As a recognised First Nations scholar, theologian, activist and author I feel it necessary to respond to Greg Sheridan’s article in The Australian last week. This isn’t a tit-for-tat. I am not interested in debating facts, but I do wish to add to this discourse.
The official history of Australia omits details of invasion, theft of land, massacres, cultural genocide, the rape of women and children, slavery, and certainly contains no mention of the Stolen Generations. Australia’s First Nations peoples are no longer satisfied with being a melancholy footnote to history. We want the full history to be told — the good, the bad and the ugly.
Australia has many secrets and it is time for the truth to be spoken. We Christians have a great responsibility to be truth-tellers as we are called by God to be Christ’s ambassadors for reconciliation. I find it interesting that Sheridan refers to the referendum as “identity politics”, especially when colonial Australia has always developed legislation and policy on the grounds of race to control First Nations peoples. …
…Keep reading the article on Crikey.com.au
Professor Anne Pattel-Gray is Professor of Indigenous Studies and inaugural Head of the School of Indigenous Studies at the University of Divinity. She is a descendant of the Bidjara / Kari Kari people of Queensland and a celebrated Aboriginal leader.
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