On 10 December, 1992, the Australian Prime Minister at the time, Paul Keating, made a speech at Redfern Park which offered great hope for the future of relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians. You can read the 'Redfern Speech' here. Along with Keatings speech at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Canberra, I rank it as one of the great speeches of Australian history.
Unfortunately, since that time, under an exceptionally conservative government, the hopes expressed here were not realised, and relations have, if anything, deteriorated.
Redfern is an inner suburb of Sydney with a large Aboriginal population.
Tomorrow is Australia Day which commemorates the date of the first European settlement in Australia. I will have more to say about Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians tomorrow.
Difficult subject...
ReplyDeleteFelicitations on the eve of Australia Day. Redfern Park reminds me of San Diego's Balboa Park visually. Verdant, warm and lovely.
ReplyDeleteLe parc est tres beau et j'aime beaucoup cette fontaine. en attente demain pour la suite de l'histoire
ReplyDeleteThe park is very beautiful and I like much this fountain. on standby tomorrow for the continuation of the history
Really pleased to lay my eyes on that Redfern speech which I'd never heard of - only had time to read half of it, will come back later for the rest. This seems pretty powerful to me and indeed a significant document. Sad it just didn't make it through in the facts
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