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Address
by Sir William Deane The evocative word "belonging", in the context of a celebration of our first century as a nation, is a challenging title for a major exhibition. It invites an examination of who and what we Australians and the nation we constitute are: where we have been and where we are going, our characteristics and qualities, our strengths and weaknesses, our inclusiveness and exclusiveness. This Exhibition - "Belonging: A Century Celebrated" - has succeeded in meeting that challenge. That is not surprising since it is staged for the Centenary of Federation by four of the principal Institutions holding our national documentary heritage - the National Archives, the National Library and the State Libraries of New South Wales and Victoria. The Exhibition has much to teach and to interest us about our past as it invites us to think about what it has meant to belong and not to belong in this country during the twentieth century. Equally important, it has much to tell us about the present and the future. For what is past is absorbed by - and helps shape - what is and what will be. There is a need for caution in making generalisations about belonging and not belonging at the time of the establishment of our nation one hundred years ago. There are, however, a few generalisations that can be made. One is that, in 1901, if you were completely white (in the sense of ancestry rather than all over), British and of free settler descent, came from a Christian background and used the word "home" to refer to a country on the other side of the world, you certainly had all the qualifications necessary to officially belong. If you had all those qualifications and had the added advantage of being an adult male, you may have even been a delegate at a Constitutional Convention. On the other hand, if you were black and your ancestry stretched back for forty, fifty or sixty thousand years in this ancient continent, you most certainly did not officially "belong" in the new nation. To the contrary, the Constitution expressly ordained that "aboriginal natives" were not even "to be counted" in "reckoning the numbers of people of the Commonwealth". And that notwithstanding that, as this Exhibition makes plain, you belonged to your country in a way that many still find difficult to comprehend, let alone understand. Between those two extremes, there lay a myriad of possible, probable and even near certain belongers and non-belongers. Our first century as a nation has transformed our national identity. There remain, of course, some divisions. But, as the Exhibition illustrates, there has emerged, particularly in the last three or four decades, a nation whose people, directly or indirectly, come from all the regions of the world and in which mutual acceptance and respect are progressively making our diversity of origin, race, culture and belief a source of national strength and unity rather than a cause of weakness and division. That is not, of course to deny that we still have a considerable way to go before we reach the stage where it could accurately be said that all Australians truly "belong", or feel that they "belong", to their nation, to their local community or even at all. It is, however, to recognise the great progress we have made towards forging a truly inclusive nation in which at least the starting point is that if you are Australian, you belong. "Belonging" explores these and other more particularised issues in an engaging fashion - sometimes challengingly, sometimes sorrowfully, sometimes light-heartedly and sometimes comically. At times it confronts us. At times it praises us. At times it gently pokes fun at us. At times it delights us. At times it evokes sadness and even shame. But always, it should cause us to think ... and to see ourselves a little more clearly. And, hopefully, it will succeed in encouraging and helping all who visit it in Sydney, in Melbourne or elsewhere in this Centenary Year to face and answer the question of what sort of nation they would like to belong to in the twenty first century. Each visitor to the Exhibition will form his or her own assessment of the comparative importance of particular aspects. I mention but two of them which will be of enduring significance to me personally. One is the importance of place, landscape and physical environment in the context of belonging - not just for indigenous Australians but for Australians generally. The other is the reminder of the injustice suffered by many completely loyal Australians who were interned during the World Wars because of a suspicion of disloyalty by reason of ties with one or other of the nations with which Australia was at war. Let me conclude by warmly congratulating and thanking all involved in the preparation, presentation, staging and sponsoring of "Belonging" for the important contribution they have together made to the celebration of the Centenary of our Australian Federation. I particularly mention the four Institutions, the National Council for the Centenary of Federation, the sponsor AAMI, the Belonging Working Party, Roslyn Russell and the Curatorial Team, the Indigenous Advisory Committee and all involved in the Community, including the Indigenous Community, consultations. And now, with much pleasure, I declare "Belonging: A Century Celebrated" to be officially open. |
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