Welcome to post-colonial manners in university country

This article was published in The Australian 23 March 2010

The welcome to country ritual has become a key site of indigenous recognition by mainstream Australia. It can be a source of pleasure for non-indigenous audiences but is a regular cause of anxiety for event organisers. I have certainly seen acknowledgment of country statements turn into a sport, particularly at academic conferences. Once the first speaker has acknowledged the traditional owners, a crisis of postcolonial etiquette is common: does the first speaker's acknowledgment cover the whole session or must every speaker make their own acknowledgment? One wrong move can paint the speaker as a neo-coloniser.

The hazards of an acknowledgment pale into insignificance when one is faced with organising a welcome. Canberra bureaucrats, for example, have to contend with the difference between the one-N Ngunawal traditional owners and the two-n Ngunnawals. This seemingly minor spelling variation is code for a bitter division within the Ngun(n)awal community.