By Chris Martin
SYDNEY — Aborigines fighting for the preservation of the historic "Day of Mourning" conference site are urging everyone concerned with justice for indigenous Australians to join their protest outside state parliament on November 14, the day Premier Bob Carr plans to move a resolution endorsing the reconciliation process.
The announcement by NSW planning minister Craig Knowles that demolition of the Australian Hall in Elizabeth Street has been formally approved has prompted the National Aboriginal History and Heritage Council (NAHHC) to ask what use is reconciliation without justice. Knowles advised the NAHHC of the decision in an undated letter delivered early last week, clearing the way for developers to move on the site within 48 hours.
The NAHHC says the decision ignores the site's enormous cultural and spiritual significance to Aboriginal people. It is "an act of cultural vandalism", said NAHHC chairperson Jenny Munro, and a "travesty and an insult to Aboriginal people, their history and their heroes".
Fearing demolition at any time, Munro lead a delegation to meet with leaders of the Building Trades Group of Unions on October 31 to put a case for work bans on the site. The BTGU resolved to take the issue to a special meeting of its affiliates and the state Labour Council to decide further action. One of the delegation members, former Builders Labourers Federation leader and heritage campaigner Jack Mundey, said the "unions have not only the right but also the responsibility to support the Aboriginal cause and here is a perfect opportunity".
The site's significance relates to its use as the venue for the first national Aboriginal civil rights protest, seen by many as the birthplace of the modern Aboriginal rights movement. The action took place on January 26, 1938, as the white community were celebrating the 150th anniversary of invasion. The Aborigines who gathered there then to protest their almost complete lack of human rights did so confronting enormous difficulties and great personal risk. The NAHHC want the site preserved as a museum to honour these and all other Aboriginal heroes.
The group have lodged a complaint with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, arguing that the government's failure to preserve the site breaches the Racial Discrimination Act. They point out that 629 sites of significance to the white community have been preserved and ask why one building of importance to Aborigines cannot be saved.
Preservation has been recommended by the government's own commission of inquiry, the Australian Heritage Commission, the National Trust, the Sydney City Council and hundreds of groups and individuals from around the country.
Knowles claims that preservation of the building's facade "honours Aboriginal concerns", but the NAHHC point out that this facade was always going to be preserved, not through any concern for Aboriginal history but rather because of its value to the white community as an example of Elizabethan architecture.
The NAHHC have declared their intention to take any and all action necessary to block the destruction. They are planning vigils and protest actions, and have printed cards to be sent to Carr demanding that the government acquire the building, without delay, for proper use as an Aboriginal history centre. The card also carries the following words:
"In that hall were assembled most of the fighters of our people in that generation. They came and collected there, so all that collective energy is there for a lot of our people. Once you change it, all of that energy is gone" — Jenny Munro.
"Remember we do not ask for charity, we ask for justice" — William Ferguson and Jack Patten, "Day of Mourning" protesters.
NAHHC invites and urges everyone to visit their office above Green Books, 94 Liverpool St, Sydney, where they can get more information and get involved in the campaign. Protest messages to Knowles can be faxed to (02) 9230 2274 and to Carr on (02) 9232 4029, or mailed to NSW Parliament, Macquarie Street, Sydney 2000. The NAHHC can be contacted by phone (02) 9267 6074; fax (02) 9264 6092; or mail — PO Box A765, Sydney South, NSW 2000.