At the southern edge of Alice Springs, the Heavitree Gap cuts through the MacDonnell Ranges, a narrow mountain chain stretching over 650km. In Arrernte culture, this place is associated with the heroes of the Dreaming, who shaped the world. Brian Youngy, one of the traditional leaders, summed it up: ‘The green caterpillar and the brown caterpillar turned to stone when they saw their father beheaded,’ he said as he looked out over the landscape of ochre-coloured sand, dotted with acacia trees and spinifex tussocks.

‘Since time immemorial,’ he added, ‘this has been a place for meetings and exchanges between the peoples of the centre of the Great Southern Land. Australia? I don’t even know where that name comes from!’ Like many indigenous Australians, he puts the mere two and a half centuries of colonisation into perspective when compared with more than 60,000 years of Aboriginal history – the oldest continuous living culture on Earth.

‘This is our home [myri in Arrernte],’ Youngy explained. ‘Where white people see a desert, we see resources. We read the sand like a book, and while you use GPS, we have our songlines. As a traditional leader, I preserve the history of my land. For here we are the first inhabitants of this country, even though we remain second-class citizens.’

According to the anthropologist William Stanner, ‘no word is precise enough to convey the meaning of the bond between Aboriginal people and their homeland: camp, heart, country, eternal home, ceremonial place, source of life, spiritual centre… ’ Aboriginal peoples never fought territorial wars. ‘My home is the place where my ancestors reside. Conquering the land of another person’s ancestors would make no sense,’ said Walbira Murray, a social worker of Gamilaroi heritage who lives in Alice Springs.

When James Cook landed at Botany Bay, near present-day Sydney, in 1770, he declared the Australian continent terra nullius (a land belonging to no one) and (…)

Full article: 3 806 words.

(1) Quoted by Philip Knightley, Australia: a Biography of a Nation, Vintage, London, 2001.

(2) People referred to by a forename only have chosen to remain anonymous.

(3) ‘Bringing Them Home’, National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (now Australian Human Rights Commission), 1997, www.humanrights.gov.au/.