I have no words.
We all know the result.
Not enough of us are feeling sad.The No Case won.
I want to record something in my blog – you know for posterity.
I have stayed off social media today. It was just too ugly when I looked at the trends on Twitter at 7am.
Ugly stuff about See You Later Welcome to Country etc. Poisonous.
I have no words.
Luckily I live in a bubble of like-minded family and friends so we have all grieved, supported each other today and wondered how must those Indigenous people who wanted a Yes be feeling?
Indigenous Australians want no words.
They want Silence. They need Silence.
Below is their request from Indigenous Australians asking for a Week of Silence for The Voice.
I am also re-posting this – in its beautiful entirity. I hope Miriam-Rose is ok with me posting this here. These are all entirely her own words which were on the public domain. Take a moment to take on board her message.
Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann
(Aboriginal activist, educator, artist and 2021 Senior Australian of the Year)
“My people are not threatened by silence. They are completely at home in it. They have lived for thousands of years with Nature’s quietness. My people today recognise and experience in this quietness the great Life-Giving Spirit, the Father of us all. It is easy for me to experience God’s presence. When I am out hunting, when I am in the bush, among the trees, on a hill or by a billabong; these are the times when I can simply be in God’s presence. My people have been so aware of Nature. It is natural that we will feel close to the Creator. Our Aboriginal culture has taught us to be still and to wait. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them follow their natural course – like the seasons. We watch the moon in each of its phases. We wait for the rain to fill our rivers and water the thirsty earth…
When twilight comes, we prepare for the night. At dawn we rise with the sun. We watch the bush foods and wait for them to ripen before we gather them. We wait for our young people as they grow, stage by stage, through their initiation ceremonies. When a relation dies, we wait a long time with the sorrow. We own our grief and allow it to heal slowly. We wait for the right time for our ceremonies and our meetings. The right people must be present. Everything must be done in the proper way. Careful preparations must be made. We don’t mind waiting, because we want things to be done with care.
We don’t like to hurry. There is nothing more important than what we are attending to. There is nothing more urgent that we must hurry away for. We wait on God, too. His time is the right time. We wait for him to make his word clear to us. We don’t worry. We know that in time and in the spirit of dadirri (that deep listening and quiet stillness) his way will be clear.
We are river people. We cannot hurry the river. We have to move with its current and understand its ways.
We hope that the people of Australia will wait. Not so much waiting for us – to catch up – but waiting with us, as we find our pace in this world.
If you stay closely united, you are like a tree, standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber. The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burnt; but inside the tree the sap is still flowing, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like that tree, you have endured the flames, and you still have the power to be reborn.
Our culture is different. We are asking our fellow Australians to take time to know us; to be still and to listen to us.”
~ Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann
(Aboriginal activist, educator, artist and 2021 Senior Australian of the year)
Dear Sue
thanks for sharing the wonderful words from Miriam Rose, I was sadden and surprised that the No vote won. Your words have resonated with me and I felt that most people, after the many conversations that have been held, felt it was time for a “Voice” for the First Nations peoples.
Wendy Kelly
Thank you Sue,
I too have no words and your words helped, and so did the words from Miriam-Rose.
In kinship,
Carolyn
Thanks for posting Sue.
It’s hard not to feel ashamed to be Australian and particularly ashamed as a Queenslander.
Thank you Sue. I am sad and ashamed. The world will judge us.
Dear Sue…..beautifully said….we mourn with our First Nations peoples….JudyNoble