Extract of unconfirmed minutes of the Eighth Assembly
Congress, Covenanting, Stolen Generation, Native Title Etc.
97.22 Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and Covenant Steering CommitteeThe Assembly was addressed by Sir Ronald Wilson, President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and Former President of the Uniting Church in Australia . The reports were presented by Rev. Shayne Blackman, Rev. Dr John Brown, and other members of the Congress and committee.
The Assembly agreed:
97.22.01 to receive the reports;
The Stolen Generations
97.22.02 to express its appreciation to the President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Sir Ronald Wilson, and Commissioner Michael Dodson for the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children, the Report — "Bringing them Home" — and its recommendations. The report exposes aspects of Australian history in which large numbers of Aboriginal children and their parents suffered appalling deprivation and despair, facts which have not been understood or known about the majority of Australians. This disclosure of truth provides an essential basis for the achievement of reconciliation and healing between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians;
97.22.03 to commit itself and encourage the whole Church to support the recommendations of the Inquiry wherever possible; '
97.22.04 to affirm the apology made by the Standing Committee in September 1996; convey the apology to the associations of people who passed through Croker Island, Mogumber and Sister Kate's; make copies of the apology available to the Aboriginal press; and encourage synods and individuals to make apologies where appropriate in local situations;
97.22.05
(a) to note that the report of the inquiry interprets "reparations" as consisting of
- acknowledgement and apology
- guarantees against repetition
- measures of restitution
- measures of rehabilitation, and
- monetary compensation;
(c) to offer to contribute to the fund through special offerings made on a national "Sorry Day";
97.22.06
(a) to warmly support the proposal to introduce a national "Sorry Day";
(b) to request the Covenant Steering Committee in co-operation with the Congress to initiate plans for the national "Sorry Day" to be observed throughout the Uniting Church;
(c) if ATSIC initiates such a commemoration throughout the community, request the Covenant Steering Committee to develop plans for the Church to participate in the national observance;
97.22.07 to enter into/continue discussions with the associations of people who passed through Croker Island, Mogumber and Sister Kate's, listening to their stories of what happened to them through their being placed in the institutions, and negotiating with them ways by which the Church may help to repair the damage that has occurred and its continuing consequences for individuals and their families, and to assist the process of healing in the community;
97.22.08 to request the Synods in collaboration with the Congress to enter into discussions with relevant Aboriginal organisations about what further action the Church should take in the State to assist reparation and healing;
97.22.09 in order to provide easier access for indigenous people seeking to trace their own records, to request the Covenant Steering Committee: (a) to consult with relevant Aboriginal organisations and index all of its personal records of Aboriginal people who passed through its Aboriginal homes, and deposit copies of this index in indigenous-controlled repositories insofar as privacy laws make feasible; to develop principles concerning access to records by individuals who are seeking to trace their personal and family identity;
97.22.10
(a) to recommend to all theological colleges that they purchase copies of the report for their libraries;
(b) to commend the report for the study by members of the Church, and particularly by all senior Assembly and Synod staff;
(c) to recommend to Synod papers that they run a series of articles on the "stolen generations";
97.22.11 to encourage all Uniting Church schools:
(a) to respond to the concept of developing "substantial compulsory modules on the history and continuing effects of removal";
(b) to employ suitable Aboriginal teaching and support staff so that there is a visible Aboriginal presence in the schools;
97.22.12 to request Synods to encourage the effective representation of the Congress on councils and committees of the Synod, and to advise the Assembly Standing Committee on the implementation of this request;
97.22.13 to commend to all parishes the desirability of displaying in Uniting Church places of worship and Church halls visible symbols of the covenant between the Congress and the rest of the Church;
97.22.14
(a) to adopt the policy of commencing all meetings of the Assembly with a recognition of prior Aboriginal ownership of the land and the sacredness of the place; such recognition could include a welcome by local Aboriginal land-owners or it could be as brief as a statement by the chairperson at the beginning of the meeting, saying, "I wish to pay respects to the Aboriginal people of this place and particularly those who have cared for this part of the land from time immemorial.";
(b) to recommend that synods and presbyteries adopt a similar practice;
97.22.15
(a) to commend the synods for actions taken to share assets with the Congress following the decisions of the Seventh Assembly;
(b) to recommend to synod asset sharing task groups that they give more attention to the sharing of assets in presbyteries and parishes;
(c) to commend to all synods and to Assembly agencies the strategy developed by the South Australian Synod to employ Aboriginal people at least to the level of 2% of the total work-force of the Uniting Church in the synod area;
97.22.16 to recommend that synods in conjunction with the Regional Committee of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress review the property needs for ministry with Aboriginal people within their synod area and report on the matter to an ordinary meeting of the synod with a copy to the National Covenant Committee;
97.22.17 to request presbyteries and parishes to take the initiative to deepen their fellowship with local Aboriginal people, and with the UAICC in particular;
National Day
97.22.18 in concert with many other Australians, to take the view that the nation must find a date for a National Day which has the capacity to unite all Australians in celebration. Successive Assemblies since 1982 have recognised that 26 January divides rather than unites the nation. Aboriginal people have observed that day as a Day of Mourning or Invasion Day or Survival Day for many years. It reminds them of the dispossession and marginalisation of their people over the past two centuries.
The Assembly therefore:
(a) supports a change in the date of our National Day, and urges the Federal Government to promote community discussion directed towards identification of a date for Australia Day with greater power to unite than 26 January;
(b) recommends to presbyteries and parishes that until an alternative date has been agreed they take steps to have local Governments incorporate into the observance of 26 January as Australia Day the frank recognition that the day represents for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people dispossession and alienation over the past 200 years;
(c) recommends to parishes that on the Sunday nearest to 26 January congregations be invited to include in their worship prayers confessing marginalisation of Aboriginal people in their own land and praying for a just and harmonious future.
97.74 Wik and Native Title concerns
The Assembly agreed to call on the Federal Government to amend the "Native Title Act":
(a) to recognise the supreme importance for the identity, health and well being of Aboriginal people of their relationship with their land;
(b) to take into account the importance of this fact for the well being, harmony and economy of the nation as a whole;
(c) to reject any proposal that will have the effect directly or indirectly of extinguishing or diminishing native title rights;
(d) to develop a regime of co-existence in the land whereby native title rights are upheld at the same time as pastoralists, mining companies and other developers are granted secure, but limited statutory rights in the same land;
(e) to require and facilitate regional/local negotiation between registered native title claimants and other people with interests in the land, concerning their various rights in relation to the land, and to register such agreements under appropriate legislation.
Gregor Henderson, Assembly General Secretary, 28 July 1997