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Arms anger Aboriginal elders
Herald Sun
29jan02
ABORIGINAL elders are demanding the Queen support their push for reconciliation after removing an Australian coat of arms from Old Parliament House.
The removal of the brass coat of arms from the front of Old Parliament House, Canberra, on Sunday was part of ceremonies to mark the 30th anniversary of the Aboriginal tent embassy.
The elders are demanding the Queen supports their push for reconciliation.
Indigenous representatives at the tent embassy said they were offended by the use of the kangaroo and the emu on the national coat of arms because they were images sacred to Aborigines.
Tent embassy elder Wadjunnabinna said the removal of the plaque was an act of desperation.
"Let me tell you it wasn't a stunt. Desperate people take desperate measures, just like the Muslims did on the 11th of September in New York," she told ABC Radio.
Elder Kevin Buzzacott said that after getting nowhere with the Federal Government, tent embassy representatives would try to take their cause up with the Queen when she visited Australia next month.
"Her ancestors have never done anything for us and what we're saying is, the Queen is in a good position to rewrite the wrongs," he said.
"This is our country. They invaded us. We didn't invade them."
Mr Buzzacott said elders were pushing for the royal party, which includes the Duke of Edinburgh, to arrive "the right way".
"She has to get permission to come to our land," he said. "She has to come here the right way or else she comes here as our enemy."
Australian Federal Police were yesterday negotiating for the return of the coat of arms.
But Mr Buzzacott said his group would not talk with the AFP, instead demanding to meet Indigenous Affairs Minister Philip Ruddock on the stalled reconciliation process.