The Indigenous Round is a celebration and acknowledgement of the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to our great game. But it is also a time when we have the opportunity to acknowledge the historical wrongs committed against our Indigenous people and discuss how we can bring about positive cultural change.
This year marks the first Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round, with the AFL naming the round in honour of the great sportsman who was born on Cummeragunja mission in New South Wales in 1906. Doug Nicholls played football for Fitzroy before becoming a Pastor and pioneer for reconciliation in Australia. He then went on to become the first Indigenous person to be Knighted and hold the position of Governor of South Australia.
The Sydney Swans are proud of the work we do with the Indigenous Community. We first played for the Marn Grook Trophy back in 2002, which was five years before Dreamtime at the ‘G was first played. We’re very proud of the QBE Sydney Swans Academy which has 24 Indigenous boys, which is around four per cent of the total 580 kids in the Academy. As I mentioned earlier we are in advanced planning to develop a new $40m training and administration facility which, among other things, is capable of housing an Indigenous Academy we can all be proud of.
I think to understand where we are heading as a Nation we need to understand our history. This journey starts on January 26, 1788 when Arthur Phillip landed in Sydney Cove and was greeted by the Gadigal people. They had been in Australia 60,000 years and over that time it’s estimated the land had provided for 1.6 billion Aboriginal lives – so they had a fair period of time in the country before the first colonists arrived. Within 12 months almost all of the Gadigal people were dead and almost half of the Aboriginals in the Sydney basin had also died. By 1900, the Indigenous population had fallen from 660,000 to around 93,000 – it’s worth reflecting that’s less than the number of people that will attend the AFL Grand Final at the MCG.
Over 150 years, 200,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were massacred and many more died as a result of introduced illnesses and lifestyle related sickness. In 1909, the Aborigines Protection Act was passed by our Federal Government and from then until the early 1970s successive governments administrated cultural genocide. Children under 16 years of age were forcibly taken from their homes and placed into missions, orphanages and foster homes. There was also the orchestrating of interracial breeding, seeking “to whiten them up” and forcing Aboriginals to live on reservations or in missions with the requirement they carry a permit should they wish to leave the reservation to work or play football.
We know about the Stolen Generation, but what very few of us understand is the hopelessness that so many of our Indigenous Australians now feel after generations of abuse, exclusion, cultural cleansing and humiliation. It’s a generational cycle of dependence and disadvantage.
Sadly, today we see the results of this. In western NSW Aboriginal men expect to live to the age of just 37 and overall, an Indigenous person today has an average life expectancy of between 10 and 20 years less than the non-indigenous. Indigenous Australians represent three per cent of our population but 30 per cent of our prison population. Almost half of all Indigenous males over 15, and 20 per cent of females, have been arrested by the police at some time. Only 25 per cent of Indigenous kids complete high school – and this is one of the reasons why the GO Foundation is so very important.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are three times more likely to suffer conditions such as diabetes and seven times more likely to die from it. Rates of depression, alcoholism and drug dependence is rampant. Indigenous Australians earn on average less than half of what non-indigenous people earn. They have no intergenerational wealth and few assets. So many of our stolen generation, their children, their grandchildren and great grandchildren, have very limited experience of positive parenting and living in a stable and loving home. All of this creates enormous inter-generational disadvantage.
The reason the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round is so important, and why the Swans and AFL see it as so important is far more than just acknowledging champions like Adam Goodes and Michael O’Loughlin. It’s also about acknowledging what this country has done to it's Indigenous people over our history, understanding it, and then having a discussion about what we can do to fix it. It won’t be easy; it will be very difficult. But the Sydney Swans and the likes of the GO Foundation want to do everything possible to try and return pride, dignity and hope to the first Australians. As a football club we stand for diversity and inclusion, and we will act to bring about positive cultural change. I hope all Australians will join us on this journey.
Please enjoy the football tonight. It will be a great game and a great celebration. However, please also give some thought to the plight of so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and keep football in perspective. We all enjoy such fabulous advantage and privilege such as being here tonight. Enjoy, but think about what we can all do to improve this great country we live in.
