The Canberra Times has jumped all over this bit of hilarity . Apparently a stoush has erupted between two indigenous groups over the traditional ownership of Canberra. The Ngunnawal people are currently recognised as the traditional custodians of the land, but the title is contested by the Ngambri people.
The standing disagreement took a dramatic turn earlier this week when ”Welcome to Canberra” signs were illegally changed.Five signs at entry points to the territory were altered from Ngunnawal Country and replaced with Ngambri Country some time between the weekend and Wednesday morning. The professional-looking Ngambri stickers were placed over the top of Ngunnawal to convincingly change the greeting.
The switch was noticed on Wednesday and TAMS moved quickly to restore the original message.
Mr Stanhope has indicated that the police will be involved to find the culprit, surely a fairly easy task one would think.
Loading ...
What’s Your opinion?
Who are the traditional owners?
Oldest to Newst
Captain RAAF said :
Nope, Cap’n. Finland, New Zealand, Canada . . . all countries with formal recongniton of their ‘first peoples’ built into treaties, constitutions and required to be acknowledged as such, including by action of legislation.
#53 +1 – since when has anyone “owned’ the land.
There have been as many as seven waves of Aboriginal migration into the country formally not known as Australia.
The first lot were akin to the Tasmanian aboriginal people who were a different race to the mainland mob.
Arguments about who were the “original” or “first” people and how they spelt their name is a joke and could easily be cleared up with a bit of DNA testing.
Are we the only country in the world that ‘acknowledges the traditional owners’?
I’ve been to ceremonies in the UK, Germany and the US and I’ve never heard them do anything like this???
It’s pandering, that’s all it is, it’s smoke and mirrors to appease a minority that has a minority in support of it’s claim on territorial land ownership.
We’re talking about the same kinds of people that when the big ‘Native title’ land grab commenced, were staking a claim to portions of the Pacific Ocean FFS! Why do people think that acknowledging them is going to make any difference to anything, all it does it drive the wedge between ‘us’ and ‘them’ a little deeper.
No matter how bad they think their lot in life is under the ‘White man’ since ‘Invasion Day’, just remember it could easily have been the Portuguese or the French that invaded Ngunnawal Country and put every one of them to the sword!
You are all on a good wicket, petty bickering about which tribe occupied a mound first, around 15,000 years ago makes you look like fools and just turns more white folk against your cause, no matter how noble or ‘right’ you think it is.
Thumper # 52
Prove it, do you have the family crest?
we belong to the land not the land to us
Yay the Normans! My forebears… In fact, William the Conquerer was half brother to my direct forbear.
Suck it up Sackies 😉
Oh – and – Yep they will go away in about 1000 years – Just like the SAXONS did!
Jim Jones said :
But Mr Jones, we actively ignore the others….
The Nunganwall were not the FIRST.!!! It is a bloody political stunt
Master_Bates said :
Indeed … and you could acknowledge the unnamed earlier tribes wiped out by the Ngunnawal, Ngambri, Waradjiri et al!
Master_Bates said :
Oh yes, much better to ignore them and just hope they go away. Taking 30 seconds to publicly acknowledge their existence and pay a bit of respect is all too onerous.
Ahem…
Thank you for that kind introduction. Firstly, let me acknowledge from the outset the traditional owners of this land, the people.
Oh no – If they change this then we will all have to write new intros to every govmit speech that happens.
It is a bloody tragedy that this still goes on.
In England – do they start speeches with “Firstly let me acknowledge the Anglo-Saxons….” no – They lost the battle in 1066, those who were unhappy moved out, and society as a whole continued.
If we continue down this path, then we will never end up at the end point, which is a single society – we will always have a them and us.
Woody Mann-Caruso said :
Got one. Breathes through it. Asks, “Is that about laying or sucking?”
I-filed said :
I have a feeling the answer to this is that any view that differs from that of ‘Aboriginal lobby’ will be deemed to be ‘racist’, regardless of how much sense it makes to question such things.
“Why is it a no-no to question inauthenticity – much of it fraud in most people’s understanding?”
Because apparently you are a racist if you do. I mean if you question anyone else’s authenticity that is valid, but dare do it as you explain and you’re a blanket racist, insensitive or intolerant.
Some of the worst racism I’ve seen actually travels in the reverse direction of what is expected
@monomania: Something about clutches?
I do feel for the loss of culture & knowledge, but there’s lots of sheer nonsense around attempting to compensate. I recall being in the company of a “local” Indig rep who waxed lyrical and at length about the old ways, and how they used to do this and that on Acton Peninsula before white settlement … by the water’s edge … etc etc. Didn’t of course know that the lake dates from um, is it 1962, and the “peninsula” never existed before then! Oh, and same person also went on about the Murrumbidgee’s great meanings and folklore, as the Murrumbidgee wended its way through Canberra past Mt Ainslie, etc, incorporating stories of the actual Murrumbidgee … didn’t know it’s the Molonglo running through Canberra … Another elder had a set of artefacts that she claimed were handcarved old things (she charged $400 a session to teach about them in schools) – they were clearly machine-made and some originated from the Top End. I also wonder about the origin of these “smoking ceremonies” applied locally. Why is it a no-no to question inauthenticity – much of it fraud in most people’s understanding?
Well said VY.