Research Topic 15: Towards Reconciliation

Architecture Year: 3

Group members:Susan YuSID: 200322782

Bo WangSID: 200436293

Dinah ZhangSID: 200410383

Towards Reconciliation – Executive Summary

Reconciliation is the process of creating peace between divided peoples. It is the term used to refer to a bringing together of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, of increasing the understanding and respect that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have for each other.

1.0 History of the Reconciliation Movement

The "Reconciliation movement" is a movement of people working to resolve the causes of division and inequality between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people that keeps us apart. Throughout the research, a few major events in the reconciliation movement have been identified and analysed. These include:

-The Whitlam government giving the Aboriginal Housing Company to buy the land now known as The Block. The Whitlam government was one of the first to recognize the significance of land to the Aboriginal community, and the significance for them to own land in the urban environment.

-Paul Keating’s RedfernPark speech, delivered in Dec 1992. His RedfernPark speech of December, 1992, was and continues to be the seminal moment and expression of European Australian acknowledgement of grievous inhumanity to the indigenes of this land.

-Bridge walk of May 26, 2000 where more than 250000 people walked across the SydneyHarbourBridge in support of Indigenous Australians. The SydneyHarbourBridge walk was followed by large bridge walks in other capital cities around Australia. The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation is now known as Reconciliation Australia, which was set up after the bridge walk in 2000. The Bridge walk by many is seen as symbolic of white Australian’s acceptance of the controversial history between the government and Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. It is also pinpointed as a high point of the reconciliation movement, after which, many saw a decline of active participators of it.

2.0 Reconciliation, Supporters and Activists

In addition to the study of key events of the reconciliation movement, the group also initiated several interviews with activists and supporters of reconciliation, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, to gain a better insight into the topic. Important issues are summarized in the report below:

2.1 Lyn Turnbull

Spokesperson for Residential Reconciliation Group, and Redfern resident

Lyn Turnbull has been involved with the organisations such as REDWatch and Sydney University Settlement, as well as being a resident at Redfern for twenty-five years. REDWatch is a community organisation exists to monitor Government involvement in the area and to push for outcomes that benefit the community and not just the Government. Through her work with the Aboriginal community in the Redfern area, Lyn offers insights into the lives of community residents. Aborigines there are so many everyday lifestyle worries that reconciliation is a luxury.

‘Some Aborigines struggle to stay alive, some people live in incredibly poor conditions. They think ‘what is it going to do that is going to substantially change my living conditions?’ They are too busy trying to improve the quality of their own lives.’ -Lyn Turnball

Some of these people see it as an indulgence for white people; to them it is a notion that does not have a lot of relevancy.

2.2Lesley Townsend

Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer (ACLO)

Lesley Townsend’s job is to create better relations between the Redfern police and the Aboriginal community by making sure that kids in custody are healthy, they don’t escape away, they don’t commit suicide, to give them legal advice, and support their family when they needed.There are 57 ACLOs in NSW today and Redfern has 4 offices, which in the biggest in NSW.

There is always been a lot of controversybetween Aboriginal community and police in Redfern. The Redfern district has become notorious in Sydney in recent years for its confrontationsbetween police and urban Aboriginal population.

ACLO uses youth mentor program to help them through by showing them different aspect of life and helping to build confidence. For example, participating in sports activities, art classes and writing classes etc.

2.3Alex

Alex is the owner of the Eloura gym and describes that the gym was originally built for aboriginal peoples use. Even though only 10-20% of the users are aboriginal people, it is a place where aboriginal and non-aboriginal people can blend in better than outside as they do things in common, there are more interactions and they understand each other better. He believes that as there are few with aboriginal background who has done well in sports such as boxing, they appear as role models and gives people with same backgrounds pride giving them more chances to participate.

He also trains younger kids under custody from the area, who are usually from broken families with lower living standards to help them to focus on other things and discipline and control oneself better.

3.0Emotions and Politics

This part investigates Aboriginal people’s emotions and how that affects the ongoing fight for reconciliation. We’ve identified that the two important factors of emotion felt by the Aboriginal community are anger and pride, and they in turn influence consequential behaviours and decisions.

3.1Anger

Anger is one of the driving factors as a result of the long term historical relationship between Europeans and Aboriginal people. Causes of anger form from the Stolen Generation, white Australians taking that land, ruthless killing of Aborigines in the first decades of European settlement, the injustice and lack of human rights towards Aboriginal peoples. The instincitive human response is to lash back, to get revenge or the hurt people who hurt you. Increases in crime, loss of identitiy, disconnectedness from society, dysfunctional families and attacks on other minorities and are all consequences of anger.

‘I was always so angry. I could see the injustice, but because I was always so angry, I couldn’t see ways to resolve the issues.’ -Aboriginal resident from The Block

It is from this anger produces the inability to see effective ways of bringing justice, hence the ongoing tension between the government and Aboriginals, making reconciliation harder to achieve.

3.2Pride

In juxtaposition to anger, pride is a ‘productive’ emotion, one that will encourage and promote the reconciliation movement. Pride is caused by Aboriginal achievements in all areas of the Australian culture. The successes of sportspersons such as Cathy Freeman, Anthony Mundine to celebrities such as Patricia Mailman to the input to Australian history and identity from the rich Aboriginal culture all help to create this positive feeling. Feeling pride draws on powerful images, heightens confidence, cultural heritage is better passed down to younger generations and a feeling of contribution is created. This in turn encourages greater Aboriginal involvement in the Australian community as well as in reconciliation.

4.0Towards Reconciliation

Today, its seems that the reconciliation movement gradually decreasing in importance. The bridge walk was very much the high point of the reconciliation movement. Because there was such a big turnout and such a huge response, a lot of people after that just stood back and said, ‘ok, we’ve done that’. They feel there is a kind of resolution, like we’ve solved the problem already. However, reconciliation is a on going process. Education is important to all future generations, to ensure that people have an ongoing awareness of this country’s history. So it’s about walking together more, and joining in groups, and doing more events together to show our support and respect to the Aboriginal community.