Corroboree at Customs House
An increasing respect for the indigenous people of Australia has been noticeable during WYD.
This hasn’t always been the case, and it took the newly elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to finally apologise for the treatment of the indigenous people in the past earlier this year.
This was a significant enough moment to receive global media coverage, so we were able to talk about with groups from England and Wales in preparation sessions before we came.
Talking to staff at Caritas Australia, we said how ashamed we were to know so little about what actually happened in the oppression and abuse of indigenous Australians, especially since the British colonists played such a key role.
But we were told that even for most Australians, it has only been a recent awakening to the situation, past and present, of their indigenous people.
Twenty years ago hardly any Australians would be able to explain it either, as it was ignored or brushed under the carpet, or merely unknown.
One of the areas of Caritas Australia’s work I didn’t realise existed is that with indigenous people in Australia.
As well as working, like CAFOD, in countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia, they have also fairly recently increased their presence in their own country.
Many indigenous people here in Australia are living on less than a dollar a day, have little access to the basic necessities we take for granted and have on average a life expectancy 17 years younger than that of non-indigenous Australians.
Caritas Australia believes that they cannot do their work throughout the world whilst ignoring the plight of so many people in their own country.
The organisation is working with people on issues ranging from education to health.
During WYD, there has been a real effort to show respect for the indigenous people.
They have been acknowledged as the true owners of the land at various events in the week, from the opening of the Caritas exhibition to the Opening Mass at Barangaroo with Cardinal Pell.
Each celebration with the Pope has also included the culture of the indigenous people from all over the Oceanic region, with the procession of the Book of Gospels at Mass being led by them in a native dance.
In the official WYD programme, there was an indigenous dance stage set up in Hyde Park which featured demonstrations by groups of pilgrims from all over the world.
Caritas wanted to include some of their indigenous partners at WYD and so each evening Customs House has hosted a “Corroboree” – the music of traditional songmen from the Northern Territory.
Each night these men have set the forecourt alight with traditional music with a rock-influence.
It hasn’t taken much for people to get up and start dancing – including a group of pilgrims from across England and Wales who came to catch up with us in the week.
After the Corroboree on Friday night, I had a chat with Amos, an 18-year-old from the Northern Territory. Unsurprisingly, he’s like your average 18 year old.
He seemed to constantly be smiling; it was his first time in Sydney, and couldn’t get over all the tall skyscrapers that surrounded him.
When I spoke about where I lived, he could barely believe that London’s even bigger than Sydney and couldn’t begin to imagine what that would look like.
With Caritas, Amos has been learning how to video and edit footage to document the life of his community.
This is why he’s been in Sydney this week – to document the Corroboree and the experience of WYD to take back to share with his community.
Meeting Amos and being part of the Corroboree was yet another reminder of the vastness of Australia and the various cultures within it.
Although WYD has focussed on one small part of the country, it’s been good to meet people from across Australia and get a small sense of the differences within the country, as well as the unity of it.
Yet again, it’s been a chance to gain a sense of solidarity, of meeting, talking and sharing with other people, and to have fun and dance with them, too!
Posted by AnnaF
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