Juru people did not ban 'Welcome to Country'. When will Australia change its selfish ways?

I am a Juru descendant through my grandmother's and grandfather's Guma (Blood). A 'Welcome to Country' means a lot more than portrayed by political and media opinion lately. It is an ancient practice now entwined and a part of modern Australia.

A headline claiming that Indigenous elders banned Welcome to Country was featured on 2GB Radio and other conservative media recently.

Most Juru people were not informed beforehand that continuing this ancient custom in modern times would be voted on in a future meeting held by the Native Title Body. Any decisions about removing integral aspects of Juru cultural practices should first be put to the community for deep thought and discussion.

What is Welcome to Country?

A Welcome to Country is an ancient tradition that is part of culture and Lore. It is a constant reminder of First Nations people's relationship to the creation and protection of areas of land. Being on land without permission is not just trespassing but also about the danger of not knowing the country and its story. You could walk through a sacred, men's or women's only site and the punishment pre-colonization could be death. These lores were strict, as the only way to survive in the country was to follow the lore. You had to know what to eat, what plants to touch or use, and how the weather systems worked. The first colonial arrivals to this land found this out quickly, which led to the massacres of so many of our ancestors in the Port Denison (Bowen) area, leaving a devastating gap in our genealogies today.

A Welcome to the country was done for different reasons, some are:

• Requesting agreement to hunt, fish, and collect food in that country

• Requesting the exchange of tools or access to tool-making supplies

• Organizing a future ceremony or meeting

Even requesting to pass through one Country to get to another country requires being given safe passage. This is done by learning the story of the land. If you were bordered by another First Nation by a river, they would light a fire at a crossing and wait to be welcomed to cross and enter or travel through that country. If organizing a ceremony or meeting, someone would be sent by an elder on behalf of the community to another country to give a message or arrange a meeting. This is also sometimes done with a message stick.

By The National Museum of Australia - The catalogue of the National Museum of Australia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83379291

Historically, negotiations for resource access, tool acquisition, sustenance, and sacred site protection could last months. Contemporary Native Title holders address these same issues in meetings governed by colonial law. Traditional welcome ceremonies are sometimes accompanied by shared ceremonies and inter-nation marriages. Today, inviting an elder for a Welcome acknowledges unceded sovereignty, demonstrates respect, and represents a request for pluralism.

The use of Welcome to Country has adjusted or evolved over time yet still dates back half a century making it a tradition over generations. A lore man at the Nimbin Aquarius Festival performed the modern adjustment to use this ancient practice in May 1973. The Welcome to Country we do today is still older than:

• The January 26th Australia Day Holiday - Created in 1994.

• Advance Australia Fair - The National Anthem since 1984.

• Senator Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party

• Senator Jacinta Price

Recently highlighted was what costs more than Welcome to Country which included:

• Imprisoning one child for 46 days

• Pay rises for Politicians.

• Peter Dutton's Business Lunch tax breaks.

• Fossil fuel subsidies.

• Submarines. The Aukus deal is estimated to cost between $268 billion and $368 billion over the next 25 years. (Proposal to dump the nuclear waste 120 Km outside of Tennant Creek)

• Visit from King Charles - $640,060.47 (excluding GST)

While major Welcome to Country ceremonies may be government-funded, First Nations people still often perform smaller ones freely, a generous act frequently undervalued. Traditionally they are done for free as money did not exist here until 200 years ago. The perceived cost of $150,000 annually—roughly 60 cents per taxpayer—pales in comparison to First Nations' right to share in the wealth of a country built on their dispossession and funded by their tax contributions. It is insulting to suggest they aren't taxpayers, despite their stolen inheritance. First Nations people are only conditionally accepted: praised for working hard and suppressing their history but penalized for asserting their identity, which is wrongly seen as burdensome and un-Australian.

Australia has profited from First Nations' culture for over a century, so why should they not be paid for their time to perform their culture in 2025?

For decades, non-Indigenous people have profited from the industrialization of Boomerangs, Didgeridoos, and other cultural items, often through deceptive imitation of First Nations art targeting tourists. This cultural exploitation, rooted in the foundational practices of this country, is a continuous cycle of attack, echoing historical misrepresentations. Such attacks, including those in racist advertisements and media, constitute blatant and enduring racism against First Nations culture.

Is Australian identity limited to alcohol and Vegemite, and are we incapable of cultural sharing? Conservative politicians and media seem more focused on suppressing First Nations culture.

Internal First Nations matters of Welcome to Country - Juru People

According to Reconciliation Australia's website:

[Welcome to Country is delivered by Traditional Owners, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have been given permission from Traditional Owners, to welcome visitors to their Country. Your local Aboriginal Land Council or Native Title representative body can advise on organising a Welcome to Country by a Traditional Owner in your area.]

"Welcome to Country process had become a business... money being made by those who were not connected to the land in any meaningful way"

The traditional welcome to country is more of a form of protection than a Welcome. It has no monetary value, money did not exist here until colonisation so there was no need to pay for expenses, travel, food, accommodation etc like today in modern Australia. The adjusted or evolved form of this ancient practice could be considered a trade or business today, why shouldn't it be? The payment is more for expenses etc. Doing Welcome to Country also creates opportunities for our community and helps to encourage the youth to reconnect and stay connected with their culture and country. Having our young people reconnect with culture and country is highly lacking, and the impact is a major contributor to the dysfunction within the local community. If Welcome to Country is cancelled and the Juru Native Title Body does not take control by creating these opportunities through the PBC, I hope they plan something to help Juru youth connect back to country and culture.

Welcome to Country ceremonies should be managed by the PBC, who should select welcomers with ancestral ties. Halting welcomes or suggesting their cessation only fuels a conservative media agenda. If Welcome to Country is misused, First Nations should address it. Alternatively, the issue may stem from Land Council control over Native Title Holders or financial motivations if Welcome to Country funds are not distributed as desired. Ultimately, the ceremony itself is not at fault.

Native Title Determinations amongst First Nations commonly face internal disputes over roles, responsibilities, and control. Verbal abuse, violence, or threats of violence at Native Title meetings are frequent and widespread. Some PBC representatives have had their Juru ancestry challenged. Past meetings have involved familial disputes with threats and physical assaults against elders There has not even been any distinction between the people of the upper and lower Burdekin, nor our connection to neighbouring Nations who share boundaries and culture.

Like many Native Title bodies, ours faces internal conflicts. I prefer to avoid the divisive "game" of control, a legacy of colonisation, that pits First Nations people against each other. Native Title inherently divides communities. The Native Title Representative body, not the Juru people as a whole, made the Welcome to Country decision, which was inevitably going to face criticism. No evidence suggests all Juru people wanted Welcome to Country ceremonies banned.

Who is an elder?

There has also been much discussion recently about who an elder is, as the position varies. This was brought up regarding the NAIDOC theme of 2023 "For our elders".

The title of "Elder" in First Nations cultures is a community-bestowed honour, not determined by age or formal election. It's earned through possessing and sharing knowledge, protecting country, and embodying a lifelong commitment to Aboriginal lore. Even significant experience, like 35+ years of participation, doesn't automatically qualify someone as an Elder, highlighting the ongoing and deeply personal nature of this recognition. An "elderly" person in their late age would also be classified as an elder. Someone who has been an advocate for First Nations and spent decades fighting for First Nations rights, working for the community. etc, so again the definition is not fixed. First Nations culture varies across communities and represents a lifelong journey. Even with over 35 years of participation in Aboriginal traditions, some individuals may not consider themselves elders.

Attack on Welcome to Country

It is not surprising that the story of the Juru decision was jumped on by conservative media and racists in disguise. An attack and propaganda campaign against Welcome to Country has been launched since the Juru decision and Indigenous Politician Senator Jacinta Price is now on the front line of this attack.

Senator Price has no connection to Juru country or visited Townville or Palm Island to speak with Juru people. The Senator's opinion about a place and people she does not know and has never associated with is disrespectful and in no way is supported by the Juru people. The majority if not all Juru people reject the Senator speaking on their behalf, she is from a desert country and does not hold the acquired knowledge to survive and travel through Juru country.

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price

Senator Price's politics are seen by many as regressive. Her opinions, often lacking factual basis or internally inconsistent, are prolific enough to warrant dedicated rebuttal.

Furthermore, Senator Price has faced allegations mirroring the contentious behaviour sometimes seen in Indigenous community meetings. Specifically, the 2018 incident where her family was accused of verbally abusing and threatening Councilor Catherine Satour, leaving her shaken and in fear for a whole year that is often overlooked. Senator Price rejects any suggested involvement, or inspiration.

Over the past 7 years, there have been more rejections of Senator Jacinta Price than any other First Nations representative in the history of Australian Politics.  :

• She has been rejected by the local community

• Cancelled her visit to a Kempsey Pub this year because of fear and denies any involved or inspired fear in what occurred with Councilor Satour in 2018.

• Petitions and social media pages were created against Price speaking for First Nations people.

• The videos of her supporters usually appear to be her family and friends, obviously alluding to a support base that is not there.

• Senator Price has been said to legitimise racism and her comments about Indigenous funding seem to be reaching for something not there or misleading.

• One Hundred Elders from different communities have rejected her speaking for them

• Apparently during the "Voice" campaign, she slid into Townsville unnoticed, speaking straight to the conservative Townsvillians ignoring First Nations people which include many Juru people.

It's unprecedented to see such widespread and repeated rejection of a spokesperson by First Nations people, yet the Senator retains that role. While physical violence is no longer the tool of suppression, figures like Senator Price appear to be used to maintain the status quo. Opposition to the Voice existed within First Nations communities, including some Juru Native Title representatives, though likely for reasons differing from the Senator's conservative stance. Unsurprisingly, 2GB radio, which is known for decades of  racist views through former host Alan Jones, seized on the Juru decision. Juru's advocacy for sovereignty is something Conservatives oppose.

A poll of First Nations people nationwide would likely reveal overwhelming opposition to Senator Price. While many support auditing Aboriginal organizations, they wouldn't support Senator Price and her conservative allies using audit results to advance their agenda.

Since the recent "Voice" referendum, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has also cost more than Welcome to Country over three years.

Politicians and Hopeless Arguments

Conservative politicians and media persist with divisive arguments. Following the LNP Queensland Premier's cancellation of the Truth-Telling process and Peter Dutton's threat to remove First Nations flags, they are now attacking Welcome to Country ceremonies, carrying on the culture wars. The Juru people's decision further complicates efforts to combat racist myths about First Nations history, especially given the referendum's outcome. As evidenced by online commentary, ignorance and racism surrounding Welcome to Country remain an everyday ritual. Queensland has a history of silence exemplified by the Burdekin Mayor's predictable reaction to the Juru decision.

[“We had the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ vote and that vote should have been listened to at that time as well. We’re multicultural, we’re one country and we’ve all got to learn to live and work together. - Burdekin Mayor Pierina Dalle Cort 

The Mayor's comments, like much social media discourse, demonstrate a continued lack of understanding of First Nations' diversity. The referendum was solely about enshrining a Voice to Parliament, an advisory body, in the Constitution. Claims that it concerned Welcome to Country ceremonies, treaties, truth-telling, appropriation of culture, or government spending are inaccurate and misrepresent the purpose of the vote.

The Mayor's comment, framing Welcome to Country as a "nice early Christmas present," ignores the diversity of First Nations and reveals a lack of understanding regarding its significance. I assume the mayor also shares the same view as the Premier on truth-telling. Should the Juru people just be glad and grateful that they are not living in their grandparents' time?

Korah Halcomb Wills(First Mayor of Bowen and later Mayor of Mackay) wrote in his 1890s memoir that he had kidnapped a little Aboriginal girl who rode on the front of his saddle crying the whole 129 km to Bowen. His journal entry straight after this event stated - that he cut up an Aboriginal body into pieces in front of his friends and later stripped the flesh of it by the river.

"I took it in my head to get a few specimens of certain limbs and a head of a Black fellow... I first found the subject I had intended to anatomize when my friends were looking on, and I commenced operations dissecting. I went to work business like to take the head off first, and then the arms, and then the legs, and gathered them together and put them in my pack saddle" Korah Halcomb Wills

Australians need to stop claiming First Nations people blame them for the past when they simply have legal rights as colonised people.

The Queensland government, not Britain or contemporary Australians, was responsible for the Native Mounted Police and massacres of First Nations people near Bowen, leaving a massive gap in our genealogies.

[‘We arm aboriginals, put them in uniform, teach them drill, make them an erring marksman, and then detail them out to deliberately massacre other aboriginals not of their own tribe. We actually seek the extermination of the blacks by murders ordered by the state" -  Queensland Figaro, 14/2/1885:199]

Australians need to learn some of the law instead of thinking their political opinions can change the rights of First Nations People. The fact is. First Nations people have certain rights under Western Law. They have a right to assert the law against a government forced upon their ancestors. Without consent, agreement/Treaty, they are in a unique position of law that cannot be removed by theft, fraud, or illegal possession.

"The inhabitants of any country, who are descended, and derive a title to their estates from those who are subdued, and had a government forced upon them against their free consents, retain a right to the possessions of their ancestors. ...[they] have always a right to ...free themselves from the usurpation or tyranny which the sword hath brought in upon them." - John Locke, Two Treatises of Civil Government.

Whether as subjects of the Crown, Citizens of Australia or First Nations, these rights still exist and cannot be removed by bigoted selfish Australians and their attitude.

" No man’s property can legally be taken from him or invaded by the direct act or command of the sovereign [ie. the King], without the consent of the subject … is a jus indigene, an old home-born truth, declared true by diverse statutes of the realm." - 17th-century jurist Sir Christopher Yelverton(See Broome, Constitutional Law viewed in relation to Common Law.

First Nations people did not need to be farmers and have agriculture etc, nor needed to fit any Western definition of civilisation, these rights are inherent in both British and International Law and no Australian can change them with their bigoted opinions. It is now established that our ancient British ancestors still had black skin only 3000 years ago, and many were still without agriculture etc. If we could travel back in a time machine they would almost certainly reject the idea of whiteness being superior and probably find it hard to believe that Australians using "Whiteness" as a form of superiority are even their descendants.

Australians need to wake up to their nonsense teachings of race, as the fact is that no one even called each other Black or White before 500 years ago. Australia has been out of step with the law for centuries and the only way to fix it is to bring itself back in step. Foundational racism overwhelms and blinds Australians, and conservative politicians keep manipulating the psyche of Australians with lies and delusional beliefs. None of this changes the law or removes the rights of First Nations.

Australians should distinguish between accountability and blame when discussing First Nations people and the past. The current attacks on Welcome to Country, First Nations people, and conservative political agendas are reminiscent of the Aboriginal Protection Acts highlighting the limited acceptance of First Nations activism and pursuit of legal rights compared to actions undertaken for perceived "White" reasons. We are all guilty of living in a white racist-dominated society or failing to take action to combat it. There are no justifications for racism and the denial in this country is obvious.

It is telling that First Nations people must still validate their culture for descendants of those who attempted to eradicate it, even as those descendants disclaim responsibility for their ancestors' actions. The fact that I had to write this blog is not only telling but illuminates the pure race-driven agenda that is foundational to this country. If racism were not so powerful and effective at keeping First Nations people in their place, Australia would have given it up a long time ago.