2020 has been a year for reflection and delays, and in due style last week we celebrated a delayed NAIDOC Week. This is a time for delving deep, recognising and reflecting on the culture and peoples who have shaped this land through centuries of change.

Always was, always will be…

That was the theme for this years’ NAIDOC week, which pays homage to this land and the peoples that shaped it before it had the name ‘Australia’. It refutes the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’ that led to mass-scale dispossession and often violent conflicts between Indigenous people and colonial settlers.

The idea that you are standing, sitting, sleeping or reading this post while on stolen land is a disconcerting one, especially for those who are the descendants of colonial settlers or new migrants since. How do we sit in this discomfort and what action can we take to reconcile this past?

A good start is to acknowledge the past and understand the impact of past injustices. Though criticised for its lack of action, the Rudd apology in 2008 was a turning point in the discourse at the national level – at least now we had stopped denying the truth.

We are the stories we tell ourselves.

The quote has been repeated so many times in various ways, it’s hard to know who is first to have said it. The stories we tell ourselves become the reality we live. We too can help change our own internal discourse by learning more about the history of this country, its peoples and their culture, as well as our place in it.

Whose land are you on?

One of the biggest misconceptions about Aboriginal Australia is its expected uniformity. Prior to European settlement, there were 300-500 Indigenous nations, each with their own languages and customs. Sadly, many of these languages are becoming or are already extinct – something you might not think possible given our current ability to document everything online.

These language groups and their geographical bounds are often what we refer to when we think of Indigenous Country. Connection to Country and Caring for Country are phrases you might have heard, but not stopped to think about what they meant, or been able to consider the reality that there are actually many Countries.

Imagine the stories you tell about the places you have been. I was born here, I grew up there, this is where I met my future partner. In Australia we use a mix of place names, original or derived indigenous names like Wagga Wagga and Mallacoota, as well as those that came long after the first peoples already had named them.

We at ICONScience live and work across Melbourne and its outskirts, Perth, and regional Victoria. Said differently, we live and work on lands of the Dja Dja Wurung, Woiwurung, and Boonwurrung language groups of the Kulin Nations, Wajuk country in WA, and Jaitmatang country in regional Victoria.

Can you imagine how your story would change if you mapped your life according to the Indigenous Country you stood on? There are many tools out there to help you, like this map from AIATSIS that covers all of Australia, or the Welcome to Country App (on Apple phones only) that gives you location specific information.

Paying the rent

It is both politically unpalatable and personally unsettling to talk about Australia as being unceded land. What do we do with that knowledge? How do we reconcile it with our current lifestyle?

It is difficult for the average Australian, who right now might be jobless or struggling to pay rent, to imagine providing restitution for the misgivings of their ancestors, or those they live with. It is hard to feel how privileged we are.

And yet, acknowledging the past does not remove its ongoing effects. Indigenous people are half as likely to own their own home, more likely to be unemployed or incarcerated, and have a lower life expectancy (for more information see Australia’s Welfare 2017 report or the Closing the Gap campaign). Never again, we said in 2008, but in 2020 more children than ever are being taken from their families under controversial child protection policies.

A movement that acknowledges the political complexity of restitution is the notion of “Paying the Rent“. First born out of NAIHO (now NACCHO) and a team of dedicated activists in Victoria, the movement urges for governments to pay a percentage of the Country’s income to Aboriginal peoples while allowing for self-determination and governance on how that money is spent for repatriation.

But you don’t have to wait for the government to act. You can pay the rent yourselves through this Victorian website.

Other steps

This is a good point to acknowledge that money cannot fix everything. There are other things that are needed in the process towards reconciliation with First Nations people.

High on the list are calls to allow Indigenous voices to be heard in parliament (e.g. the Statement from the Heart) and other governance processes; an official treaty that gives Indigenous Australians the power for self-determination; and integration of the true history and understanding of Indigenous cultures into our education system.

If respect for indigenous culture was embedded into the fabric of the Australian way of life, we wouldn’t need this moment to reflect during NAIDOC week, we would see it reflected in our everyday.

Resources

If you want to explore beyond simply acknowledging Country, there are a range of resources designed to teach you and help you connect to Indigenous culture, history, music and language – check out this list here.

There are also many great books to read including Dark Emu by Bruce Pasco, who uses settler colonial accounts to dispute the idea that Aboriginal peoples were simply hunter-gatherer societies.

Claire Land’s book Decolonising Solidarity is also a great book club read with lots of associated resources to help you to have those difficult conversations about how to act as a non-Indigenous ally.

For those interested in conservation and engaging with Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Knowledge, have a look at CSIRO’s Our Knowledge Our Way guidelines, and the Three Category Approach Workbook by the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub

This is a Scarlet Macaw – one of the many magnificent species of parrot endemic to south and central America. An Australian Government study is considering whether it is appropriate to allow imports of these birds, following pressure from the local pet trade.  

Importing parrots from overseas has been banned since 1995. This is because importing birds, even when they’re spectacular, is a spectacularly terrible idea. I spoke to the ecologists in our group and they gave me some clear reasons why.  

First – and this is the one the government is looking at seriously – moving birds internationally might mean we see movement of diseases too.

The risks include avian infuenza, parasites and mosquito-borne diseases. These diseases aren’t just a risk to humans, but also our wildlife, and there have been disasters in past. The fungal plant disease, Myrtle Rust (Austropuccinia psidii) passed all of our border controls in 2010, and spread through the country, killing substantial areas of native vegetation. Several native plant species went from common to critically endangered as a result. For the 12 species of Australian parrots that are already endangered, any outbreak could lead to extinction. The government notes quarantine as a key risk management strategy – which we have recently learned the limitations of quite intimately, being a Melbourne-based lab in the age of COVID-19. 

On top of disease risk, there’s the damage that the pet trade can do by promoting poaching and smuggling. This hasn’t been addressed directly by the Australian government’s enquiry, but for a number of South American parrot species, trapping for the pet trade has compounded the enormous pressures these birds face from deforestation, with many species already at the brink of disappearing altogether. Spix’s Macaw (star of the 2011 film Rio) is now extinct in the wild, and over 40 species of parrot in the region are endangered or critically endangered. Opening new markets that could encourage poaching is the last thing these birds need.  

On top of that, we’ve got a long history of disastrous examples of imported species getting out and going feral (you’ve probably seen a common or Indian mynah today, and then there’s the infamous cane toad).  There is also the ethical question of whether it’s fair to take wild, sociable tropical birds with large home ranges and keep them alone in cages.  

Stack up all these considerations and a pet macaw isn’t just risky – it’s unconscionable.  

The good news is that we’re an island with masses of amazing endemic species, including some truly spectacular parrots and cockatoos. Really, with locals like this, why would you go abroad? 

While you’d need to take a bit of a drive to see the magnificent Pink Cockatoo in its mostly arid inland habitat, you don’t need to go far to have wonderful experiences with nature. Even for city dwellers, there are a lot of positive, rewarding ways you can get into contact with our bird life, sometimes without even leaving the house. This week, members of our lab engaged in Birdlife Australia’s ‘backyard bird count’ – spotting species including black cockatoos, musk lorikeets and galahs. If you want to learn more about the wildlife right on your doorstep, a great way is to get involved with one of the accessible citizen science projects running across Australia as we speak. Spring is a great time for this, as other national recording events are taking place, including Frog ID week (6^{th –} 15^th November) and the national pollinator count (8^th-15^th November). Many of these citizen science projects have free identification apps attached, helping you recognise common species and making it easy to record your findings. The most famous of these is iNaturalist, but there are others you might not know about: BirdCount, Spidentify, FrogID, and Butterflies Australia. For each Australian state you can also find excellent free field guide apps to all groups of common fauna. 

If you have a keen green thumb, you can also start cultivating your own little patch of wilderness that the birds will love. Many native species rely on private gardens for foraging or nesting resources, and you can do your bit by increasing the number of native plants, building a bird box or providing water (especially during the next hot, dry summer). Check if your local council has a wildlife gardening program, which often have free resources and sometimes offer free plants to help get you started.  

If you have a bit of extra time, or a bit of extra space, there are a range of active volunteer groups that you can join – whether it be providing care for injured wildlife through Wildlife Victoria/WIRES NSW, or maintaining habitat through the ‘friends of’ group for your local park (e.g. Friends of Westgate Park, Royal Park or the RBG in Melbourne, or similar groups in Perth and Sydney). Not only will you learn loads about the local wildlife in your area, but you can actively participate in programs to encourage them to be healthy and thriving – while making like-minded friends along the way! 

Once you know a little more about who lives in your backyard or local park, the best way to connect with your local wildlife community is to spend some time outside. Take 5 minutes to look closely at a flowering plant, or watch a patch of water and you might be surprised at what you notice! Tiny native hoverflies visiting for a meal, or a family of wood ducks washing. Taking a little more time to watch the world around you will open a whole new window onto your own personal wildlife documentary. Check out some of the special and unexpected connections people have made with urban nature here.  

Getting to know your locals can also prevent unfriendly encounters – magpies, for example, are less likely to swoop you during breeding season if you’ve got to know them beforehand, and sometimes will even introduce you to their babies! 

Of course, having a pet in the house is lovely too. For many of us that have faced loneliness through lockdown, companion animals are something we value more than ever. The thing is, there are plenty of loving animals that really need homes – we really don’t need to plunder distant jungles (at risk of plague, extinctions, feral outbreaks and general animal cruelty) to find a bit of company. Adopt a pet at your local shelter instead; it’s much less likely to learn to swear at you.