Our Indigenous population's fight for reconciliation took another very small step forward on Saturday night when the Australian national anthem was sung by a Wiradjuri woman, Olivia Fox, in the aboriginal language of the Eora Nation when the Australian Wallabies Rugby Union team played the Argentine Pumas.
The Eora group of Indigenous people are from the Sydney metropolitan area, where the game took place,
This was a first for an international sporting event.
There are around 290 to 360 different Australian Aboriginal languages spoken around the country and its islands.
Other nations have Indigenous languages as part of their national
anthems eg. New Zealand's anthem is sung in both Maori and
English.
Some weren't happy as many consider the national anthem's words to be racist. For instance there has been controversy over the phrase "for we are young and free “ given that Australia is home to one of the world's oldest known
civilisations.
But it was quickly pointed out that the Eora version was not a direct translation
Considering the words were written in 1878 there are obvious outdated references. There have been a number of changes since it finally replaced ‘God Save the Queen’ in 1984.
The above words will be changed hopefully to “for we are one and free”.
There is entrenched discrimination against Australia's Indigenous population.
While the country's Indigenous population makes up just 3.3% of its 25 million people, they account for more than 25% of its prisoners.
Indigenous Australians are also almost twice as
likely to die by suicide, have a life expectancy that is almost nine
years lower, and have higher infant mortality rates than non-Indigenous
Australians.
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