Acknowledge

Aboriginal people are the original Custodians of the Land. For many years that knowledge has been neglected or derided. It is vitally important to acknowledge traditional owners of the land to enable the community to share in Aboriginal culture and heritage, facilitating respect and better relationships between Indigenous people and other Australians.

On your emails, website and letterhead, acknowledge the traditional owners of the land you live, work and play on.

To find out who the traditional owners are in your area, contact your local Aboriginal Land Council. For example, if you are in Penrith you would find your closest council by googling "Penrith local Aboriginal land council".
For example, at ANTaR National we write "Our office is on the land of the Gadigal People" at the bottom of all our emails and also on the contact page of our website.

If you are holding a meeting, it is easy and important to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land at the start of the meeting. It sends a positive message to others.

The simplest acknowledgement is to say 'At the start of the meeting, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, past and present.'
Once you know the name of the traditional owners, you can say "I’d like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on today, the [insert name] people of the [insert name] nation". For example, if the meeting is being held in the Sydney CBD, you would acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation.

If you are holding an event, consider having a welcome to country at the start of the event, and perhaps even a smoking ceremony.

A welcome to country is where the Traditional Aboriginal Custodians welcome people to their Land. You should ensure that the appropriate representative is invited to perform the ‘Welcome’, because it is a significant recognition and a formal process.
The difference between an acknowledgement of country and a welcome to country is that anybody can say an acknowledgement of country, whereas only a traditional cutodian can conduct a welcome to country.
To arrange for an Elder to conduct a welcome to country, you should contact your local Aboriginal Land Council. They will be glad to talk to you about what is involved.
If the event is outdoors you could additionally arrange for a smoking ceremony to cleanse the area.

Take a look at this Wiradjuri man’s welcome to country to get a idea of what it is:

What did you do to acknowledge the traditional owners?

Let us know what you've done to acknowledge the traditional owners by leaving a comment here:

website acknowledgement

Anonymous —

we placed this on our website's home page. We could not acknowledge the specific traditional owners as we are a national site. "We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional owners and custodians of the Australian lands." if there is a better way to word this in a virtual context, let us know. www.bindarri.com.au

The Art of Peace & Conflict Transformation

Anonymous —

I attended a 3-day workshop in Melbourne with people from all over Australia, where we explored what peace means, both personally & collectively. We also explored how we can transform conflict - a process rather than just an outcome. As a group we acknowledged the pain & loss suffered by indigenous people in Australia, and at one part of the workshop we were frozen as a group because we felt the enormity of the situation. Without an indigenous person there to help guide us, we stumbled, we froze; we meant well and meant to do soemthing, but we felt that we couldn't come up with what actions to take - & in fact had no right to decide on actions, fearful we might accidently offend. Yet, we acknowledged as a group that indigenous people have some reluctance to admitting non-indigenous people into the sruggle for peace & equality - tired of 'white do-gooders' , & we also acknowledged how difficult it can be for the ordinary Australian to get actively involved in changing what is. I personally hope that I can find an avenue to be personally involved.

How Coburns Child Care Centre acknowledges tradtional owners

Anonymous —

We have a forward in our policy and procedure manual dedicated to the traditional owners of our land. We also have a dedication plaque in the foyer and a smaller one in each room. We are passionate about advocating for an age-appropriate Indigenous perspective being included in the National Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood as we feel that education and understanding is the only path to true reconciliation and that the first step must be with our young children. We feel that if this generation of children are given an opportunity to grow up with an honest understanding of the struggles of Indigenous people then we have a fighting chance of understanding and equality in the future. We support the Close the Gap Campaign and SNAICC's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day with celebrations. We also include Indigenous perspectives into our curriculum's each day with the guidance and assistance of local Elders. For more information or to share our work please contact Janet Heaney at email: coburnschildcare@bigpond.com