Australia has two histories 

For those of you who aren’t aware, Australia was brutally colonised in 1788. After a declaration of “Terra Nullius” which deemed the Traditional Owners as “flora and fauna”, the mass murder, rape, enslavement began.

This was only to be followed by assimilation demonstrated by the White Australia Policy which proceeded to legislate “breeding out the black”. Our women were brutalised and families were torn apart when. Children deemed “white” enough or “half caste” when then were forcibly removed. 

This started the Stolen Generation, whose lives, names, colour, language, culture and country were not only stolen - but legislated against. Our old people bore heavy loads of suppression in every sense, those loads have passed from generation to generation in the form of intergenerational trauma.

In recognition of everything that was stolen, I believe the State and Federal Governments should return our truth to us by recognising: 

• Our Mob 
• The Traditional Owners of the Country we were born on 
• Our skin names
• Our bush names
• Our Traditional names

on our birth certificates. 

This means from the day our future generations are born their cultural identity will be known and recognised from day one. 

It means our young mob registering for school, sports and jobs will be recognised as First Nations without having to tick an optional extra box. 

It means that our identities can be recognised in the forms that we use everyday, like our licences, our student ID, our work ID or our bank cards. 

It means we can get Traditional Country Names recognised on the electoral roll. 

It means our young mob who might have been disconnected or lost to time will be able to be unhindered by the onus of having to gain “Confirmation of Aboriginality”. 

It means our Traditional Places Names will be recognised as each and every letter passes through the post.

Australia, the Australian Government owes a lot to the Traditional Owners. Taking the time to change a mass-produced form and implement proper cultural awareness and safety training is only a very small part of the picture, in a large puzzle with no end in sight; but it is a necessary step in the journey to giving back what was stolen from us.