the promise was never kept. [8]
Indigenous treaties in Australia are proposed binding legal agreements between Australian governments and Australian First Nations (or other similar groups). A treaty could (amongst other things) recognise First Nations as distinct political communities, acknowledge Indigenous Sovereignty, set out mutually recognised rights and responsibilities or provide for some degree of self-government. [1]