Dr Vicki Couzens

Artist, VC Indigenous Research Fellow, RMIT University

Launch Speech: Wurrunggi Biik: Law of the Land Sovereignty

Ngatanwarr

Mayapa Wangan ngootyoong wanyoo Boon Wurrung ba Woi Wurrung ngalam meen, wooroowooroomeet koorookee ngapoon, ngarrakeetoong ba Meerreeng-ee watnanda-warr deen makatepa

I make Respect for the Boon wurrung and Woi wurrung Ancestors, Elders, Community and Country on where we gather today.

Sovereignty, what is sovereignty?

When I was beginning to put together the Expression of Interest for this commission, my first question to myself was what is sovereignty? What does the dictionary say? What do I think sovereignty is and what does it mean for Aboriginal people collectively?

Sovereignty is a state of Being—it is an internal experience and state of Being. It is who I am as a sovereign Gunditjmara person. As a sovereign Gunditjmara person I live in a state of Being Gunditjmara; it is who I am. I have never ceded my identity; my worldview is through my sovereign Gunditjmara lens, ‘always was, always will be’ as the saying goes.

And sovereignty is an external experience—it is the society, the dominant cultural state we live in.

I researched definitions in several different dictionary sources.

Sovereignty: The quality or state of being sovereign, of having supreme power or authority.

Or, Supreme and independent power or authority in government as possessed or claimed by a state or community.

Some synonyms for sovereignty: supremacy, jurisdiction, dominion, preeminence, prepotency, sway, ascendance, primacy, power, tyranny, predominance, authority, control, influence, rule.

These words seem to aptly describe an underlying attitude, when we think that the society we live in today is shaped by and seeded from the colonial British Empire mindset with its well-designed and established practices for colonising other countries. This colonial mindset is pervasive and inherently woven into the very fabric of the culture of the institutions, government structures and social mindset of this nation.

We are all aware of the massive negative impact ‘colonisation’ continues to perpetrate on our communities.

Another definition of sovereignty I found seemed to better fit our Aboriginal ideas and aspirations of sovereignty.

Sovereignty: Rightful status, independence, or prerogative.

Some of the synonyms for this definition are: autonomy, independence, selfgovernment, self-rule, home rule, self-legislation, self-determination, non-alignment, and freedom.

Antonyms to the state of self-determination and self-government are hegemony and colonialism.

Freedom! My home Country has been stolen, colonised, pillaged and exploited, my Old People and Ancestors fought and died defending our inherent Sovereign rights…

Sovereignty in the Dictionary of Aboriginal English means our place as First Peoples of this Country; it means our collective belonging to place, our innate and inherent rights to autonomous and self-determining Being.

Sovereignty is living in accordance to the Law of the Land.

RMIT Bundyi Girri Strategy* and the Ngarara Willim Centre must be wholeheartedly thanked for the opportunity to create this work. It is through the work of the many who have gone before us and those that carry the fight forward now that challenging colonial thinking and the colonial mindset has given rise to the establishment of the Bundyi Girri Strategy. The University now has an inclusive way into the future that foregrounds and privileges First Nations epistemologies, our ways of Knowing, Being and Doing.

* RMIT is looking to play a leading role in creating a new relationship between Indigenous and nonIndigenous Australia through the Bundyi Girri project. This is an RMIT initiative that aims to transform the cultural values of the University. With its name taken from the Wiradjuri words for ‘shared future’, the project aims to create an environment where all non-Indigenous staff and students, foreign and domestic, can understand their place in a shared journey of reconciliation.

Because of this we are celebrating a work that speaks to First Nations Sovereignty, a conversation that we couldn’t have had even as recently as five years ago in the ways we can today. I want to acknowledge and offer my deep appreciation of the leadership of the University in being change agents in what is the time of change, the time of sharing that is leading to the transformation of Australia into a matured nation.

Sovereignty is living in accordance with the Law of the Land.

Wurrunggi Biik: Law of the Land, is the foundation in which our Being, our living, our place and belonging exists. It tells us how the world is made, how the world works and the laws for living in it.

Wurrunggi Biik: Law of the Land is a manifestation of the eternal, the everpresence of continuous, concurrent creation. Wurrunggi Biik: Law of the Land is the Law of the Universe.

We, humans, with all other creatures, are singular parts of a greater interconnected stream of consciousness, existing within and as part of the continuous creation.

This work is a manifestation of the beautiful, the immense and amazing, the inexorable and implacable presence of Creation: the ever-present, the timeless and continuous concurrence of Aboriginal Ancestral Creation. It is a representation and a reminder of the spiritual nature of our existence; it represents the ethereal; it is a call to reconnect with spirit, with place, with Country. It is Sovereignty of Aboriginal Peoples as First Peoples in this Land.

It is magnificent, in the presence of the Old People.

This awe-inspiring creation was made possible through a long-term collaborative relationship with my two very dear friends Jeph Neale and Hilary Jackman. Their experience in all things design integrity, sculpture, colour, materiality—the list is endless—has made this work possible. Our collaboration has grown over almost 15 years and allows for deep understandings in the work we do. It is Jeph’s genius that sees this work realised in its physicality. His absolutely convoluted and detailed brain machinations, and his ability to innovate and invent makes all things possible. A big and deep thank you to you both. I have learned so much and love you and love your work.

Last but not least, to Grace and Jess who have worked so hard on this New Academic Street project: many thanks for your hard work through this complicated and long project.

Thank you to my Old People, my Elders and family.

‘Wurrunggi Biik: Law of the Land rises from a memory imprint that conjures Bunjil, the Great Creator Spirit. The large-scale Possum Skin Cloak signifies the ever-presence of First Nations people, the significance of Indigenous knowledges, and the law of the land. Its embodiment of place, of protection and Sovereignty invites us to take pause, stop, and connect with Country—the land that connects all of us.’

JESSICA CLARK