The Voice of Remote Australia
Ngardarb believes some indigenous ‘yes’ campaigners in cities don’t have the same understanding of kinship that many remote and regional people do.
“I’ve heard a lot of voices that have been really coming from urban Australia,” she said. “It’s all been towards the ‘yes’. I’m not putting anyone down, but I feel that there’s some people that really have not experienced a full force of the kinship structure, no fault of theirs.”
While she and other elders have been afraid of speaking out because of potential backlash, Ngardarb decided she couldn’t remain silent.
“I’ve been scared to even say stuff because of what’s been happening…but sometimes you just need to have your say,” she said. “I am a young elder and I know my place in my community and my tribe and my clan group. I want to see that part of our culture continue on to the future.
“We don’t want to ostracize our same sex marriage people. We’re not there to criticize them. We just want to hold onto the values that have been passed down, hold on to our kinship structures.”
A Mix of Indigenous Views
Above: Aboriginal elders present the Uluru Bark Petition at Parliament House in Canberra. Image: Ulurubarkpetition.com
The views of Australia’s indigenous community around the marriage debate have been mixed.
At the ‘No’ end are many elders, like those behind the ‘Uluru Bark Petition’ delivered to Canberra’s Parliament House in 2015. They call traditional heterosexual marriage a ‘sacred union’. Their petition says it is “an affront to the Aboriginal People of Australia to suggest another definition of marriage”.
But at the other end of the spectrum are Aboriginal same-sex marriage supporters including LGBTI indigenous—like writer Dameyon Boyson. He argues that the Uluru Bark Petition misrepresents Aboriginal culture, and that it’s only the voice of a few leaders excessively influenced by white man’s religion and influence.
“Behind these authentic faces that you see holding up these pieces of bark and standing in front of Parliament House you will find the mechanics of white influence,” he wrote in 2015.
Yet ‘No’ vote supporters, like petition organiser Pastor Peter Walker, say traditional Aboriginal values are in fact quite Christian in their nature. “This is a cultural initiative, it is not a Christian initiative,” Pastor Walker has said. “But you can align the two — we have the same values and agree with having traditional marriage.”
A Lack of Consultation—As Usual
The Commonwealth has a long history of disenfranchising Australia’s First Peoples, and Ngardarb says the marriage debate has been yet another example.
“The government’s always made mistakes with us,” she said. “We’re still trying to fix a lot of the problems that were done from way back. They’re not making it any easier by not really talking to the Aboriginal people, talking to our elders.”
Ngardarb wishes there were more opportunity in the marriage debate for indigenous voices of all kinds to be heard: “There needs to be more Aboriginal people coming out from both sides.”
