Welcome to Country

In Aboriginal culture prior to European settlement, each clan's survival was dependent upon its understanding of food, water and other resources within its own country – a discrete area of land to which it had more or less exclusive claim.[1] Traditional ownership has been legally recognised under native title in Australia since the Native Title Act 1993.

Connection to country (often spelt with a capital C) means more than just the land or waters in Aboriginal culture. There is no equivalent in the English language to describe that which permeates all aspects of existence: culture, spirituality, language, law, family and identity. Aboriginal people did not own land as property in the past, but their relationship to an area of land provides a deep sense of "identity, purpose and belonging" and is a relationship of reciprocity and respect.[2] "Country includes all living things ... It embraces the seasons, stories and creation spirits."[3] The history of a people with an area ("country") can go back for thousands of years and the relationship with the land is nurtured and sustained by cultural knowledge and by the environment. Disconnection from the land can impact health and wellbeing.[4] This connection is also reflected in such phrases as "caring for country" or "living on country" and related to the importance of land rights and native title.[5]

Welcomes to Country are a form of Aboriginal ceremony used to welcome other peoples from other areas[6] and as a cultural exchange. The Yolngu peoples engaged in the ceremony to welcome Dutch explorers in the seventeenth century, and with Makassan trepangers from the mid-eighteenth century. It is seen as a way of making newcomers feel comfortable and connected, and may be the basis for forging important future relationships.[7]

The 1973 Aquarius Festival held in Nimbin, New South Wales, by the Australian Union of Students (AUS) has been documented as Australia's first publicly observed Welcome to Country, although it was not called this at the time. Organisers of the alternative lifestyle festival, considered Australia's "Woodstock", were challenged by Indigenous activist Gary Foley to seek permission from traditional owners to hold the festival on their land. San people from the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, including artist Bauxhau Stone, were sent out by AUS representatives to invite Aboriginal people to the festival and funding from the Whitlam government paid for many busloads to travel to the festival. An estimated 200 to 800 Indigenous Australians attended the two-week festival, marking a significant kindling of relationships with Australia's counterculture. A ceremony was conducted by Uncle Lyle Roberts and song man Uncle Dickee Donnelly, the last known initiated men of the area.[8]

The second recorded Welcome to Country occurred in 1976, when entertainers Ernie Dingo and Richard Walley developed a ceremony to welcome a group of Māori artists who were participating in the Perth International Arts Festival. The welcome, extended on behalf of the Noongar people, was intended to mirror the visitors' own traditions, while incorporating elements of Aboriginal culture.[9] Walley recalled that[10] Māori performers were uncomfortable performing their cultural act without having been acknowledged or welcomed by the people of the land.

I asked the good spirits of my ancestors and the good spirits of the ancestors of the land to watch over us and keep our guests safe while they’re in our Country. And then I talked to the spirits of their ancestors, saying that we’re looking after them here and we will send them back to their Country.

— Richard Walley

Arts administrator Rhoda Roberts says that the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust was instrumental in developing both welcomes and acknowledgements to country during the 1980s.[11]

Acknowledgements of country are a more recent development, associated with the Keating government of the 1990s, the reconciliation movement and the creation of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) with Yawuru man Pat Dodson as chair. After the Mabo case, in which the historical fiction of terra nullius was overturned and native title was recognised in Australia. According to Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung man Tiriki Onus, head of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne, it was after Mabo that Acknowledgement of Country grew among "grassroots communities concerned with issues of reconciliation". Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney, a member of CAR in those days, has said that there was no formal strategy to bring the Acknowledgement of Country into Australian life, but it just grew organically and became accepted as part of many types of gatherings. It is seen as a good way to engage people with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture and the wider Australian community sees the relationship feels that its important to have a good relationship with Australia's Indigenous peoples.[12]

Welcomes and acknowledgements have since been incorporated into openings of meetings and other events across Australia, by all levels of government, universities, community groups, arts other organisations.[6][13][14][15]

Since 2008, when it was made on the day before Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the Apology to Australia's Indigenous peoples,[7] a Welcome to Country has been incorporated into the ceremonial opening of the Parliament of Australia, an event which occurs after each federal election. The welcome includes a speech as well as traditional music and dance. Given that parliament sits in Canberra, traditionally part of Ngambri country, a Ngambri elder officiates.[16]

The Victorian Government advised that Welcomes are advised for major public events, forums and functions in locations where traditional owners have been formally recognised. A Welcome to Country can only be undertaken by an elder, formally recognised traditional owner[13] or custodian to welcome visitors to their traditional country.[6] The format varies; it may include a welcome speech, a traditional dance, and/or smoking ceremony.

If a local elder is not available, or if the traditional owners have not been formally recognised for the area, an Acknowledgement of Country,[6] also known as Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners, performed by the host of the event, is appropriate. If there is no formal recognition of traditional ownership, it is advised to limit recognition to an Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners generally, without making a reference to the name of any specific traditional owners.[13]

The Victorian Government's wording for recognised traditional owners:[19]

Our meeting/conference/workshop is being held on the lands of the [Traditional Owner's name] people and I wish to acknowledge them as Traditional Owners. I would also like to pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and Aboriginal Elders of other communities who may be here today.

And for unknown traditional owners:[19]

I acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land [or country] on which we are meeting. I pay my respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Elders from other communities who may be here today.

The City of Adelaide's wording is (specifically tailored for the local Kaurna people):[14]

City of Adelaide acknowledges that we are meeting on the traditional country of the Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains and pays respect to Elders past and present.

We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and relationship with the land. We acknowledge that they are of continuing importance to the Kaurna people living today.

And we also extend that respect to other Aboriginal Language Groups and other First Nations.

The words "always was, always will be Aboriginal land" are sometimes included in Acknowledgement of Country, as acknowledgement that the land of Australia was never ceded.[20][21]

Similar acknowledgements, e.g. land acknowledgements, have become common at public events in Canada and have begun to be adopted by Native American groups in the United States.[22][23][24]