Charles Pakana:

As the mainstream media continues to give coverage to politicians and ex-sporting stars who simply fail to recognize the role that a Welcome to Country has in the Australian societal landscape, it’s time we learned more about it. And joining me today to talk about the Welcomes to Country is Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung elder and lore man, Uncle Bill Nicholson.

Uncle Bill, thanks for joining us on the program again today.

Uncle Bill Nicholson:

No problem, Uncle Charles. Thanks for some time to speak about this important issue.

Charles:

Well, it is an important issue and it’s something that’s quite topical in the news as I’ve mentioned previously. Let’s just get an understanding what it means, the Welcome to Country, from a traditional perspective, not the contemporary one that we’ve seen since 1976. Traditionally, what was the Welcome to Country used for?

Uncle Bill:

In a modern way of explaining it, it was a formal ceremonial process based on law. So it was a ceremony that had to be done by people who were coming home to Country for the many reasons. So it was a process that allowed people to feel culturally safe to conduct their business and that business was generally human business. Why do people interact? It could be everything from obligations to one another to spiritual obligations, family, just general knowledge sharing and interaction because generally, who you were meeting was your extended family in some way or associates in some way.

Charles:

But these would still be ceremonies that would be afforded to people coming from outside, so, let’s say, a geographic boundary.

Uncle Bill:

Yeah, yeah. The process in itself, we had actually an individual within the tribe, which we call in language the Witty Giddy [sp]. The Witty Giddy was instructed and was given the responsibility to actually send the message to the neighbors.

Charles:

Right.

Uncle Bill:

And that message was done in what’s generally known as message sticks, which we say in language [foreign language 00:02:00] which is making word on wood. And now these messages were varied. I’ve actually found some information to say that there was kind of two types of them. One was kind of a message that we would send to our neighbors, I guess, for a positive sort of gathering, as I touched on earlier, for those family obligations, for example, and others, as humans do, were for dispute reasons.

Charles:

Well, let’s say, for example, someone from Taungurung, we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of years ago, were to come down to the northern boundaries of the Wurundjeri people. What typically would happen before they could legitimately set foot on Wurundjeri country?

Uncle Bill:

Well, the Witty Giddy himself, he would go and find… I believe he would’ve known during the time of year where people would’ve been, that he wanted to communicate with. He went to a high spot near where their, and I use this word deliberately, their village site was because I used the word village instead of a campsite because it was a structured place.

Charles:

Sure.

Uncle Bill:

He would go to a high point where they were and light a really smoky fire to get their attention. Then delegates from the tribe that he wanted to communicate with would be sent out to him and that’s where he would convey either one of those messages. If it was a dispute message, it would be taken back. He’d be told to wait and it’d be taken back to the elders of the tribe who he’d want to engage with. And then there’d be a response coming back from those same delegates.

Charles:

So where does the Welcome to Country actually come into play though?

Uncle Bill:

Once all this was sorted out, what the gathering was about…

Charles:

It wasn’t just knock on the door, then you come in, and then yarn about it. It’s understanding what the requirements were.

Uncle Bill:

What the requirements were.

Charles:

What the subject was.

Uncle Bill:

And then it was up to obviously the decision-makers of the tribe of what time, when, and whether there was actually going to be a gathering depending on the reason for it. But when it did happen, and by the way, these particular ceremonies happened in places where people still gather to this day.

Charles:

Like where?

Uncle Bill:

Like the MCG, the Botanical Gardens, one of our very special places off the Eastern highway there off Bolin Road called Bolin Bolin.

Charles:

Yeah, of course.

Uncle Bill:

That was the place where the more extended, longer periods of ceremony occurred due to the eel migration. But generally, where people gather today are on ceremonial sites and wherever there’s a ceremonial site that engage with others, the tanderrum naga, which is the ceremonial name for Welcome to Country, occurred.

Charles:

Once the purpose of the Witty Giddy’s visit had been established and decision was made to have an event at one of these special places, let’s talk now about the actual mechanics, if you like, of the Welcome to Country, how it was done and what they actually meant and what were the obligations on those visiting the country and on those who were welcoming the visitors to country?

Uncle Bill:

Yes, as I touched on earlier with a sort of contemporary explanation about cultural safety, that was a key ingredient for the visitors to feel while they’re on country because the opposite really is like a trespasser and you’d be in all sorts of trouble if you consider trespassing on someone’s land. But I believe the most detail I can find about the tanderrum naga was a large ceremonial circle was formed and I believe women formed half of that circle and men the other and I believe that the matriarchs and patriarchs of the individual families were surrounded by their immediate families creating that large ceremonial circle. The visitors would come in with a big pole wrapped in bark and actually on fire creating smoke and the smoke symbolism I’ll touch on shortly because it’s a real key part of the actual feeling, welcome to the land. And I believe, too, there may have been different versions of this, but the more communal version, I believe, had two fires. One was for the women and one was for the men. And I believe that women and men welcomed individuals, men and women, to that ceremonial fire to sit.

But before that happened, we would offer what we call in language a tarnak with paan in it. So a tarnak is a wooden bowl. Comes off the burls of eucalypts, mainly red gum, and paan is water. So it would be full of water. We would have a reed straw. We would stir the water. We’d sip the water from the reed and then offer it to our guests. In the history sort of explanation of this written by the white fellas, they talk about a safety symbolism to it, which it would be. But I also add to that it was a trust and respect symbol as we sip the water first. Water is sacred in our culture where you’re physically responsible to it and spiritually connected to it. So we’d sip it first and then we’d offer it to our guests and they’d sip it in response or in respect, I guess, you could say.

The fire in itself, when we put leaves on the fire, the way I like to explain that is I guess fire in itself is what I call a gift from Bunjil, our creator. It’s a gift to help manage the land. It is a symbol today where land is mismanaged, unfortunately, where we do get those horrible wildfires that are too common. If you consider fire a physical cleanser of the land, which it was in a traditional landscape, creating smoke on that fire is a symbolization of what we call the spiritual cleansing of Murrup Balak, which is the spirit of people, the spiritual energy of people themselves, and the Morrup Bilk, which is the spiritual energy of the Earth.

Charles:

Energy, yup.

Uncle Bill:

And they’re very much interconnected in traditional culture. By doing that spiritual cleansing symbolism, I believe it made people extra at ease before they come onto country because our old people were very spiritual people believing in the good and bad spiritual energies around. And to start off with the engagements where the cleansing occurred, people would’ve been at ease to conduct their business as such from there on.

I also believe that… well, I don’t believe. I’ve come across information that as a host, we sort of looked after our guests for the first couple of days when they come under country, as they would’ve walked quite a distance. They would’ve probably been a bit tired and so forth. They rest up a bit, and part of the symbolism of the ceremony of offering vegetation of the local area. A lot of elders use the Wadong leaf these days. Wadong comes from Wadongdjeri, which the manna gum tree. We’re sort of named after that tree as a symbolism of being able to utilize the sacred resources, so that’s your plant, animal, and water while you are visiting Wurundjeri country.

Charles:

So it was a dual responsibility, responsibility on the Wurundjeri as the host to care for the visitors and also responsibility on the visitors to care for the country and obviously treat it with respect. A lot of that’s through symbolism. You mentioned what was a [foreign language 00:09:24].

Uncle Bill:

Yeah, tarnak.

Charles:

A tarnak. So a tarnak and the water. What other elements are you aware of that were part of this Welcome to Country ceremony in the old days?

Uncle Bill:

I have come across some oral history and sometimes, it’s hard to convey this to some as sometimes, people believe that if it’s not written down by a white man in a history book, it’s not true. But we are an oral history culture. I have come across some yarn about the reed spear, which I do know is a passive symbol because the Witty Giddy himself would carry the reed spear. He’d carry the message stick. He’d wear something called a branjip, which was a fibrous belt around his waist. And I believe, too, that he had a reddish brown ochre on his face as a symbol to anyone who’d come across him. If he stumbled across someone on his way to send a message, they knew what he was there for, that he wasn’t a trespasser. So the reed spear is not an aggressive symbol such as a big eight to 10-foot jagged kangaroo hunting spear would be. So the shaft of the spear being broken and thrown to the ground symbolizing that no spear would be raised against you. As I said, it’s oral history. That’s not my particular knowledge, but I have heard that.

Charles:

Let’s now bring it to contemporary times and the contentious contemporary times. According to research, it was in 1976 that we had Ernie Dingo and Richard Wally conduct what they reckoned to be the first contemporary Welcome to Country. Let’s talk about what it means nowadays to you as an elder when you do a Welcome to Country and we’ll make it a personal thing because all the Welcomes I’ve seen, they’re always a very personal thing. All the elders have different ways of doing things. But for you, what does it mean?

Uncle Bill:

When I conduct Welcome to Countries, first of all, from the very earliest days when my elders allowed me to do them, I felt that I’ve got a captive audience. And for a black fellow, it’s very [inaudible 00:11:27].

Charles:

[inaudible 00:11:27] educator.

Uncle Bill:

But that audience that I was speaking to, I wanted them to walk away from that, either the ceremony or the speech, knowing a little bit about what that was all about. So I try and make it as educational as possible, give you a little bit of a context to it. But I also say to people too that we’re not obliged to welcome everyone to country either if they don’t respect the people, the culture, and the land.

There was a custom where if you were handed the [foreign language 00:11:59], which is the fire sticks, that symbolized that you turn around and go home. I haven’t done that to anyone yet, but-

Charles:

You must be tempted. Come on.

Uncle Bill:

… there’s probably a few out there I’d like to.

But yeah. But to me, it’s adapted to mainly speeches today, but it’s some of the bigger events, especially when we’re inviting other mobs to our country, we’d like to do it as ceremonial as possible, and that’s internationally as well with other cultural groups as well where in a lot of times, they will respond their way. And that’s a really powerful feeling when people respond to being welcomed. But in a way, it’s a cultural practice continuing.

As an educator, I always like to remind people that yes, we are considered one of the oldest cultures on Earth, but we’re also a living culture to this day and that’s a key priority for me. Wurundjeri education, Wurundjeri general to keep culture alive, to pass that to our future generation. So this ceremony has been conducted probably since the beginning of human interaction, which is a long time and to continue it today is really important and I always sort of share with the people who invite us to come and do welcomes. It’s a show of respect because in the modern day when people gather on our land and they ask an elder to come and do a welcome, it’s how things have been for thousands of years. And even if they don’t realize that, they get to understand that when an elder or someone does a Welcome to Country, so…

Charles:

What do you say, though, to situations, rather than individuals, but to situations where the Welcome to Country is held up as a racially divisive practice that really is unnecessary because we’re all Australians and Uncle Bill, I’m just quoting others, of course, as you recognize.

Uncle Bill:

I’ve heard this one before.

Charles:

And why do we need to be welcomed to our own country?

Uncle Bill:

Country to me has two meanings, maybe more. Even in our language, we’ve got two words for country. One is the physical ground and one is the Earth itself, that connection to country. So country translates to bilk, which is the land which we are from and what we’re responsible to, and natop is the actual physical ground that everything grows and lives on. In a modern context, see, country is something we are culturally responsible to and like to share that with people. And the custom of this country for thousands of years has been ceremonial processes like this.

Charles:

Sure.

Uncle Bill:

Australia as a country is quite new in that context. It was founded, to be honest, with a racial discrimination mindset back in 1901 with the white Australia policy and so forth. And I kind of get where people are coming from and they say, “Oh, welcome to my own country.” But this ceremony of welcoming is a custom of this land and it has been for thousands of years. It’s a cultural custom that people have been doing, and it’s part of our cultural practice. And if we don’t conduct these practices that they die away. So when we welcome non-Indigenous people, we’re welcoming them through this cultural practice that has been a custom of allowing people to feel safe on our country to do their business. So we’re not welcoming them to Australia. We’re welcoming them through our cultural customs to this land that we have been caring for for thousands of years.

Charles:

Have you seen more and more elders take advantage of the Welcomes to Country to do as you do and that is use it as an educational platform to bring back some of that cultural awareness that for decades, if not centuries, the colonizers sought to eradicate?

Uncle Bill:

Yes, yes. Well see, to me, culture in a very simple way of explaining it is a set of values based on an identity and a question that I like to ask in my cultural awareness training, which if you want to send a room quiet, you ask this question, “What is Australian culture?” And because I believe back in 1901, it could have easily been answered due to the white Australia policy and mindset, even though Aboriginal people were here at that time too, but totally ignored. I think today, obviously, it’s a tough one to answer because we’re multicultural in this country and there’s different perspectives of what being Australian is, I guess. But yes, I believe anyone who gets up and does a Welcome that we actually have allowed some of our younger people to do them.

Charles:

I’ve noticed this, yeah.

Uncle Bill:

Who have earned their right and they’ve got the confidence to speak about what we’ve been talking about, but also to speak in front of people and to stand proud in their own identity, to share who they are and whose land that you’re on and their connection to it. So elders are very proud to get up and do Welcome to Countries when they speak on many different occasions. I find it quite fascinating actually at doing Welcome to Countries. We meet so much of the community out there. It’s very varied. It’s never boring and I always meet different people, so…

Charles:

Have you ever had negative responses from people when you’ve done Welcomes to Country? We’ll get into the nitty-gritty of it there.

Uncle Bill:

Probably the most negative response I’ve ever had is it happens too much and it loses its value.

Charles:

What are your thoughts on that?

Uncle Bill:

When people say that to me, I sort of say to people, “The people you mix with or you work with or any groups you’re associated with, what’s the culture or what’s important to you when you gather with one another?” So for instance, a local council I’ve been speaking to lately, I say to them, “I don’t know your culture. I don’t work with you, but you know your culture.” When you have special gatherings on Wurundjeri land, that might be the appropriate time to do an acknowledgement because it’s based on respect because Welcome to Countries were not done all the time. They were done for interaction with others, important occasions of interaction with others. And that respect word is a key to what we say in language [foreign language 00:18:22], which is building unity in the community. We talk about reconciliation. We have for a long time now, and it can’t be gained in any form if there’s no respect shown. And to me, for non-Indigenous people doing acknowledgements, it’s from a respectful angle and I guess they have an understanding that they are on Aboriginal lands and that’s why they’re doing it.

Charles:

And we will talk with Uncle Bill later on. We’ll talk about a couple of months further on down the track about acknowledgements to country, and we’ll also be speaking to other elders from other mobs as well. Until then, Uncle Bill, thanks so much indeed for your time and insights into this, well, contentious but important matter.

Uncle Bill:

As an elder of Wurundjeri, this is a custom that’s been around a long time and I can’t see it ending anytime soon.

Charles:

Thanks, Unc.