I live and work on sovereign Aboriginal land

Always was, always will be...

Jaqi Pascoe - Philosophilia Hand

Despite the establishment of the industrialised nation we call Australia, I simply can't believe the British Crown's 250-year-old claim of sovereignty over this continent trumps the 60,000-year sovereignty of the world's oldest continuing culture and arguably history's most sustainable complex society. Since the Crown's claim was formally justified at the time of colonisation under the inalienable right of Christians to appropriate heathen lands, I find the premise contestable and the claim untenable.

So, in accordance with my (limited) understanding of appropriate behavioural protocols on sovereign Aboriginal territory, I offer my antecedents: I’m a seventh-generation Australian of English, Scottish, German and Italian heritage, raised on Gaimai land in an area of northern Sydney called The Forest. Much of my life has been spent in other cities, other countries, but I've lived and worked for more than twenty years on Gadigal land, in Redfern, downtown Sydney.

I believe living under dual sovereignty means settler Australians should...

  • Sign and promote the Uluru Statement from the Heart
  • Learn about Indigenous culture from Indigenous people
  • Support Indigenous self-government and community justice
  • Seek and follow Indigenous advice regarding land and climate management
  • Request that the British Crown formally return sovereignty to the Indigenous people of this continent by negotiation and treaty, thereby forcing Australian federal and state governments to share power with councils of Indigenous Elders