Liz Wilson

This Land was Forcefully Taken

If genocide was not attempted ... then why were my people massacred in the Dawson River...?

My name is Liz Wilson. I'm a proud indigenous woman from the Jiman people of Central Queensland. I was in attendance at the debate between Keith Windschuttle and Henry Reynolds. As a single mother of two daughters, I have found that teaching your children to be proud of their culture, and to know who they really are, a hard achievement, but I have done that and they now know the real history of Australia.

As a child, I was ashamed of being of Aboriginal descent and it is because of people's small mindedness and the negativity of people like Keith Windschuttle that I felt that way. To me, being Aboriginal meant that I would grow up in a park and be nothing but vermin to society, to be nothing but a drone to be homeless and ignored because of the colour of my skin. It was my wonderful Nana who took the time to teach me the real beauty of who I am and where I came from – she taught the richness, sacredness and the real truth of being an Australian Aborigine. Now I can proudly say I am Aboriginal and proud to be Aboriginal.

A few points Keith Windschuttle made convinced me this man knew nothing about our culture and history. If genocide was not attempted in Australia, then why were my people massacred in the Dawson River in the Central Queensland Belt?

Another point, does it matter if only 20 deaths or 2,000? Deaths did occur and people lost loved ones. Isn't that the real issue – that lives were lost unnecessarily? With these numbers of deaths, were they just numbers for the adults that were murdered or did they include the children who died as a consequence of these actions? I'd like to know how much time Keith has spend with the Aborigines and if he went out to the real people and found out their stories he might not be so quick to slander them.

Another point is the importance of this land to the Aborigines. He talked of how we had no Aboriginal word for 'land' but to us this wasn't just land, it is our heart, soul, our sustenance, our Mother, basically our life and livelihood. Everything we ever needed came from this land; it was our grocery store, our pharmacy and our home. We were born from the land and we would return to the land. The British were the ones that were so preoccupied with land and its economic value; the Aborigines loved the land that gave them life.

Keith Windschuttle talked of the British offering the Aborigines gifts that were ignored and the British took this as rejection when in reality the Aborigines had no need for glass beads – they had never seen them before and didn't know how to use them. The Aborigines only carried with them the things they needed; as nomads they could only carry so much and beads and such were not seen as necessities.

As for being equal, I think Keith Windschuttle needs to face reality, because in my world I have not always been seen as equal. Assimilation does not equal equality – it is oppressive and ignorant. The Indigenous people have never been considered equal; if they had then they would have been recognised in the Australian Constitution of 1901. With the referendum of 1967, the clause in section 51, the reference to the 'Natives', was only crossed out, they were not properly recognised nor were they given any rights. Until the Aboriginal people are recognised as the traditional owners of this land and that this land was forcefully taken from them, we will never be equal. The government only offers band-aid solutions to problems caused by colonisation and the invasion.

The history of this country belongs to the English for 200 years but for my children and I, history goes for around 40,000 years. I'm proud of who I am and where I come from. I'm glad that my children and I attended this debate and that they now know the true history of this land, not only from my point of view but because they heard it for themselves and are able to fully understand the society that tries to ignore the real life and keep the Aborigines of this land oppressed.

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