Bugger off Batman
As the New Year kicks into gear and we return to work at various dates throughout January, our thoughts move to our next holiday, Australia Day, where the debate will no doubt rage on at ferocious levels.
The supermarket chains have already started the ball rolling with their off-again, on-again rollercoaster of decision-making regarding the sale of Australian flags and merchandise with the Union Jack emblazoned.
Predictably, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, an influential powerhouse, made the early call that supermarket chains should stay out of politics, acutely aware that in making this statement, the political irony and the influence of politicians were hard at play.
The changing views about the day that Captain Arthur Phillip raised the British Flag at Sydney Cove, a public holiday celebrated with earnestness since only as recently as 1988, have been incremental yet glacial pace at best.
The more steps are made towards acknowledgement of the evil of our colonial past, the more strident the traditional and collective views of many across our nation appear to be at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Furthermore, the move to constitutional recognition of First Nations inhabitants seems to have created an even more cavernous divide rather than bringing our nation closer together.
However, it should be remembered, as pointed out by Aboriginal leaders in the famous Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody song, From Little Things, Big Things Grow when quoting revered land rights champion Vincent Lingiari, “Let us sort it out while your people are hungry
Vincent said, "No thanks, we know how to wait".
Progress to understanding and truth-telling does continue to penetrate Australian culture, with many large companies and government departments delivering on Reconciliation Action Plans and offering the opportunity to change the public holiday in workplaces to another day to avoid the doubling down on hurt, which are positive steps.
By comparison, the broader acceptance of the dual naming of Australian Day/Invasion Day remains a red rag to a bull, highlighting how far apart we are as a nation in appreciating vastly different views.
I am strident in my own views. There are steps that we must take to improve understanding and acknowledgement. The renaming of the (John) Batman Bridge crossing Kanamaluka/Tamar River just past Sidmouth/Deviot on the West and Hillwood on the East must occur and should remain a sore point for us all.
Batman wasn’t a great bloke. He rounded up Aboriginals of the Ben Lomond Nation and murdered them. Other states, such as Victoria, have removed his name from significant acknowledgements, such as electorates in favour of more appropriate community leaders.
In 2018, following a redistribution, the Federal Division formally known as Batman was changed to Cooper in honour of his life's work.
John Batman, who played a role in the founding of Melbourne, was probably the first colonial to ascend Ben Lomond. He would later be accompanied on his expeditions by his neighbour the landscape painter John Glover. Glover described Batman as, "a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known".
Governor Arthur, who was not without blood on his hands, said Batman "... had much slaughter to account for".
We shouldn’t name a bridge after a well-documented murderer who slaughtered at least 12 on one occasion, and there shouldn’t be a debate about it, but it continues.
Batman also has a paver acknowledging treaty with First Nations people, which is false. I have called on the City of Launceston to either remove the offending tile or to include truth-telling in a new description of his deplorable behaviour and its impact.
No doubt, I will be reminded that you can’t change history, it was in the past, and to simply move on – but just imagine, in modern day, if our leaders named a significant infrastructure project after a well-known criminal, and we didn’t say or do anything about it.
Other projects like new schools at Legana and Brighton have missed the opportunity to move towards dual naming or clear acknowledgement of First Nations people – the government said no and will cover their desire to avoid politically contentious decision-making with “the community made the decision”.
There are some positive changes afoot with the City of Hobart leading the way with the removal of the William Crowther Statue in Franklin Square, Hobart – a former surgeon turned short-term Premier of Tasmania. Three generations of Crowthers took part in the desecration of First Nations graves, the peeling of skin, and the illegal exhumation of remains for the provision of skeletons and, infamously, William Lanne’s skull to medical institutions and museums across the world, with several remaining overseas. Sadly, the statue was vandalised and removed before the reinterpretation project was finalised, which has taken away the moral authority of the council’s decision in the eyes of the public.
I remain hopeful that there will be greater recognition of the impact of our colonial past, yet I am a realist. The change will have to come from our children, who, with a better understanding of the past, will deliver meaningful acknowledgement through the process of truth-telling.