The 45th Candle Light Walk to be held around Government House Adelaide
in December 2003, will mark the 80th Anniversary of a remarkable
Ngarrindjeri petition to the Governor in December 1923 (see copy retyped
by the Greens SA - below). This petition was a heartfelt plea from the
Ngarrindjeri mothers from Point McLeay for their stolen children. This
was not the first time the Ngarrindjeri had drafted and presented a
grievance petition to the Crown authorities. The first was in 1867 when
the Ngarrindjeri gave the Prince of Wales a memorial which they asked be
presented to Queen Victoria and which is now in the possession of the
English Crown.
However, what is of more note than these Ngarrindjeri pleas is the
obdurate failure of the Crown to have responded to their petitions.
It is a sad indictment on the "fair go" South Australian way of life
that the Crown has still not heeded the Ngarrindjeri fair call from 1836
for recognition of their human rights to equal treatment as human beings
within the legal system establishing South Australia.
This forthcoming eightieth (80th) anniversary of the unfulfilled
Ngarrindjeri parents' call for recognition and respect for family values
needs to be acknowledged as the enlightened and understandable quest for
equal rights protection from South Australia that it is.
The people of South Australia have a unique opportunity through the
Governor of South Australia, Her Excellency Marjorie Jackson, to now
establish a permanent partnership with the Ngarrindjeri people by
re-enacting this 1923 petition presentation this December.
To ensure your participation or attendance at the forthcoming
re-enactment please contact: FAX: 85 751 448 - [EMAIL PROTECTED] .
For further information regarding the 45th Candle Light Walk contact the
organisers and register your fax number or e-mail address.
DONATIONS: Ngarrindjeri Justice Fighting Fund c/: BANK SA - BSB 105-165
A/c No. 015569840
Ngarrindjeri Contacts:
Victor Wilson - Kalparrin Community at Murray Bridge - email:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
{W} 85 324 940 / FAX 85 325 511 / mob. 040 718 2353;
Pastor Ken Sumner - Raukkan Community Council - Co-ordinator
{W} (08) 85 740 096 / {Fax} (08) 85 740 096;
Tom Trevorrow - Ngarrindjeri Land and Progress Association - e-mail:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: http://ngarrindjeri.tripod.com/
www.ngarrindjeri.com
{W} 85 751 557|657 / FAX 85 751 448
THE CANDLE LIGHT WALK HAS AN ON-LINE FLYER AT:
http://www.country-liberal-party.com/pages/adelaidemob.htm
__________________________________________
The Register, Adelaide, Friday, December 21, 1923
"GIVE US OUR CHILDREN."
The Aborigines' Plea
Opposition to New Act
The Aborigines (Training of Children) Act, which was passed last
session, has caused much heartburning amongst the natives, and a
deputation of three of them came to Adelaide from Point Macleay, to
present a petition to his Excellency the Governor, praying for the
repeal of the measure. They will return today.
The Treasurer (Hon. W. Hague), in introducing the Bill to the House of
Assembly on September 20, stated that the attention of the Government
had been directed to the problem of training aboriginal and half-caste
children. It had become patent that the children would have to be taken
in hand while comparatively young. The Bill provided that the Protector
of Aborigines, who would be the guardian of all such children under the
age of 18 years, was empowered to transfer them to the State Children's
Council for training. There would be no obligation for him to make the
transfer if he were satisfied that it would not be to the child's
advantage. No transfer could be made unless the child were over 14
years, or had passed the qualifying examination. In the case of a female
child, the Governor might extend the time of supervision until the age
of 21 years had been attained. The children would be put to a trade, or
otherwise put to work under the supervision of the council. The Bill was
supported by both sides of the House, and was carried on the voices.
Three Ambassadors
Then Point Macleay deputies - Willy Rankine, Leonard Campbell, and John
Stanley - called at The Register office on Thursday, and explained the
aborigines' attitude to the new law. Campbell, the bearer, as he
informed an interviewer, of a Scotch name, is a splendidly built man of
47 summers, and he related with pathos, the fear of the native men and
women that their young ones will be taken from them [original has
'tehm']. "We don't mind the Government taking them and training them,"
he said. "We want them to get on and be useful. But we want to feel that
we still have full rights over them, and that they are our own children.
There are a lot of times when a woman with only one daughter is unable
to get about, and if the girl is taken from her, there is no one left to
help her, and she has to borrow the daughters of other women. We do not
wish to help burden on the State, but our children have never been State
children, and we don't want them to be. The people at Point Macleay
would rather give up their mission station than sacrifice their
children. We are sorry that we did not see His Excellency, for we think
he would have helped us."
A Remarkable Petition
Campbell produced a memorial, which had been prepared and written by
E.N. Kropinyeri, at Point Macleay, to express the feeling of mothers on
the question. The document is reproduced here, exactly as it was
written:--- Port Macleay. December 16. The hon. members of Parliament of
South Australia. --- Dear Sirs, The Bill has passed, legalising the Act
of taking away the children from their parents. This Act, like a
mysterious creature of ill omen, is casting a gloom over this one little
mission home. Yes, this Bill has passed at last, and the passing of it
provides food for serious consideration. And the first that presents
itself to the mind, is the fact that, an Act, which, hitherto had been
illegal and I believe, punished by law, is now legal and supported by
law, which produces a reverse effect upon the past legal law, as for
instance, in the past any one taking a child away from its parents
without their consent, will be liable to punishment by law. But today,
any desiring to return and live with their parents, will be dealt with
by the laws contained in the Act. Here we have a queer conglomeration of
laws, through some unaccountable way, the wild cat of confusion, has
effected or gained an entrance into the dovecote of legal harmony, and
caused such utter confusion among the inmates, to such an extent, that
some, if not all, of them cannot with any degree of accuracy, claim each
their respective relationship either to the legal, or illegal origin.
However this is not the matter on which I wish to write. It is mother's
love, its claims, its rights, its demands. Now it is understood that a
refusal to comply with the demands of an ultimatum of one nation to
another, is an acceptance of condition of warfare whatever those
conditions may lead to, so the passing of that Bill is a declaration of
war between right and wrong. And there is only one right, and only one
wrong, which of the two contending party (sic) is right. We will see
presently. Mark well, the two forces, arrayed against each other. There
stands the advocates, and supporters of the Bill that has passed,
strongly fortified, their guns of "intellect" trained and ready for
action, they represent "Right." There, on the opposite and facing them
is the rank of the enemy, strongly opposing the Bill, a very strange
army, possessing no weapons of war, no intellectual powers, no
Parliamentary eloquence, not a grain of science in the whole body, that
makes the army of motherhood. The only piece of artillery which that
army possesses is the weapon called love. And thus equipped, the army of
motherhood has taken up their position in opposition to the Bill. The
invader of those Godgiven and therefore sacred dominions of mother's
love is its claims, its rights, its demands, a possessin (sic) voted for
them in the parliament of heaven, sealed with the image and superstition
of His Majesty, whose name is "Love". This army also represents Right.
Thus we see the two contending forces each striving for precedence in
their claim of Right, and we ask, who is going to win the day? And the
reply comes from the ranks of Intellect, "victory is ours", and relying
on their weapon of attack, Intellect, they thunder forth their
intellectual arguments again and again, propelled by the full force of
scientific facts. Poor motherhood, how are you going to retain the
beauties and glorious possession of motherhood, the right, the claims,
the demands of love amid such fearful intellectual bombardment as this,
and seeing that you are armed with nothing more than the crude and
primitive weapon, love, the invention of which dates back in the past
eternity. It is true we are indeed poorly equipped, and we know not how
we are going to fare in this fearful struggle, but - and just then a
thin spurt of smoke is seen issuing from the ranks of motherhood, and we
knew that love, motherhood's weapon spoke, and that its claims, its
demands, and its rights, in their threefold unity is speeding its
unerring way to the ranks of the foe, bearing the seal, the hallmark,
and the mandate of the majesty on high (the majesty of love). Hon.
members (jurymen). The question is asked, Who wins? The bar of eternal
justice, truth and righteousness awaits your verdict! What say you?
"Walkabouts"
After a while the talk drifted to early days and early ways. The three
men were unanimous in their praise of the Rev. George Taplin, who
founded the Point MacLeay Mission Station in 1858, and died in 1877.
"There has been nobody like Mr Taplin," sighed Rankine who is 61 years
old and has lived at the station most of his life. When asked, "Do you
like working in white fellow way better than black fellow ?" the trio
showed some discomfort at the "pidgeon English" and Campbell replied,
"We like to work if we get a fair wage". "But don't you like to have a
'walk about' occasionally ?" "We frequently go to the Coorong and fish.
Our boat is smashed, so we go in a 'flatties'. Those who can't get in
have to walk most of the way." The bream, they said, had left the
Coorong, because there were no weeds there for them to feed upon.
Pigface and muntalies (little apple-like shrubs) abounded, and
altogether they had a good time. "I would rather work a certain time and
then have a holiday than do nothing all the time," Campbell declared.
Going to School
With a little persuasion Rankine, a spare-haired, solemn old man, was
induced to talk about himself. He said he did not discover until he was
22 that his father was John Nelson, and that he had been given the name
of his step-father. It was too late then to rectify the mistake, so he
had borne the title of Leonard Campbell (sic) ever since. When asked to
tell something of his early recollections, he thought profoundly, and
then related the following:--- "The earliest I can remember," he mused,
"is my school days. I was living with my grandfather and my grandmother,
in a camp under an apple tree near Milang. We had shifted in from my
grandfather's place, which was 12 miles from Milang. One day, when I was
a very little boy, the school teacher came to our camp and asked my
grandfather whether he would let me go to school. My grandfather said,
"All right." So when I came to my grandfather he told me I would have to
go to school the next morning. I said, "All right." The next thing was
to get some clothes to wear. My grandfather found a Government blue
shirt, which he put on me. He then got the inside of a munnukerie plant,
a sort of flag, and chewed it until it was like string. The he tied it
around my waist. The next thing was to have a hair cut. When my
grandfather had done this he got a sharp-pointed stick and ran it all
through my hair to comb it. Next thing was to oil my hair. My
grandfather took some Murray cod's fat, heated it well on the fire, and
then, after chewing it in his mouth, sprayed over my hair. A ribbon was
then tied around my head, and I was ready. My grandfather said to me,
"You are going to school, and whatever you do, try to be a good boy.
When you go in there, do everything you are told and sit quiet." When I
went into the school the teacher told me where to sit, and I sat down.
Then she came near and smelt the cod oil on my hair. She asked me what
oil I had. I was very frightened, but she said, 'Don't be frightened. Go
home to your grandmother and tell her to wash your hair.' When I told my
grandmother that, she and [original has 'any'] my grandfather left the
camp under the apple tree and went back to our home on Lake Plains. I
didn't go to that school any more!"
Hunting Ducks
Rankine described a duck hunt with "my grandfather." He related how he
and the old man went out hunting for ducks on the lake. In the canoe
were spears, made of --- but he wasn't sure of the name, and it wasn't
safe to ask grandfather, who might hit him with the waddy. There was
also a stick about 9 ft. long, at the end of which was a loop of
munnukerie string. "After we had gone some distance," Rankine proceeded,
"my grandfather said, 'Do you see those ducks there? You stay still and
I'll get them. (He liked to get a lot at once to save trouble.) He tied
the canoe to a reed and slipped into the water which came up to his
neck. On his head he had some clay, with grass stuck in it, and when he
walked in the water that was all you could see. I saw him getting away
from me, and I decided to follow. I stepped quietly out of the canoe
into water far above my head, and in struggling to the surface I made
such a splash that the ducks moved off some distance. Grandfather came
back, and, lifting me high above his head, ducked me three times. Then
he said, "Keep still next time, or I'll hold you under the water!" Then
he went off after the ducks, and, creeping close to them, with his long
stick and the looped string, dragged them under. He got 21 that day."
"White Brother"
How he went to school when he was six, and how he stayed there for 10
years, and the adventures on the lake, were interesting topics, but
Rankine ended his narrative by saying sadly, "I wish I'd worked harder
at school, and I'm glad my children are doing so well and learning so
much."
"Didn't you back to your grandfather's place near Milang?" "No," replied
the native. "My grandfather's land was given to him by his grandfather,
and it had always belonged to our family. Now it is not mine. My white
brothers have it. It wasn't much of a place," he added; but in his eyes
was the pitiful longing of the man without a home.
THREE DUSKY DEPUTIES
Above are depicted the three natives sent from Point McLeay
mission Station to petition the Governor to repeal the Aborigines
(Training of Children) Act of 1923. Their names are John Stanley
(43), Willy Rankine (61), and Leonard Campbell (47). An
interview with the three ambassadors is published this morning.
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