Places of Reconciliation: Commemorating Indigenous History in the Heartof Melbourne by Sarah Pinto

Author:Sarah Pinto [Pinto, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: history, Australia & New Zealand, Social Science, Indigenous Studies
ISBN: 9780522872323
Google: z0IGxQEACAAJ
Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing
Published: 2021-11-15T00:18:47.361523+00:00

The Anniversary of the Execution of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner

At midday on the 20 January each year, a few hundred people gather for a commemorative event at Standing by Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, by Wiradjuri artist Brook Andrew and non-Indigenous artist Trent Walter, to mark the anniversary of the execution of the two Palawa men in 1842. The public ceremony is organised each year by the Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner Commemoration Committee, a small community organisation convened by the medical practitioner, radio broadcaster and anarchist Joseph Toscano. Toscano begins the event with a short history of how the commemorative marker of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner came about, and the formation of the Committee.43 His introduction is followed by a Welcome to Country by the Committee’s patron, Boonwurrung Foundation Elder N’arweet Carolyn Briggs. Several other invited speakers follow, including local Indigenous activists, City of Melbourne councillors, and representatives of the anti-colonial West Papuan independence movement. Local musician Les Thomas usually sings his ‘Freedom Fighters (Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner)’, a song he was asked to write by the Committee in consultation with Cape Barren Elders. Members of the crowd are also invited to speak, and some leave flowers on or around Standing’s bluestone plinth (see figure 10). As the public ceremony at the site ends, Toscano invites everyone to walk through the streets of the city to Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner’s burial site at the nearby Queen Victoria Market, which was built over the Old Melbourne Cemetery. Once there, members of the crowd are again invited to speak, and some also leave flowers. If the anniversary falls on a day the market is open, the stall directly above the likely burial site is left vacant as a mark of respect. The small crowd of commemorators spills out into the market’s aisles, sometimes piquing the interest of shoppers, who stop to listen for a while.

Just like Birrarung Marr during the Koorie Heritage Trust’s walking tours, the annual public ceremony at Standing by Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner turns the site of the commemorative marker into a place where the voices of Melbourne-based Aboriginal people are privileged and amplified. When I have attended this ceremony, I have been able to hear Indigenous histories at the centre of the city more clearly as a result. In Birrarung Marr during the walking tours, it is histories of (Aboriginal) place that are the focus—particularly the impact of colonisation on the landscape of the city itself. The impact of colonisation is similarly emphasised during the annual ceremony at Standing, albeit with a stronger focus on the experiences of Aboriginal people. At these events, I heard colonisation (re)framed as a war against Indigenous peoples that has not ended. And the importance of telling this history in contemporary Australia was also made clear to me.

The form of the commemorative marker encourages a focus on the violent disruptions of colonisation (see chapter 2), and the annual public ceremony expands and enlarges this focus. The ceremony itself (re)frames the colonisation of southeastern Australia as a war that deserves the same kind of recognition and remembrance as other wars.

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