"It's not our way": Young Indigenous woman speaks out against Acknowledgment of Country

A young Indigenous woman has sparked controversy by criticising the Acknowledgement of Country, claiming the practice is 'made up' and not representative of Indigenous Australian culture.

Kiescha Haines Jamieson was asked on social media whether the formal observation is an 'actual traditional practice' or a 'modern white saviour thing'.

'It is a made up protocol by Reconciliation Australia,' she claimed. 'It's not culture. It's not our way.'

The Acknowledgement of Country is a relatively recent practice, emerging in the 1990s during what the Keating Government called 'the Reconciliation Decade'. It was formalised as part of efforts to improve Indigenous-state relations, with former Labor senator and Yawuru man Pat Dodson playing a key role in its establishment.

'The work of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation encouraged strangers to recognise country, then, as people got stronger, the welcome developed,' Dodson explained.

The practice is distinct from a Welcome to Country, which is a ceremony performed by a traditional owner to formally welcome visitors to their land. Acknowledgement of Country, by contrast, is often delivered by non-Indigenous people or organisations to recognise traditional owners.

Ms Jamieson argued that the practice has now been 'institutionalised to make people think that it is our culture'. Her comments resonated with some social media users, who agreed that the protocol was 'made up'.

'Finally someone with the guts to tell the truth,' one user wrote. However, others pushed back, arguing that acknowledging country has deep cultural significance for some Indigenous groups.

'It's a traditional thing for our mob, but not as grand as it's shown on TV,' one commenter noted. 'It's not really a welcome, it's more like a way to notify the spirits and ancestors that mob are travelling.'

Another person added: 'You don't speak for all mobs and you don't speak for mine.'

Yawarllaayi/Gomeroi elder Barbara Flick Nicol has previously stated that welcoming and acknowledging visitors has existed for thousands of years in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

'It's always been something that we did as a people, understanding and observing the fact that when you are in somebody else's country, that you acknowledge them,' she told NITV in 2020.

Ms Flick Nicol said that formal acknowledgments began appearing in New South Wales after the landmark Mabo decision in 1992, with councils raising Aboriginal flags and formally recognising traditional owners at meetings and conferences.

Former federal politician and Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney, who was involved in the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, defended the practice, saying it evolved organically. 'It wasn't strategised or planned. Once it got out to civic life it was something that people saw as an important way to tell the truth of the Australian story,' she said.

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