The False Foundations

Australia’s foundation as one nation is based on violence and a lie. Here is the situation:

• Captain James Cook was a godly man who treated his men much better than most other ship’s captains. Cook’s trips inspired William Carey to take the Christian message to remote parts of the world.
• When Cook arrived in this land, indigenous people were living in many highly developed social, economic, legal and spiritual nations or tribes. They had systems of trade links between their nations that extended across the land and right up into China through the annual visits of Indonesian tribes-people. Large quantities of local produce, including cultured pearls, were involved. They had complex legal systems and artistic talents that are finally starting to be recognised across the world today.
• But Cook did not learn any of this, and made some drastic mistakes. His orders were to make friends with people living in lands he visited so he could explore the possibility of establishing colonies. However, within 15 minutes of his arrival in this land he ordered his men to fire their muskets so that he could land at Kurnell in Botany Bay, Sydney. An Aborigine was injured. As a result, their subsequent entry to this land was a forced and violent entry to this land.
• A few months later, Cook landed on an island in Torres Strait, raised an English flag and claimed the whole of this land in the name of the King of England. This was based on the clear lie that no one lived in the land and it belonged to no one. This was an illegal act, against the orders of his government and contrary to the international law of his day.

We need to show dramatically that we reject the violent entry of English people, and the lie that led to the illegal claiming of this land by the English king’s representative. To deal with this issue there must be a positive recognition of the historical presence and responsibilities of the ‘First Nations’ indigenous people in this land and an appropriate correction to the recorded history of Australia.

These issues cannot be discarded simply as historical events. The process of rebuilding Australia requires an acknowledgment of the mistakes of the past that are still offensive to God and a bondage to this nation today. It is about discovering the truth by starting at the beginning, rather than halfway along the story, and putting things right. It is about admitting the truth of what happened and accepting responsibility for the effects of our heritage, just as King David had to do with the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21) and today’s business executives have to do over mistakes made by their predecessors.