Turning the tables on our colonisation

Burnum Burnum’s generous offer to England helps us recognise what happened to Australia’s Indigenous people, writes Bob Holderness-Roddam

Burnum Burnum’s proud declaration made me rethink ‘Australia Day’, and I stopped celebrating that date in future years. – BOB HOLDERNESS-RODDAM

More than 30 years ago, on January 26, 1988, an Aboriginal activist by the name of Burnum Burnum placed the Aboriginal flag on the iconic white cliffs of Dover to highlight the arrival of the First Fleet in Australia 200 years earlier. He then made a statement, which is known as the Burnum Burnum declaration. This is what he said:

“I, Burnum Burnum, being an aristocratic nobleman of ancient Australia, do hereby take possession of England on behalf of the Aboriginal crown.

“In doing so we wish no harm to you natives, but assure you that we are here to bring you good manners, refinement and an opportunity to make a ‘koompartoo’ – a fresh start.

“Henceforth, my face shall appear on your coins and stamps to signify our sovereignty over this domain.

“At the end of 200 years, we will make a treaty to validate occupation by peaceful means and not by conquest.

“For the more advanced, we bring the complex language of the Pitjantjatjara.

“We will teach you how to have a spiritual relationship with the Earth and show you how to get food from the bush.

“We do not intend to souvenir, pickle and preserve the heads of 2000 of your people, nor to publicly display the skeletal remains of your royal highness, as was done to our Queen Truganini for 80 years.

“Neither do we intend to poison your waterholes, lace your bread with strychnine or introduce you to highly toxic drugs.

“We acknowledge the need to preserve the Caucasian race as of interest to antiquity, although we may be inclined to conduct experiments by measuring the size of your skulls for levels of intelligence.

“We pledge not to sterilise your young women.

“We solemnly promise not to make a quarry of England and export your valuable minerals back to the old country Australia, but to encourage earth repair action to unite people, communities and religions in a common, productive, peaceful purpose.

“Finally, we give an absolute undertaking that you shall not be placed into the mentality of government handouts for the next five generations but you will enjoy the full benefits of Aboriginal equality.”

Back in 1970 I was accepted by the University of Tasmania as a matureage student in first year geology. The other units required for an understanding of geology included chemistry. The chemistry unit included a weekly laboratory session.

Having done relatively little chemistry prior to this course, I struggled with the laboratory sessions and was invariably one of the last students out of the lab. This meant that I arrived in the dining room in Hytten Hall when it was almost empty. However, this cloud had a silver lining.

One of the other students who was usually present with me was an Aboriginal law student by the name of Harry Penrith. Harry was clearly more mature age than I, in several ways. As a result of our dinner time conversations, Harry invited me to a demonstration against the continued incarceration of Truganini’s bones in the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. There were few of us there at that early demonstration; and my memory fails me on specific details.

Sadly, my father died in July of that year and I had to abandon my studies to return to the family sheep property in the wilds of Northumberland in the UK.

Somewhat unwillingly, I spent the next couple of years sorting out the family business, returning to Tasmania briefly to marry my Tasmanian fiancee at the end of 1970. By early 1973 I had sold the property and my wife and I were able to return to Tasmania with our nearly 18month-old son.

My priorities at that time were to find somewhere for my family to live and to build a career. We bought a bush block on the edge of New Norfolk, and I eventually found a position with Adult Education.

All this meant that I was “missing in action” for a couple of years from any form of environmental or social action.

I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of Harry Penrith when the Aboriginal community was engaged in its actions. Michael Mansell was one of the leading activists.

Burnum Burnum died on August 18, 1997. The obituaries in the newspapers over the following days finally explained to me what had happened to Harry Penrith. Until his untimely death aged 61, from diabetes-related complications, Harry had been very much alive and kicking.

Harry Penrith had changed his name, taking that of his great-greatgrandfather, Burnum Burnum McCrae, in the 1970s. According to the National Archives of Australia Harry was of Woiworung and Yorta Yorta heritage.

Like so many Aboriginal children, Burnum Burnum was a member of the Stolen Generation; after being forcibly removed from his family by government welfare agents he spent many years in children’s homes run by the NSW Aborigines Welfare Board.

Burnum Burnum’s proud declaration made me rethink Australia Day, and I stopped celebrating that date in future years. This year I will be attending the Aboriginal “Change the Date” march on January 26. Come and join us!

Bob Holderness-Roddam lived in Alice Springs for several months in 1967. He was appalled by the treatment of the Aboriginal population by the Northern Territory police. He subsequently served as a member of the Glenorchy Reconciliation Group.