Following Captain James Cook's arrival in the land now known as Australia in 1770, the territory was subsequently declared Terra Nullius or "uninhabited land”, ignoring at least 60,000 years of unbroken Indigenous Connection to Country.
Cook's arrival not only opened the door for British colonisation. It also led to the founding of what we now know as Australia, based on "a lie”, Salvadorean-Australian lawyer David Mejia-Canales explains.
“The culture and language of the Indigenous people have been made invisible. This is on purpose. The British who came to this continent declared it Terra Nullius and did not acknowledge that they were here. That was the situation from the founding of Australia until 1992,” he tells SBS Spanish.
In 1992, the High Court issued the landmark “Mabo decision”, a ruling recognising Indigenous Australians' rights to their lands for the first time. The historic decision was hard-won by the litigant, Koiki Eddie Mabo, a Torres Strait Islander who successfully proved his ancestors had continuously lived and cared for their lands for generations.
Highlights:
- The foundation of what we now know as Australia is based on “a lie,” says Salvadorian-Australian lawyer David Mejia-Canales, political advisor to Indigenous Senator for the Green Party, Lidia Thorpe.
- The declaration of "Terra Nullius" or "no man's land" opened the door for British colonisation, and an era in which Indigenous peoples were stripped off their lands, discriminated against and abused for decades, under the White Australia Policy, which saw the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families by the State.
- From the colonisation of Australia until 1992, Indigenous peoples and their cultures "were made invisible,” laments Mejia-Canales, who arrived in the 1980s as a refugee with his family, escaping the Salvadorian civil war (1979-1992).
Mejia-Canales recalls that when he and his family arrived in Australia, authorities took "good care" of them, so he was distraught when he realised how First Nations peoples had been treated.
"It was a shock!", he confesses.
"It triggered a personal crisis because the people who had always lived on this continent had not had the same treatment [as me].”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders represent 3.3 per cent of Australia's 25 million inhabitants. Despite some recent progress in their plight, including the National Apology for the Stolen Generations, and achieving increased representation in Government and business, they still remain the most disadvantaged, poorest and most incarcerated group in the country, continuously subject to systemic discrimination and marginalisation.
Their presence in the Australian territory for 65,000 years is yet to be recognised in the country's Constitution, and Australia remains as the only country in the Commonwealth that does not have a Treaty with its Indigenous people, nor are Indigenous issues taught in-depth in schools.
For salvadorean-australian lawyer David Mejia Canales, learning more about Indigenous Australia is a social reparation issue. Source: Supplied
International human rights agencies and advocates have denounced that even today Australia is prompting a second 'Stolen Generation', as Indigenous children continue to be separated from their families at an alarming rate, through social protection systems.
Other concerning government policies slammed as "paternalistic" include the implementation of 'Basic' welfare cards, which restrict how recipients can spend their welfare payments, among other policies that block aspirations of self-determination.
Mejia-Canales hopes his work as a lawyer and political advisor, "contributes to Australian society and to repair relationships with the people who have always been here."
"One of the most serious injustices here in Australia is that we have not repaired relations with the Indigenous peoples of this country and that is why I am dedicated to working to repair all these injustices so that we can move forward together," he says.
For him the phrase “Always was, always will be” is a great reminder of who the Traditional Owners of Australia really are, “the people who have always been here and continue with their struggle for justice and recognition”.
“Always was, always will be” is frequently explained as much more than a chant that echoes in Invasion Day rallies and Indigenous rights protests around the country - it encapsulates the spirituality, traditions, Law and lore, and raison d'être that bind Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples.
It is a phrase that sums up their unbreakable relationship with Country or, as expressed in Quechua-speaking parts of Latin America, with Pachamama, Mother Nature.
Parallels between the colonisation of Australia and the Americas
As in Australia, the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492 opened the door for the colonisation of this vast continent, not only by the Spanish, but also the Portuguese, French, Dutch, and British.
More than 500 years later, the continent is ethnically mixed, although the wounds of the "invasion" still sting, especially among the Indigenous peoples.
Mejia-Canales, who is a descendant of Indigenous Salvadorans, says that despite the time difference between the colonisation of Australia, more than 230 years ago, and that of the Americas, more than 500 years ago, both places share “the same colonisation roots” and some “slavery parallels ”.
Both the First Peoples of Australia and the Americas maintain a strong relationship with the land, a deep "spiritual" connection, which informs the "right way" to "care for the planet and one another”.
But Mejia-Canales considers that among the differences between the colonisations of Australia and the Americas is, among other things, that the Europeans came to the American continent to take resources, such as gold and silver, while in the oceanic country, they created penal colonies, and hoped "to stay," he says.
David Mejia Canales and Green's Senator Lidia Thorpe. Source: Supplied
Mejia-Canales in politics
Mejia-Canales, who studied law at RMIT University in Melbourne, worked with the National Association of Legal Services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (NATSILS), which offers free legal help to Indigenous people.
“Here in Australia, we have a problem: the legal system does not sufficiently protect Indigenous people. For example, here in Australia, like a third of the people who are in prison are Indigenous, but the Indigenous people of Australia are like 3 per cent of the population, so we have a big problem,” he explains.
After this work, the Salvadoran lawyer headed for politics by commencing work with Senator Lidia Thorpe.
“When she became a Senator [in the federal government], I sent her a message and told her that I didn't care what she did in her office, that I didn't care if it was sweeping, but that I wanted to work with her. I was very impressed by their values and their demand for justice for their people."
Mejia-Canales already admired Thorpe for her steadfastness and Aboriginal pride.
“She was the first Aboriginal woman in Victoria to become a member of Parliament, and when she was sworn in, she arrived in her Aboriginal cloak, surrounded by her people, her tribe. For me, that was a very impressive thing, to see how she presented herself with the great pride of being Aboriginal."
