We can’t avoid the bitter truth of the foundation of the contemporary Australian State. Settler colonialism sought to totally remove the Peoples of the First Nations and lock away the knowledge they had acquired over 65,000 years of their Stewardship of this continent. The brutal patterns of this subjugation persist to this day, in our laws, our systems and our continuing failure to let these people speak.
The consequences of ignoring the caring guardianship of this continent these Knowledge Holders had built up over 65,000 years are now brutally rebounding on us. We are confronted by climate change, biodiversity loss, and the pervasive malaise of “unsettlement” that many Australians now speak of. We need to ask these Stewards for their guidance.
In these monthly Conversations with Mary Graham and her colleagues we will talk about all this, share our responses, discuss actions we can take. We will explore the sophisticated and complex Aboriginal Worldview and consider how a society built on the ethos of relationality has been able to maintain, and continue, a nourishing Stewardship alongside (and not over) the other beings and species of the continent.
These conversations form part of a much broader project that we are rolling out over the coming months. This quest - Australia becoming … - will focus on the incomplete task we all face - to carve out a new way of “Becoming” on this continent. It will pick up questions such as:
How is Australia becoming … civilised? Caringly and authentically civilised.
How is Australia becoming … a staunch and proud Guardian? How are we safeguarding the extraordinary beauty of this continent and maintaining it as a safe and nourishing place for all the humans and other-than-humans who live here.
How is Australia becoming (again) … a country on which we can all “settle”? For the next 65,000 years.
If you have the dauntless optimism to join us on these quests, we’d love you to come along to this first Conversation.
The program
These conversations are planned as opportunities to share ideas respectfully and with a hearty dose of informality. Join us early, say 9:30, for introductions and coffee if you like. Mary will talk from 10:00 a.m., we’ll break again for morning tea, and then move into a wider chat among us all until midday.