Welcome to Country: Tradition or Division?

In this clip, we dive into the controversial topic of 'Welcome to Country' ceremonies. Is it a symbol of respect, or is it driving division? George shares his thoughts on why he feels alienated by the practice and how it impacts his view of being an Australian. Tune in for a bold, unfiltered discussion!

[@markinglese3874]

I walked out of a welcome country ceremony held at work last year. I got into trouble, but I no longer care.

[@bizarro20daves]

I saw a really good one recently. Bloke was friendly, explained some history of the area and what the indigenous place names meant. The divisive ones are unnecessary

[@44shots6worlds]

Non of it is necessary

[@brunetteXer]

of course he could be making it all up, cos they didn't write anything down....... it's all chinese whispers memory/history and I don't think we'd find that valid in most situations.

[@maximuslancaster5369]

I like this comment, there are simply some people who give a bad or ignorant speech, unfortunately that often brings down others & the majority who speak with truth & acknowledgment of everyone.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@sarahquinn6989]

It happens in every staff meeting, professional learning day, assembly, mass, and school event that I attend. It's everywhere.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@benreinstepp7979]

Fun fact: "Welcome to country" as we know it (a shaming ceremony) has only been around since 1973 🤦‍♂️ although Aboriginal tribes were known to greet each other before entering different territories it was as a sign of respect and not a guilt trip that we find ourselves in today's world... just to clarify these rituals have been happening for around 65,000yrs, not 250,000yrs like the moron at the football claimed.

[@brunetteXer]

sorry, your comment is confusing, Many now have worked out that Welcome to Country evolved due to a sporting ritual, where the Maoris expected such a greeting? I've heard this but not sure it's true, and hey, NOTHING can be verified cos NOTHING was written down, so it's very easy to BS your past history , esp with Pascoe and the ABC on your side.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@tyrermcconnell]

250 000yrs is rubbish

[@SingaporeSling1]

The unseen voice that said that was a complete moron and the other two guys seemed to defer to him as an expert.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@Onda-v1t]

James Cook was a navigator and a cartographer who was commissioned to observe the transit of Venus in Tahiti. He was then to open secret orders, which directed him to search for the great southern land, which he did. He did not want to colonise Australia and reported that to his authorities. It was actually Sir Joseph Banks who recommended Australia as a penal colony.

[@brunetteXer]

exactly! Cook didn't sail with the First Fleet.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@maximuslancaster5369]

I don't hate you, though I encourage awareness of the different verbal traditions, such as knowing what is 'Achnowledgement of country' which any Australian may voice & that 'Welcome to Country' - words only an Aboriginal Elder may voice. Just seems that there is a misunderstanding of the two.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

There definitely is - thank you for clarifying.

[@jaya9955]

Although various timelines are still under scientific consideration, 65k years is approximately correct for the 1st ancestors to enter Australia. However, the ritual is a recently invented. Moreover, we are now also aware contemporary aboriginal populations are not singularly descended from the original inhabitants. There were multiple entries of different ethnic peoples into the landmass over the millennia and some lineages of the original inhabitants are suspected to now be extinct, with some evidence (still being researched) that later entries to the land similarly colonised and eliminated the original population groups. Symbology, some of which is known to have been handed down from those original inhabitants (thanks to rock carvings/paintings) do not come with written history so the stories that are now associated with them (such as Dreamtime and the Rainbow Serpent) and which only have oral interpretations now have potentially little or no definitive linkage to the original depictions that may have been to told with a very different story.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@TheOMT]

Pretty sure my welcome to country is my birth certificate.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

Fair call - Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe.

[@Sippy_Cupper]

Triple J has a weekly segment on their radio show called 'Blak out' where they only play music made by indigenous artists. It makes you wonder... why do they do that? What is the implication they are making when they say that indigenous people need an extra hour per week for their music? This idea and the welcome to country both seem deeply patronizing.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

Agreed.

[@anthonyleddin8055]

I love you’re honesty . I find your ignorance appalling.

[@akashicpriestess]

You can tell this pod bro lives in the history section at the library.

[@travispoorter8654]

Welcome to country with that passive aggression is not warranted. A welcome to country with good intentions should be celebrated

[@shaneclarence6696]

Colonisation was unwarranted same as your racism...

[@travispoorter8654]

@@shaneclarence6696 literally no racism here whatsoever. I’m for a welcome to country. Read the comment again

[@nephriteitsarock5377]

Maybe in and with time different Elders welcoming you to their tradition Country, will change the content or tone as circumstances their community experience improve. Not all welcomes are the same, some are incredibly positive and generous in sharing cultural knowledge others can be uncomfortable because the messages Elders need to share are hard to hear. The purpose is traditional and ceremonial, connects people to the people, time, and culture of the place you are on

[@Lwydius]

@@shaneclarence6696 "unwarranted" - never judge the people of the past by the moral standards of today. It distorts your perception of history and does those people a vast injustice. Conquest was the order of the day for the entire history of mankind. If you were not doing it to others, they were going to do it to you. Someone was going to take this place, it was always going to happen; I wonder how it would have worked out for our indigenous brothers and sisters if it had been the Chinese, or Malays?

[@44shots6worlds]

​@@shaneclarence6696 aboriginals were also unwanted when they came here funny that

[@GreyDingo]

Welcome to Country is lovely at a tea party. But welcoming me to a country I was born in is bullshit. Indigenous people, immigrants, multi-generational Australians have a responsibility and onus to pull themselves up by the bootstraps REGARDLESS of historical events. "Give them back their land"? Why? What will happen to it? How will it change/develop/contribute to NOW if it is "given back"? Get over it, move ahead.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@brunetteXer]

we went to Kakadu in 2008 and they did a lovely "welcome to country" thing, and I thought it was fitting, as we were tourists. But to have to listen to this crap - ever evolving into more and more BS (250K years!!! ). It is supposed to be a WELCOME but it's actually a guilt trip.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

Yes agree with your first statement. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe.

[@stupeters8409]

In the 70s we sung God Save the Queen, As The Queen and The King were and are the constitutional head of our country...still are , Advance Australia Fair was only the official Anthem since 1983, I believe That we should sing I am Australian

[@disciplesofJesusChrist]

Even 3000 years would be a stretch

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[@toddbeamer6131]

There should be equal time given for a welcome to modern civilization, showing how tolerant and welcoming we are to a bunch of wildly violent tribes who were still banging rocks together when the first ships arrived from a country that could build ships and send them around the globe. Then there should be equal time given for naming the head of state (King Charles), praising the constitution and the military who defend this country, and singing the national anthem.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@khaeldraven8933]

Lol Rainbow time! Do you mean dreamtime and the story of the rainbow serpent?

[@nephriteitsarock5377]

Maybe in and with time different Elders welcoming you to their tradition Country, will change the content or tone as circumstances their community experience improve. Not all welcomes are the same, some are incredibly positive and generous in sharing cultural knowledge others can be uncomfortable because the messages Elders need to share are hard to hear. The purpose is traditional and ceremonial, connects people to the people, time, and culture of the place you are on.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@seanclifford2226]

The best way to fight this if you run events for example is to run a "thank you for colonisation" ceremony, call it a "thank you for coming" ceremony if it sounds better. Pay the money and there will be plenty of aboriginals to do it. Tribes have been migrating to Austrralia for over 100,000 years for sure. The ones they have dug up are just as related to any european decent australian. geneticaly DNA test speaking. Current people claiming to be aboriginals show no respect to their full immigrant heritage. European tribes such as the dutch, chinese and others had immigrated here 100's of years before cook and Asian tribes from malaysia and papua and others for 1000's of years. The great barrier reef runs all the way to Papua, you can cross on a canoe in good weather. The idea there was no immigration before the cook tribe is absolutely absurd and an insult to ancestors of the people who made these trips. On top of this, much of the aboriginal culture is shit....and if you dont think infatacide and genocide is shit....then you should perhaps revue your moral compas. The idea of idolising this culture is repugnant to me. Take the few things that are good (boomerang and diggeridoo for example) and amalagmate into Austrlian culture....could say the same thing about any culture btw. I've got viking ancestory but i dont insist on raping and pillaging.

[@goldcoastlandbasedfishing.1928]

Welcome to Country just causes more division. Every time I board the Skybus. When I fly Jetstar I have to listen to this crap 💩

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@JonMadd]

"My bad"

[@ianwilson8759]

Aboriginal Australians 230 years ago had no concept of what the entirety of Australia was until they were educated by the colonists a century later. They had no idea that Tasmania existed because Tasmania was cut-off from the Australian mainland 10,000 years ago. They had no wheels, so travel from one place to another, especially in summer when food was scarce, was extremely difficult and so they had little idea of a vast territory. They were stone age people rudely introduced to, for the most part, fairly coarse and ignorant Europeans. So "welcome to country" is a total oxymoron. 250,000 years ago the only Homo species in Eurasia were Neanderthalensis or Denisovan, Homo Sapiens didn't get to Arabia until c. 65,000 years ago, got to India about 60,000 years ago and probably did not cross into Australia until the height of the last ice age 40-50,000 years ago. Aboriginal people have a 5-6% of preserved Denisovan in their DNA - so Homo sapiens were effing around with Denisovans for some time in Asia before they crossed over to Australia.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@overlogins]

Good podcast. Spot on :)

[@moesheen654]

Welcome to country thing is valid. Overall they seem to know nothing of Aboriginal history or culture.

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[@moesheen654]

Like welcome to country or not, its yaving the ipposite effect of its intention, party because its done to much.

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[@garethgsxr]

More people need to speak out like this. we voted against the voice, now stop welcome to country

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@mjames4709]

The corporate virtue signalling is just pathetic. It’s in every damn workplace because the bosses are too scared to ‘can it’.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

Yes. You have to ask yourself why though?

[@toddbeamer6131]

Read what early explorers and writers described of aboriginal lifestyle and you wouldn't want to be welcomed to their culture at all. The border feuds, raiding parties, taking of women, and tribal penalties are just the tip of the iceberg.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@roytaylor7807]

Earni Dingo a comedian started welcome country as a joke for a movie

[@zaphod5660]

before cook probley better than before japan

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[@gibbopg]

There is also no need for a separate Aboriginal or Torres Straight islander flag. It is definitely divisive. How does that help unify a country? I know enough about Aboriginal history ... and it doesn't help rewriting that history with often false changes. I have sympathy for the past errors ... however, I didn't do it and it didn't happen to anyone alive today. I don't have guilt and will not be taking the guilt of my ancestors onboard. I suggest Aboriginal people stop living in the past and being constant victims. This doesn't bode well for their future. Yes, easy for me to say...

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[@user-es3tr4os2k]

2:55 "I don't know, I haven't done any research, but I believe it's a political thing" you're an absolute clown.

[@jasonl1942]

@user-es3tr4os2k you'd have to be Stevie wonder not to see this point is correct.

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[@stephenhoward4471]

How many pure blood aboriginal people r there?? Hardly any, so these people wouldn't exist without colonisation

[@achebwahs1111]

You're a pureblood wanker

[@shaneclarence6696]

Neither would you

[@Dom-tk4nb]

bro just think about what you just said slowly

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

You're definitely tripping - BUT - Thanks for watching. Don't forget to subscribe.

[@shaneclarence6696]

@@Dom-tk4nb I have and it's factual.....

[@maximuslancaster5369]

Eww, comment section is an echo chamber of impulsive thoughts.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

Thanks

[@roytaylor7807]

LETS GET TO THE POINT IF CAPTAIN COOK ARRIVED TODAY THE WHEEL WOULD NOT EXIST IN AUSTRALIA

[@ronaldo4536]

Bullshit

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@paulharrington9673]

You need to learn some Australian history. Must of what you said about the stolen generation is wrong. Don't just read the left leaning stuff.

[@maximuslancaster5369]

They don't strike me as guys who read books I'm afraid

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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[@toker5536]

Its a bit sad you cant recognise who the country was stolen from, maybe if we had given them a voice instead of saying hell no, We are giving LGBQT (no offence) NZ dont do it because the Maoris were given a hell of a treaty they have a hell of a voice. and what the hell is the difference between rainbow time and saying "in the beginning, god created" yes mate your a richard head

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[@roytaylor7807]

Great idea if this is Aboriginal land why not just give it back to them, if we have obtained land illegally as they say the Gov should just have the balls and give the lot back

[@benreinstepp7979]

Give it too who exactly? 🤣

[@nephriteitsarock5377]

Maybe in and with time different Elders welcoming you to their tradition Country, will change the content or tone as circumstances their community experience improve. Not all welcomes are the same, some are incredibly positive and generous in sharing cultural knowledge others can be uncomfortable because the messages Elders need to share are hard to hear. The purpose is traditional and ceremonial, connects people to the people, time, and culture of the place you are on.

[@progressthroughpain]

To our country. OUR country! I don't need to be welcomed by anyone to Earth I was born through.

[@MillionDollarDaysPod]

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