What we can learn from Burnam Burnam

To mark white Australia’s Bicentenary on 26th January 1988, an Aboriginal man named Burnam Burnam, along with some companions, travelled to England, took out a row boat and went ashore at the White Cliffs of Dover. Wearing full ceremonial robe and red headband, he planted an Aboriginal flag into the sand and read out the declaration that follows below.

I’ve underlined aspects of the declaration that in some ways mirror characteristics of present day capitalism.

If you take time to consider this as you read through his declaration, you might see our purpose in giving Burnam Burnam’s declaration prominence in this revelationary work. To me it’s clear that colonialism was the forerunner to capitalism, that has now been unleashed across the world.

So, as a capitalist country, Ireland has much to consider in Burnam Burnam’s declaration, if we’re genuinely serious about addressing the myriad problems that our system of governance is causing today, rather than just throwing money at the symptoms.

from Google: ‘Western capitalist countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Switzerland, among others.’

Myriad: Countless or extremely great in number.

“I, Burnam Burnam, being a nobleman of ancient Australia, do hereby take possession of England on behalf of the Aboriginal people.

In claiming this colonial outpost, we wish no harm to you natives, but assure you that we are here to bring you good manners, refinement, and an opportunity to make Koompartoo, a fresh start. Henceforth, an Aboriginal face shall appear on your coins and stamps, to signify our sovereignty over this domain.

For the more advanced, we bring the complex language of the Pitjanjajara. We will teach you how to have a spiritual relationship with the Earth, and show you how to get bush tucker.

We do not intend to souvenir, pickle and preserve the heads of 2000 of your people, nor to publicly display the skeletal remains of Your Royal Highness, as was done to our Queen Truganinni for 80 years. Neither do we intend to poison your water holes, lace your flour with strychnine, or introduce you to highly toxic drugs.

Based on our 50,000 year heritage, we acknowledge the need to preserve the Caucasian race as of interest to antiquity, although we may be inclined to conduct experiments to measure the size of your skulls for levels of intelligence. We pledge not to sterilise your women, nor to separate your children from their families.

We give an absolute undertaking that you shall not be placed onto the mentality of handouts for the next 5 generations, but you will enjoy the full benefits of full Aboriginal equality.

At the end of 200 years we will make a Treaty to validate occupation by peaceful means and not by conquest.

Finally we solemnly promise not to make a quarry of England and export your valuable minerals back to the old country, Australia, and we vow never to destroy three quarters of your trees, but to encourage Earth Repair Action
to unite people, communities, religions and nations in a common, productive, peaceful purpose.”

In quoting Burnam Burnam’s magnificent gesture of resistance, I want to be clear that I am not a spokesperson for the Aboriginal people of Australia,
nor do I claim authoritative knowledge about them, or their culture.

Having said that, I can state with heart-felt sincerity, my utmost regard, respect and love for the Indigenous people of Australia. I honour their lives  – past, present and future – their culture and their intelligent, tender care of their unique, timeless lands.

On that same land I was reared and had my childhood, ignorant of the violence preceding me by only a few generations. It’s obvious to me and to many that Australia is, was and always will be Aboriginal lands.

The immensity of the impact of  colonialism landing on Aboriginal lands and blowing apart their lives will not be fully grasped by the rest of the world until capitalism falls, which of course it must.

Burnam Burnam’s declaration was an ironic take on the arrogant pronouncements of the English upon their arrival on Aboriginal land, promising to bring civilization but delivering instead barbarity.

Burnam Burnam is addressing England, not Ireland. But Ireland adopted the same system of governance that the English invaders brought with them to Ireland – which is capitalism.  So Burnam Burnam’s declaration holds equal relevance for us here in Ireland as it does to England – and indeed to any other capitalist country.

First off, Burnam Burnam sees the priority of bringing ‘good manners and refinement.’ to the native people. He mentions that Aboriginal occupation will be ‘by peaceful means and not by conquest’.

Yolngu cross cultural consultant and educator, Dhurili woman Dianne Biritjalawuy Gondarra says ‘I want the true law that brings peace and harmony.‘ – which is the foundation for the Madayin rule of Law that Indigenous  people have been governed by since the dawn of time.

Our system of governance does not bring peace and harmony but rather creates escalating violence. Competition, now ingrained in the population, is not co-operation so it doesn’t inculcate a sharing culture. Instead it’s ‘snatch and grab’ – each man for himself. Good manners  have been replaced by hate-speech, corporate trickery backed by the government and violence on the streets.

Burnam Burnam promises to teach a spiritual relationship with the land, assuring the English people that he will not destroy a third of their trees. Neither will the new rulers of England mine their lands to extract valuable minerals for export. Our disregard for permanent trees, forests and woodlands is spelt out in great detail by our landscapes – by the land itself – for those who care to listen with their eyes.

I suppose the main manner in which we export our valuable minerals takes the form of our dairy and meat export industries and industrial forestry. Our farming advisory services teach us how to spread fertiliser and how to make more land to graze more and more cattle. But it’s not for the love of the cattle and the trees themselves – it’s for the industries that view animals and trees as a commodity and land as a means to make profit.

Burnam Burnam’s promise to give full equality to all citizens and not place anyone into the mentality of government handouts – also highlights for us the effects of not having an equal society. In Ireland inequality shows itself in a multitude of expression, not least the housing crisis, healthcare crisis, education industry and disparity in employment. The numbers of families  homeless in Ireland reaches a new high with every latest research report.

In his closing paragraph Burnam Burnam speaks of something that will, within Aboriginal rule, ‘unite people, communities, religions and nations in a common, productive, peaceful purpose.’ Wow! What on Earth could produce an outcome such as that?

That’s what’s on offer to us if we were to commit to Earth Repair Action as our number one priority, above industry, the economy and above the motive to make profit. That sounds do-able. Not exactly rocket science.

But it seems our government and the industries we support, through taxes and spending power, are still not finished with the wrecking ball of industrial capitalism, despite all the scientific evidence that it’s not a sustainable way to live and that it’s not a good thing for most of the human population and especially not for nature.

That’s why you who’s reading and me whose writing must find our own way to step up to the mark and repond to this call-to-action and live the revelation.

Photo: Burnam Burnam taking possession of England on ‘Australia Day’ 1988, having had countless revelations about the truth of colonisation. Photographer unknown