Aboriginal woman Madison King reveals why she wants Welcome to Country ceremonies cancelled
An Aboriginal woman has branded modern Welcome to Country ceremonies “money-making nonsense” and is encouraging Australians to take their employers to court if they are forced to attend such ceremonies.
Madison King, who describes herself as a “proud Kimberley woman”, said smoking ceremonies have a long history and tradition but claimed they had been “bastardised” for the modern audience, often for profit.
“That’s not our culture. We didn’t just go around and have corroborees (an Aboriginal ceremonial gathering) and things like that whenever we felt like it,” Ms King said in one of two videos that have since gone viral on social media.
‘There was a purpose and a meaning to it. And what an insult to the whole mob that does corroboree as a tradition and you mob makes a joke of it and turns it into entertainment and for money purposes.’
She added: ‘It’s a private matter, a personal matter and if you do it in front of thousands of people at once, I think it’s nonsense.’
Ms King, who last year co-authored the book Kimberley Bush Medicine: Medicinal Plants of the Kimberley Region of Western Australia, blasted the modern ceremonies now taking place in schools, workplaces and before sporting events.
She compared it to “imposing someone’s religion” and accused those involved of “wanting to milk our culture and tradition for money”.
“They’ll try to make it normal. It’s not normal,” she said.
Madison King (pictured), who describes herself as a “proud Kimberley woman”, said there was a history and tradition behind smoking ceremonies but claimed they had been “raped” for the modern public, often for profit.
Ms King, who co-authored last year’s book ‘Kimberley Bush Medicine: Medicinal Plants of the Kimberley Region of Western Australia’, blasted modern ceremonies now taking place in schools, workplaces and sporting events (stock image)
“I grew up in the community. I didn’t grow up in a big city, I grew up in the community of Forest River Commision, Oombulgurri. So I know what a smoking ceremony is and what it’s all about.
“But it has become a way to make money and the real value of it is not what it is.”
In another video, which she called a “double-down on cultural awareness,” King claimed that modern Welcome to Country ceremonies were “invented” by Richard Walley’s theater troupe, which included a young Ernie Dingo.
Although indigenous communities have greeted strangers with smoking ceremonies and performances for tens of thousands of years, modern Welcome to Country ceremonies only emerged in 1976.
Maori and Cook Island artists attending the Perth Arts Festival that year refused to set foot on the lawn of the University of Western Australia where they were to perform until they had been welcomed at an indigenous ceremony.
Mr Walley’s Middar Aboriginal Theatre group, which included the young Ernie Dingo, devised the ritual to ensure the performance could go ahead, after consultation with local Nyoongar elders.
This then became the blueprint for all future ceremonies.
But Mrs King said: ‘Everything about it is wrong’.
“When you perpetuate a lie for so long that people start to think it’s part of our culture,” she said.
“Now it’s just for fun. When you look at all these people who go into the boxing ring with sticks, 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 questioned whether local Aboriginal people were profiting from this.
Reconciliation Australia, a non-governmental organisation 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 those people in the community deserve that money? No. It’s the purple circle. So when you go around and clap for all those people, you’re only clapping for a small group of people,” she said.
‘We are already seeing our money being used by Aboriginal corporations and spent by the purple circle. They are not looking after our mob.’
Mrs King encouraged people to ‘fight back’.
“If they force you at work to give recognition or welcome in the country, take them to court,” she said.
She added: ‘You don’t have to sit there and do anything. If they want to call you racist, whatever. They’re calling me racist and I’m black.’
Reconciliation Australia, a non-governmental organisation focused on promoting dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, said a Welcome to Country ceremony “shows respect by upholding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols”.
When we take the time to acknowledge country or attend a Welcome to Country event, we are reminded that we live, work and dream on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands every day,” the website reads.
It says that ‘protocols for welcoming visitors to the country have always been part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures’ and include welcoming visitors and providing safe passage and protection.
“While these protocols have been adapted to contemporary circumstances, the essential elements remain the same: welcoming visitors and respect for the land,” the document reads.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms King for comment.