It was we who did the dispossessing. We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We took the children from their mothers. We practised discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice. And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Acknowledges historical wrongs against Indigenous Australians, including land theft, violence, and discrimination, and the need to imagine these harms happening to others.
- In plain terms
- We took land and hurt Indigenous people, and we must understand that pain.
- What can you take from it?
- Acknowledge past harms to move forward with justice.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What truths must a nation face?
- How do we honor past harms?
Another view
Acknowledgement alone does not repair material harm or inequality.
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