Sorry - the beginning of wheat-green hope

There we were in Federation Square, Melbourne...
an estimated 8000 of us...
under the flags unfurled of the indigenous nations
of Australia.
We were there to hear our government say sorry.
Andrew Jackomos of the Yorta Yorta initiated proceedings.
An old friend of Miss Eagles, Rob Hulls - Acting Premier of Victoria - spoke formally.
The crowd was attentive.
There were the activists calling for compensation.
There were high school students...
in uniform...
taking time out.
There were the kids...
...and the buttons...
...and the t-shirts
...speaking what was in our hearts.
There were tears and cheers...
laughter and applause.
Then the disbelief, the pain of the Leader of the Opposition's speech.
They turned their backs in anger, disgust, and sorrow.
Miss Eagle stood beneath the loudspeakers at the back.
A well-dressed good looking twenty-something man spoke to her.
"Do you mind if I unplug the speakers?" he said politely.
"Feel free." Miss Eagle said cheerily.

She had turned her back on Howard -
at the Opera House, Corroboree 2000,
all those years ago.
Turned her back against his lies,
his hate, his meanness.
Brendan Nelson didn't seem worth the effort.
He has no power against the vision birthed yesterday.
His looking-backwards words
told us nothing, took us nowhere
except into the pain and sadness
of a certain sort of whitefella.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


And then back to Upper Gully.
Quiet, whitefella country.
The blackfellas left long ago -
one way or another.
But here a simple beginning was made.
A simple prayer service
at St Thom's.
And for whom did we pray?
In the spirit of wheat-green hope,
I think it was for us.

Bev Manton: Remembering the silence

Bev Manton received national attention with her recent NAIDOC Week speech in her capacity as Chairperson of the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSW ALC).




Bev Manton, a member of the Worimi nation, is a strong and respected advocate for community development, particularly in relation to employment, housing, health and education. Involved with the NSWALC since its inception, Bev is a founding member and co-ordinator of the Karuah Local Aboriginal Land Council and worked as the LALC Co-ordinator for four years before being elected to NSWALC.

Karuah is a small township on the banks of the Karuah River. Karuah Local Aboriginal Land Council started up a boat building project a year or two ago for young Aboriginal people. The project has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the New South Wales Department of Education and Training under the Elsa Dixon employment program. This will allow the project to target Aboriginal students in high schools.


As Chairperson of NSWALC, Bev Manton represents her people on a number of Boards including the Worimi Conservation Lands, Aboriginal Community Environment Network and the Northern Alliance.

Bev concluded her NAIDOC Week speech with a quote from Martin Luther King:
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Miss Eagle takes these words to heart and examines her conscience.

Miss Eagle has had periods of examination of conscience since Howard's Winter Solstice (the winter of our discontent?) Shock and Awe Campaign began. As readers of this blog know, John Howard comes in for a great deal of criticism here - and the most vehement criticism has been for his military intervention in the Northern Territory.

But - if one tries to stick to the teachings of Jesus Christ - one cannot overlook self-criticism. Howard is Howard but what about me? Every week in a little Anglican church in Upper Gully, Miss Eagle - along with her community of faith - says these words:

Merciful God, our maker and our judge,

we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed,

and in what we have failed to do:

we have not loved you with our whole heart;

we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves;

we repent and are sorry for all our sins.

Father, forgive us.

Strengthen us to love and obey you in newness of life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Miss Eagle doesn't get too deeply into the sins of thought, word and deed. Not that brave. She absolves herself re the criticism of Howard because she recalls how Jesus referred to Herod as an old fox [Luke 13:32]. This was real political comment from a man whose family had long had no reason to think kindly of Herod: they had been forced to flee with their lives from his forebear's military and a family member had been murdered by Herod as well.

But what about those sins of omission? Miss Eagle is not one of those brilliant, compassionate souls like John Boffa, formerly of Anyiningyi Congress in Tennant Creek and now with Central Australian Congress in Alice Springs. She is not as brave and persevering as those brilliant talented teachers, mainly women, that she remembers teaching at outstations and communities across the Barkly Tableland.

Miss Eagle has tried to listen, to learn, to befriend, and to support and just generally putting herself in the way of things so that she might help if the occasion arose. Now, she is older and finds herself living in the outer suburbs of Melbourne in a predominantly white and anglo society. She hasn't got what it takes to commit to continuing activity in an organisation. For the first time in her life, there are no Aboriginal people just around the corner or up the street - not that she knows about, anyway. So, here she is, in splendid isolation sitting on her backside hitting the keyboard to make her protest, to demand justice. Has it all been enough? Is this enough? Will one day the list of those sins of what might have been done - but wasn't - rise up to haunt her? Will one day the list of omissions haunt us all?

Joe Camilleri's Lectures

For a better copy of this with legible details, please email Miss Eagle off the sidebar.

Would we know good governance if we see it?

Miss Eagle finds herself focussing more and more on the topic of governance. So it seems about time to discuss what governance means. Miss E's ancient Concise Oxford Dictionary (Sixth impression 1978) gives the following definition:

n. Act, manner, fact, or function, of governing; sway, control

The phrase "corporate governance" has entered the language in recent years following spectacular failures in governance and oversight across the globe.

Miss Eagle has been discussing governance in the public sphere; in particular, in the state and federal governments of the Commonwealth of Australia. In Australia, there are quite a few runs for poor performance getting up on the scoreboard.

Governance is a simple word. It differs from the word Government which relates more to(definition thank s to the old COD):

1. System of governing, form of organization of State.

2. Body or successive bodies of persons governing a State; the State as an agent; and administration or ministry.

Another term for governance in the public sphere (as opposed to the corporate or business sphere) is Public Administration.

Australia has produced some fine servants of the public who have exhibited a high level of administrative expertise in the public interest. Miss Eagle thinks of her hero, Nugget Coombs;

Sir John Crawford; Sir Lenox Hewitt OBE (father of British politician, Patricia Hewitt); and John Menadue. Perhaps there are, as this is written, distinguished men and women beavering away within bureaucracies of state and federal government.

However, life has moved on in public administration. Most heads of department are on timed contracts. They are dependent on their political masters to renew their contract. Prior to the introduction of timed contracts, public servants were tenured. The contract system has allowed a thorough-going politicisation of the public sector. (Yes Miss E knows that politicisation did precede the introduction of contracts but it is Miss E's view that politicisation was not on the same scale as that which prevails now.) Time and again public administration in Australia seems to demonstrate master-pleasing advice and action rather than the old "without fear or favour" culture.

The servants of the public are not acquitting themselves well. Instance the equivocation, cover up, inaction, avoidance and blurring by DFAT bureaucrats before the AWB inquiry.

Miss Eagle is not the only with a point of view about governance in Australia. Over at Casting a short shadow, Miss Eagle discovered a reference to a speech by Lieutenant General John Sanderson, AC given as the Annual Oration 2007 to the Order of Australia Association entitled Federal Renewal and Unity in Reconciliation: a return to government by the people.

Miss Eagle is happy to forward a copy of this speech to readers if they email their requests to Miss Eagle's email address which is accessible if you look under the AusFlag logo on the sidebar.