Liturgies

In the post resurrection Gospel story Thomas is the one who refuses to see what others see; he refuses to believe until the proof that he stipulates is produced. As a nation we continue to refuse to see that this land was seized from the first peoples in a violent way, without negotiation or recognition of their sovereignty or ownership. We refused to acknowledge the frontier war which raged for 150 years. It was written out of our history. Like John Cleese, in that famous episode of Fawlty Towers, when a concussed and bandaged Basil Fawlty, overcome with anxiety at having Germans in his restaurant, says firstly to the demented Major living in the hotel, and then to everyone else, “Don’t Mention the War, Major.” It is the ideal symbol for the way settler Australians have carried themselves for most of our past. We don’t want to talk about how this land was brutally stolen; we prefer the term “settled”. It was far from settled peacefully, and far from the mere blemish on our history that leaders such as John Howard describe this appalling brutality of seizure; it was more a leprosy and the gangrenous invasion of the entire body. In two weeks’ time we will be celebrating what we have been told was a defining moment in our nationhood. In the words of Historian Henry Reynolds, the fateful invasion of Turkey at the direction of the Imperial Government, Australian troops landing on the fatal shores of Gallipoli, 100 years ago. He goes on to note, “That this extraordinary flowering of military history has taken many older Australians by surprise because it is unprecedented”. There has never been a time to compare with the relentless, lavishly funded public campaign to make war the central defining experience of national life. But the frontier conflict is not included in the swelling project of military history, which is diminished by the single-minded focus on wars fought far away. Therefore it would be unconscionable to indulge in a crescendo of commemoration and ignore the fundamental importance of the war between settlers and indigenous nations within Australia .This is the forgotten war of conquest that saw the expropriation of the most productive land over vast continental distances, and the unlawful transfer and the transfer of sovereignty from the Aborigines to the British government and its successor colonial administrations. This is the war that made the nation, not the fateful invasion of Turkey at the direction of the British imperial government. I grew up like most of you I presume with little or no understanding or knowledge of the real history of this country. I have often heard over the years “I love going to Europe where there is so much History; we have such little history because we are such a young country”. Such ignorance still goes unchallenged. I grew up never knowing the name of the traditional owners of the land I walked upon – Giabul, Jarowair and Jagera peoples of Toowoomba. I did not know that on our Grade 4 excursion on the hottest day in 10 years to the summit of Table Top mountain, known by Aborigines as “one Tree Hill” (the indigenous name has faded like so much of our history)-that it was one of the most sacred sites to Aboriginal people; and the centre of one of the greatest battles to have taken place in 1843 “The Battle of One Tree Hill”. On 12^th September 1843, an elder of the Jagera tribe called Multuggera led around 100 Aborigines  in an ambush of three drays heading up the range crossing. This was an attempt to starve the newcomers and rid the Downs of these invaders (not settlers as recorded in white history books. Most of the invaders escaped to a campsite of a group of squatters and police. Multuggera and his men took supplies from the drays and retreated to One Tree Hill. From there they continued their guerrilla warfare for some time. Eventually when reinforcements came from Brisbane, Multuggera and his men were confronted and defeated with superior numbers and firepower. Domville Taylor has drawn this sketch of the battle. There are very few visual images of conflict between Europeans and Aboriginal people. In this drawing done during or at least soon after the event, depicts the superior firepower of the Colonists. Strong stylistic hints suggest the immediacy of a there and then sketch – 11 European men and 25 Aboriginal men, women and children. Note: 2 mothers fleeing with a baby on their backs. The reprisals against Aboriginal people in this area happened for many years after this famous battle. Similar battles and confrontations happened for 150 years throughout Australia and it is only in recent times have these stories found their way into our history books. In the mid nineteen ninety’s with the election of John Howard, the suppression of this history began anew and the recording of such history was referred to as the Black Arm Band View of history. Money began pouring into Public Institutions, particularly schools, to emphasize the Wars fought on foreign shores. Schools were sponsored to send groups to such places as Gallipoli, and the plethora of other such memorials and sponsorships, but nothing for the memorials or commemorations of the wars that were fought on Australian soil between aborigines and white colonists. The Silence is deafening and particularly in light of the indulgent crescendo of commemoration of Gallipoli at the moment. It is incumbent on us to find out about our REAL HISTORY. To seek it out however difficult and where possible to let others know. To strive to get recognition for the first peoples who fought hard to maintain their land, their mother, their identity, their dignity. Henry Reynolds writes “Lest We Forget is not so much a sacred phrase as a sacred incantation. It provides the guiding spirit for the many memorials to soldiers who fought in wars overseas, but for the “forgotten war”, the incantation, Best We Forget,” is the mantra adopted by a people who wish to forget or not even know and become content with a white-washed account of our past that ultimately honours no-one and nothing. In choosing a lie then facing the truth with Honour and Integrity, we become a hollow nation without a soul. The first peoples who died fighting for their country need to be acknowledged and remembered and we can acknowledge that this Forgotten War is no longer forgotten and that honest acknowledgement may begin our healing and making as a nation, for when we do, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM, LEST WE FORGET.