INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Aboriginal elder Gary Murray says the process carries a risk of "symbolic
genocide"
Australia is the only Commonwealth country never to make a treaty with its indigenous peoples
Why has it proven so difficult Kathy Marks looks at the vast challenges in Victoria alone - a state that is working towards a national
first.Every school holiday, the train would pick up Daria Atkinson and her four siblings, all aged under 10, and transport them - along with
thousands of other Aboriginal children from the countryside - to Melbourne, where they would spend up to two months living with a white
family."We had to call the adults mum and dad," recalls Ms Atkinson, now 56
"We were told how to sit at the table, how to eat properly
We weren't allowed to get dirty
We had to forget we were Aboriginal
But at least we got to go home - the Stolen Generations didn't."Having experienced first-hand one of Australia's misguided assimilation
programs, Ms Atkinson now works with members of the Stolen Generations in Victoria - people who were permanently separated from their
Many of them are still trying to reconnect with their community, culture and traditional country.The quest has acquired a new urgency as
Victoria paves the way for treaty discussions with the state's Aboriginal population - the first Australian jurisdiction to seek a formal
agreement with its original inhabitants.What is a treaty in this context A formal agreement that can redefine the relationship between a
government and indigenous peoplesFor many indigenous Australians, recognition of their sovereignty and right to self-determination are
prioritiesA treaty can acknowledge and apologise for past wrongs, and establish a "truth-telling" processIt can include compensation for
land and resources lost during colonisationIt can set out practical agreements on health, education, jobs and land use Multiple treaties,
with different groups, are a likely outcomeNext year will see the creation of a statutory Aboriginal Representative Body intended to be the
voice of indigenous Victoria, which will hammer out ground rules for treaty negotiations in conjunction with the state government.It has
Now controversy surrounds the representative body, where - under an official model - 11 of the 28 seats would be reserved for officially
acknowledged "language nations" which occupied particular regions before European settlement
There were, however, 38 such nations before colonisation
Image caption
The state of Victoria alone has 38 "language nations"
"So the other 27 will have to fight
over the leftovers," says Gary Murray, an Aboriginal elder, referring to the remaining 17 seats, to be decided via an election of all
"And that's discriminatory."Also potentially problematic is that only "traditional owners" - proven descendants of a language nation or clan
(extended family) - will be eligible to stand in the election, or participate in eventual treaty talks, or share in benefits flowing from a
That means that some of the "stolen" people could be, in a significant way, excluded from the treaty process - a process that indigenous
Australians have been demanding for decades, and which they hope will deliver them social justice and economic self-sufficiency while
helping to heal the wounds of the past.Meanwhile, there is a more immediate issue: a state election this Saturday, which could lead to the
process being junked, if the Labor government of Premier Daniel Andrews loses power
In South Australia, the conservative Liberal government abandoned treaty negotiations with three Aboriginal nations after winning an
election in March.The Victorian opposition leader, Matthew Guy, is opposed to a state-based treaty, arguing that "a national approach would
be a much better way to go".Australia is the only Commonwealth country yet to conclude a treaty with its First Nations, although the subject
has been debated on and off for years
Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke promised a treaty in 1988.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
Bob Hawke receives
the Barunga Statement, a landmark document, in 1988 - prompting his pledge for a treaty
With progress stalled at the federal
level, several states and territories have embarked on their own treaty process
First off the block, in February 2016, was Victoria - where Mr Andrews' government has discovered how protracted and tortuous the process
can be, even for just one state."It's mind-blowing, the amount of work that has gone into this to date," says Janine Coombs, one of the
traditional owners on the Aboriginal Treaty Working Group, which advises the Treaty Advancement Commission.That work has included four
state-wide forums, dozens of regional community consultations and "roadshows", a six-day "community assembly" in Melbourne, and legislation
enshrining the route to treaty talks, which the government hopes would discourage an incoming Liberal administration from jettisoning the
The election for the representative body, to take place across six voting regions, has thrown up multiple challenges
Should, for instance, traditional owners from interstate, now living in Victoria, be able to standWhat about indigenous Victorians living
elsewhere - in some cases just across the Murray River, which forms a boundary with New South Wales Image:The man who marched across
Australia to call for a treatyAnd how will the vexed question of who is eligible to vote - who is, in fact, Aboriginal - be settled In
Tasmania, in the early 2000s, bitter legal battles were fought over this issue, with the dominant Aboriginal community challenging the right
of more than 1,000 people to vote in elections for an Aboriginal statutory authority.The difficulties involved in setting up a
representative body in Victoria - in unifying all the disparate Aboriginal voices - are a legacy of the state's colonial history, which saw
indigenous groups pushed off their land and dispersed to distant missions and reserves
Policies which later created the Stolen Generations severed yet more links with family, community and territory, resulting in a small,
fragmented population which today numbers about 50,000
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
A crowd watches a historic national apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008
As in other southern states which were swiftly and brutally settled, most Aboriginal Victorians have mixed ancestry.Model
criticised as 'symbolic genocide'The proposed model for the representative body, Ms Coombs believes, is the "fairest and most inclusive
possible", with additional seats to be made available as more language nations complete a formal recognition process.Mr Murray, though, says
that not giving automatic representation to all 38 nations is "offensive, repugnant and symbolic genocide"
And he warns that if the model is not amended, he and other vocal opponents will lodge complaints with state and national
anti-discrimination authorities.Treaty negotiations could still be years off, but they promise to be extraordinarily complex, with up to 100
different clan groups seeking separate treaties and, in some cases, disputing each other's territorial boundaries and ancestry.Nonetheless,
some hope the Victorian process could kick-start a momentum that will lead to a federal treaty
Ms Coombs says: "This isn't a sprint; it's a marathon
The here and now is about setting the foundations and structures right, so that my grandsons and the next seven generations will get the
"Because this opportunity may never come around again."
