Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Next year marks the 250th anniversary of James Cook's first voyage to the east coast of Australia. While there are mixed feelings about this anniversary, of course, it is hard to deny it is an especially significant anniversary for the land we now call Australia.

One project that I will certainly be celebrating is the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies' Return of Cultural Heritage project. AIATSIS, located on Lake Burley Griffin here in my electorate of Canberra, will investigate and facilitate the return of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage materials from overseas back to country. Through investigation of the holdings of international collecting institutions, many in Britain, a database of cultural heritage objects, audio visual and images held in overseas collections will be developed. In doing so, AIATSIS will continue to build relationships with overseas collecting institutions and First Nations communities, further establishing the case with these institutions of the importance of returning items held overseas to their country of origin. AIATSIS also hopes to build a business case for a future work program. The process of repatriation of cultural heritage will be a long one, and further funding by Australian governments and effort by Australian collecting institutions will be required.

The process of returning cultural heritage is important for a number of reasons. In my mind, the most important reason is that the return of cultural heritage will support a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the rich cultural heritage of our First Nations people. Non-indigenous Australia is waking up to this rich cultural heritage of this land's First Nations. We are waking up, with the help of thought leaders like Bruce Pascoe and his book, Dark Emu, to the sophistication of Aboriginal cultures and societies. We are waking up to the rich and numerous languages and dialects that have in many places survived colonisation. Other languages, such as the language of the Ngunawal people of the Canberra region, have been resurrected through a comprehensive process of research.

The thing that has struck me as I learn more about our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures is that these cultures have been staring us in the face in spite of the active suppression of these cultures by colonisers. Whether it is the artefacts still visible at Tidbinbilla or Namadgi here in the ACT, aquaculture systems in the Budj Bim cultural landscape of the Gunditjmara people in Victoria or the use of observations by early settlers and colonists to piece together cultural histories and languages, First Nations cultures are there to be understood and embraced if Australia as a nation chooses to do so. It is clear to me that Canberrans and Australians across the country are eager to learn more about the oldest continuing civilisations that inhabited this land before white settlement and continue to inhabit this country now.

In addition to work on international returns of cultural heritage, significant returns have occurred in Canberra, including the return of Mungo Man by the ANU to the Willandra Lakes area of western New South Wales in 2017. Mungo Man, Australia's oldest human remains, confirmed that people have lived in the Willandra Lakes for over 40,000 years. The significance of this return should not be underestimated, with traditional owners expressing the spiritual significance of the return, as well as its importance in the ongoing process of reconciliation in Australia. And now the Mungo Man story will be part of the Australian history curriculum, with a program designed for year 4 to year 7 students launched in Melbourne earlier this month. The Mungo Man example demonstrates the broad range of impacts the return of First Nations cultural heritage has, not only for First Nations communities but also for our nation as a whole.

I support the member for Kingsford Smith's motion calling on the government to support AIATSIS and the Return of Cultural Heritage project and to identify educational opportunities that the return of these important Australian cultural items provide. Australians, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and the broader community, have a strong desire to see First Nations culture incorporated more broadly into our education systems, into our politics and into our everyday lives. Just like New Zealand has embraced Maori culture, the opportunities for Australia to incorporate First Nations cultural heritage are immense.

Here in the ACT, the Legislative Assembly moved a motion last week to begin each sitting day with an acknowledgement of country in the Ngunawal language. I call on this parliament to adopt this approach also, with our daily acknowledgement of country delivered in the language of the Canberra region.

The suffering of our First Nations peoples is significant and continues to be felt through the generations. It is projects like the AIATSIS Return of Cultural Heritage and regular acknowledgement of our first peoples in places like this parliament that provide the building blocks for achieving really significant changes. (Time expired)

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