The length of the welcome to country ceremony held at an Anzac commemoration in Sydney has sparked a backlash after it lasted nine minutes.
The speech was given by a Gadigal elder at the 90th anniversary commemoration of the Hyde Park Anzac Memorial in Sydney on Sunday night.
2GB radio host Ben Fordham on Tuesday questioned the appropriateness of the lengthy ceremony.
Fordham said that while the speaker mentioned his ancestors’ involvement in the war, the length of the speech was excessive and detracted from the event.
‘It was supposed to be about the Anzacs, but people had to sit through a nine-minute Welcome to the Country. “It doesn’t take nine minutes to welcome people,” he said.
‘One person contacted us saying it didn’t fit the tone of the event. This is not to diminish the speaker’s effort, but nine minutes is too long.
‘Some attendees thought it was excessive and self-indulgent, many are already uncomfortable being welcomed in their own country. Making them sit for nine long minutes won’t help the cause.
A year after the failed Voice referendum, the value of country welcome and recognition ceremonies is still widely debated in Australia.
The speech was given by a Gadigal elder at the 90th anniversary commemoration of the Hyde Park Anzac Memorial
Renewed scrutiny began in September with the Giants versus Lions AFL semi-final in Sydney, where Aboriginal elder Brendan Kerin said the ceremonies were “not to cater to white people”.
“It’s a ceremony we’ve been celebrating for 250,000 years BC, and BC means Before Cook,” he told the crowd, referring to Captain James Cook’s arrival in Australia in 1770, before European settlement.
“Before colonization, you could get into a lot of trouble for walking on someone else’s land and not being welcome on that land,” the Marrawarra and Barkindji man said.
But the modern form of Welcome to Country was invented in 1976 by Dr Richard Walley’s Middar Aboriginal theater group, after Maori and Cook Islands visitors to the Perth Arts Festival requested a ceremonial welcome.
The musician, dancer and writer invoked a blessing in the local language, sang a Nyoongar song celebrating their lands and the group performed a ceremonial dance, all of which were a huge success and struck a chord with the indigenous community.
It was subsequently adopted by the Northern Territory Tourism Board, then the Australian Tourism Commission and gained a global platform when it was included in the Miss Universe beauty pageant held in Perth in 1979.
Since then, the ceremonies have grown to become a regular feature of everyday life in Australia and are considered a sacred tradition to initiate public events.
But some Australians still find them irritating. Earlier this month, a ceremony held in Azerbaijan was called a “complete farce.”
The modern form of Welcome to Country was invented in 1976 by Dr Richard Walley’s Middar Aboriginal theater group.
Delegate Dr Clare Anderson conducted a country survey in a nearly empty room in the former Soviet republic as part of the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
“To begin with, although we are not on Australian soil, I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands and pay my respects to their ancestors, past, present and emerging,” Dr Anderson said. .
Critics considered Dr. Anderson’s performance of the ceremony so far from Australia absurd.
“What a complete farce – here’s a video of the ‘Australia Pavilion’ at the climate festival in Baku – funded by Australian taxpayers,” fumed former Liberal Party and United Australia MP Craig Kelly.
“Imagine, all that money to pay to build an exhibition stand, fly a delegation to the other side of the world, install video facilities to record it all… and you get five people to attend,” Mr Kelly continued.
“Why do Australian government officials welcome the country of Azerbaijan?” Coalition Senator Matt Canavan also asked.
Another point of controversy with Welcome to Country ceremonies is their public cost.
Brisbane City Council has spent $135,000 of taxpayers’ money on the ceremonies in the last two years.
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