Read
Read Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poems “Aboriginal Charter of Rights” or “An Appeal”
Explore Common Grace’s book recommendations list
Watch
Hire and watch Occupation: Native
Watch free SBS series First Australians
Watch Utopia by John Pilger
Listen
Explore Common Grace’s audio materials, such as Geoff Broughton and Brooke Prentis on Jesus and Aboriginal Justice or Uncle Ray Minniecon's 'Does Jesus Believe in Land Rights?' Three Podcasts of the Bible Studies from the Surrender Conference 2016
Create
Make a desert pea wreath following instructions and a pattern
Meditate on these quotes:
“We saw as we came in, several of the Natives and a few hutts; - Men, Women, and Children … As we approached the Shore they all made off, except 2 Men who seem'd resolved to oppose our landing. . . .I thought that they beckon'd to us to come ashore; but in this we were mistaken… I fir'd a musquet between the 2, which had no other Effect than to make them retire back, where bundles of their darts lay, and one of them took up a stone and threw at us, which caused my firing a Second Musquet, and altho' the shott struck the man, it had no other effect . . .(I then fired) a third shott, soon after which they both made off, but not in such haste but what we might have taken one.” Lt James Cook, 29 April 1770 (Abbreviated from Cook's journal)
"They called to us very loud in a harsh sounding Language of which neither us or Tupia understood a word, shaking their lances and menacing. In all appearance resolvd to dispute our landing to the utmost tho they were but two and we 30 or 40 at least. In this manner we parleyd with them for about a quarter of an hour, they waving to us to be gone, we again signing that we wanted water and we meant them no harm. They remaind resolute so a musquet was fird over them..." Joseph Banks, 29 April 1770
‘Their countenance bespoke displeasure; they threatened us, and discovered hostile intentions, often crying to us, Warra warra wai,’ Sydney Parkinson 1770. Warra warra wai means 'go away' or 'begone'.
"...in reality they are far more happier than we Europeans, being wholly unacquainted not only with the superfluous, but with the necessary conveniences so much sought after in Europe; they are happy in not knowing the use of them…. They live in tranquility which is not distrubed by the inequality of condition. The earth and sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for life." Lt James Cook, 1770
"If..you look at this...encounter from our perspective you would understand that two Gweagal men were assiduously carrying out their spiritual duty to Country by protecting Country from the presence of persons not authorised to be there. In our cultures it is not permissible to enter another culture’s Country without due consent. Consent was always negotiated. Negotiation was not necessarily a matter of immediate dialogue, it often involved spiritual communication through ceremony." Dr Shayne T. Williams
"Everything that has happened to the Aboriginal people has its roots in this area...it impacted on all Aboriginal people across Australia." Dr Shayne T. Williams, 2006
"One thing Aboriginal people can never forget is the landing of Lt Cook and his men at this place in 1770. The Story of this landing has been told through generations and it marks the beginning of dispossession for Aboriginal people." Aboriginal Elder, plaque at Kurnell.
"I was destined to become acquainted, nearly a century and a quarter later, with a son of one who witnessed the landing of Captain Cook. Old Jimmy....Jimmy's 'old people' had graphically rehearsed, again and again, the story, which he passed on, of their scare of...the oncoming vessel - the forerunner of a civilisation which has well nigh destroyed a branch of the oldest stock of the human race. Jimmy lived to see a great city rising, less than a score of miles away, from whence civilisation's backwash had reached his camp, and the white man's gambling, drinking and immorality had done their deadly work." Retta (Dixon) Long, 1935, La Perouse Aborigines' Missionary, recorded in John Harris' One Blood.
"So all lands belong to God, and he distributed them to many nations, setting the time and places where they would live. The land is God’s land. To respect and honour God is to know that he made Australia, and to treat the existing indigenous peoples who were here in 1788 with respect. The appalling theory of terra nullius treated people as if they had no significance. This was an insult to them, and an offence against God their maker. " Dr Peter Adam, "Whose Land?", 2009.
"Christians must believe with all their mind and heart and strength that God is a God of righteousness and justice and that he demands of them that they display his nature in how they behave in the world. This may well require Christians to reflect seriously upon past injustices and to accept a responsibility to right them." John Harris, One Blood, 1990
"Christian believers around Australia would be horrified at the thought of murdering their neighbours in order to steal their property, and would be highly offended if we suggested that they might do such things. But we have benefited because others have done these actions for us, and we continue to live off the proceeds of those crimes and sins. " Dr Peter Adam, "Whose Land?", 2009.
"My country, I have hesitated to tell you of these things before. I have never been convinced you have wanted to hear. There are those now who will shrug. Others may pause and move on. But something else is moving in our country. We are looking again at reckoning with ourselves. I can feel it and many of you have told me you are ready." Stan Grant, Talking to My Country, 2016.