THE NORFOLK ISLANDER

THE NORFOLK ISLANDER
Today the Productivity Commission in Australia released a report on the progress of closing the gap in relation to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. There has been a slight improvement in figures for life expectancy and finishing school, but on the whole the figures are very dismal, particularly in the areas of physical and mental health, self harm, addiction, unemployment and incarceration.

Australia boasts that it has over 100 ethnic identities in  that country, free to practise their own culture – which is not true. They can sing and dance and cook till the cows come home, but there arte certain aspects of their culture which will only be truly nurtured back in their own homelands somewhere else in the world.

The Aboriginal people and the Norfolk Islanders have this in common. They do not have another homeland somewhere else. It is right slap bang in the middle of what modern Australia says is hers.

The Aborigines have an ancient culture, and I will not trivialise it by making heavy comparisons with the Norfolk Island situation. But there are some analogies to be drawn.

Neither the Aborigines or the Norfolk Islanders ever chose to migrate to Australia. The former were already there. They were invaded, and well and truly overcome, and were not even allowed full rights under the new regime until fifty years ago.

The Pitcairners left Pitcairn, on Queen Victoria’s invitation to another British Crown Colony, which was not part of Australia at the time. 

They had no say in the matter when they were placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia 100 years ago(in fact, they objected.) They did not ask to give up their rights to British citizenship and be made Australian citizens. They never asked to become part of Australia, and were never asked if that was what they wanted, let alone the terms under which it would happen. They most certainly did not ask to become an integral part of Australia, or give assent to their new name “The Australian Territory of Norfolk Island.”

Now the Aboriginal people have something called a “Dreamtime.” It characterises their value system and underpins their relationship to their land and their environment. It would be hard to describe in words even for an Aboriginal person. Unless you are an Aboriginal person, you would not understand it, but you do need to respect it.

Norfolk Islanders can only claim to have an ancient culture if you follow through the separate British and Polynesian strands. But since 1789, they have been a separate and distinct people, and can rightly claim to be the indigenous people of Norfolk Island. And they have a special relationship to this land.

It is equally hard to provide a description in words of the set of values and beliefs that Norfolk Islanders hold about themselves and their relationship to this island. But the Norfolk Islander does feel it and holds it dear. They used to call it “way of life” for want of a better term. Some call it identity or heritage. Some call it “kam/froem”. You and I may never really grasp what it means. But those of us who have been made welcome in this special community do need to respect it, and value it, because it has helped make this place very special in a world where everyone is out for themselves.

I am a Pom, and will never be a Norfolk Islander, unless I can undergo a special “born again” process. But I have felt and experienced the special spirit of the place, and I love and honour it.

By failing to respect family and cultural values, and thinking it is all about economic outcomes, they have damaged to spirit of many Aboriginal people. They have taken away the environment in which their culture and well-being survives and thrives. They have been made dependent on a ‘benevolent’ colonial overlord. They have had their means of sustaining themselves taken away.

By all means help this island do things better, and give us help to sustain ourselves from our own resources. That is all we have ever wanted to do.

Now if a Norfolk Islander says that something doesn’t feel right, even if he cannot always find the words to say why…….if he feels his special relationship with this island is under threat………..if he feels his identity or “come-from” is being ignored, then you are treading a path that has no future for anyone. You need to go back to the drawing board, and do some serious listening. Or you will destroy something very special.