An Aboriginal woman has branded modern welcome ceremonies “stupid money-making schemes” and is urging Australians to take their employers to court if they are forced to attend one.
Madison King, who describes herself as a “proud Kimberley woman”, said there was a long history and tradition to smoking ceremonies but claimed they had been “bastardised” for modern audiences, often for profit.
“That’s not our culture. We didn’t go out and have corroborees (an Aboriginal ceremonial gathering) and things like that whenever we felt like it,” King said in one of two videos that have since gone viral on social media.
“It had a purpose and a meaning. What an insult to all that crowd that upholds it as a tradition and you, the crowd, take it as a mockery and turn it into entertainment and a means of making money!”
He added: “It’s a private matter, a personal matter, and to do it for thousands of people at the same time, I think it’s nonsense.”
Ms King, who last year co-wrote a book called ‘Kimberley Bush Medicine: Medicinal Plants of the Kimberley Region of Western Australia’, played down the modern ceremonies now taking place in schools, workplaces and before sporting events.
He compared it to “forcing someone to accept your religion” and accused those involved of trying to “make money off of our culture and tradition.”
“They will try to make us believe that it is normal, but that is not normal,” he said.
Madison King (pictured), who describes herself as a “proud Kimberley woman”, said there was a history and tradition to smoking ceremonies but claimed they had been “bastardised” for modern audiences, often for profit.
Ms King, who co-wrote a book called ‘Kimberley Bush Medicine: Medicinal Plants of the Kimberley Region of Western Australia’ last year, played down the modern ceremonies now held in schools, workplaces and before sporting events (file image)
‘I grew up in the community. I didn’t grow up in a big city, I grew up in the Forest River Commission community, Oombulgurri. So I know what the smoking ceremony is and what it’s all about.
“But it has become a money-making scheme and its true value is not what it is.”
In another video, which she titled “doubling down on cultural awareness”, Ms King claimed modern homecoming ceremonies were “invented” by Richard Walley’s theatre group, which included a young Ernie Dingo.
While indigenous communities have greeted strangers with smoking ceremonies and performances for tens of thousands of years, modern welcoming ceremonies were born in 1976.
Maori and Cook Island artists attending the Perth Arts Festival that year refused to set foot on the lawns of the University of Western Australia, where they were due to perform, until they were welcomed in an indigenous ceremony.
Mr Walley’s Middar Aboriginal theatre group, which included a young Ernie Dingo, created the ritual to ensure the show could go on after consulting local Nyoongar elders.
This became the model for all future ceremonies.
But Ms King said “it’s all wrong”.
“When you allow a lie to go on for so long, people now think that’s part of our culture,” he said.
“Now it’s just for fun. If you look at all those people who go to the boxing ring clapping, it’s a disgrace. That’s not our culture.”
Ms King suggested some performers were earning between “$5,000 and $50,000” per show and wondered if any local Aboriginal people were receiving that benefit.
Reconciliation Australia, a non-governmental body designed to promote dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, said a welcome-to-country ceremony “shows respect by upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols.”
“Do you think people in the community are making that money? No. It’s the purple circle. So when you go around applauding all those people, you’re only applauding a small group of people,” he said.
“We already see Aboriginal corporations using and spending our money in the purple circle. They are not looking after our people.”
Ms. King encouraged people to “fight back.”
“If you are forced to do a recognition or welcome to the country at your workplace, take them to court,” he said.
She added: “You don’t have to sit there and do nothing. If they want to call you racist, it doesn’t matter. They call me racist and I’m black.”
Reconciliation Australia, a non-governmental body designed to promote dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, said a welcome-to-country ceremony “shows respect by upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols.”
Taking the time to Acknowledge Country, or including a Welcome to Country in an event, reminds us that every day we live, work and dream on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands,’ its website states.
She added that “protocols for welcoming visitors to the country have always been part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures” and involve welcoming visitors and offering them safe passage and protection.
“Today, although these protocols have been adapted to contemporary circumstances, the essential elements remain: welcoming visitors and respecting the country,” he says.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms King for comment.
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