‘Stop welcoming me to my own country’? You’re missing the point

This year on Anzac Day, at ceremonies across the country and replayed over and over in the news, we heard something that came as a surprise to some Australians, but something that I hear all too often: “Stop welcoming me to my own country.”

It is a familiar objection, and one that reveals a deep misunderstanding of what a Welcome to Country actually is. It is not a welcome to “Australia”. It is not a civic greeting, or a polite formality acknowledging the Australian nation-state. It is something far older, far deeper, and as culturally significant as Anzac Day ceremonies themselves.

Bunurong elder Uncle Mark Brown delivers the Welcome to Country at the Anzac Day dawn service at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne.Credit: Getty Images

Welcome to Country is a sovereign Aboriginal protocol, grounded in the laws, customs and practices of First Nations that have existed on this continent for tens of thousands of years. When Aboriginal people speak about “Country”, we are not referring to Australia, the nation defined by its colonial borders. We are speaking of places, lands, waters, skies and beings, held together in intricate relatedness, through ancestral connection, custodianship and deep responsibility.

Country is not just geography. It is connection. It is family, our history and our stories.

Every Aboriginal nation across this continent belongs to their own Country, maintaining relationships that guide how we relate to each other and to the lands we move across. When a Welcome to Country is performed, it is about recognising that wherever you stand on this vast continent, you are on someone’s sovereign, unceded land. It is a practice that predates Anzac Day, the Constitution, Australian citizenship and both World Wars.

Whether you were born here or arrived recently, when you are welcomed to Country you are reminded that there is a nation of Aboriginal people upon whose lands you stand, whose cultures are very much alive. Our cultures are far from lost relics; they are vibrant, strong and continuing. A Welcome to Country is about acknowledging that. It is not about nationalism or patriotism – it is about respect and relationships.

To mock or reject a Welcome to Country is to deny the enduring sovereignty of Aboriginal peoples and the profound connection we hold to our Country. It is to misunderstand what is being offered: a generous gesture of cultural welcoming.

While Welcome to Country ceremonies were formalised into the public sphere over 40 years ago by Noongar elder Richard Walley and prominent Aboriginal personality Ernie Dingo, their roots stretch back through millennia. As fellow Wiradjuri woman and politician Linda Burney has said, this protocol became part of civic life because it speaks to the truth of Australia’s story.

Records left by early colonial settlers either failed to capture, or captured incompletely, the depth and sophistication of Aboriginal welcoming and diplomatic protocols. Much of what we know about welcoming protocols has been preserved, not through settler historical archives, but through Aboriginal oral practices, and the cultural custodianship of our elders. Which means today, when a Welcome to Country occurs, we not only continue traditions of relationship-building, of respect and reciprocity, we remember these practices are living acts of history, sovereignty and connection.

Last year, while attending the Dhuluny Corroboree, an event to mark the date martial law was declared on my own Wiradjuri lands 200 years prior, I stood in the truth that our traditions are not museum displays. They are living acts of survival. Through song, dance, storytelling and ceremonial gatherings, our ancestors welcomed, guided, protected and governed movement across Country. This continues today through the practice of Welcome to Country.

A Welcome to Country does not take anything away from Australia or Australians. It does nothing to divide us; in fact, I would argue it unites us, and is something that recognises that every one of us, whatever our relationship to the land we are on, has responsibilities and relationships to maintain.

Instead of taking offence when a Welcome to Country takes place, Australians should pause and reflect on the offering for what it truly is: one of the oldest traditions practised across Australia, and one deeply important to the people whose specific Country you are on. It is not a political statement, and it is not about exclusion. It is actually an inclusive protocol, as simple and profound as removing a hat in respect, standing silently for an anthem or lowering one’s voice in a place of sacredness.

A Welcome to Country connects all Australians to a heritage that stretches across countless generations. It is a living tradition that should be embraced as a powerful and unifying part of our culture today. It deserves to be understood, respected and honoured, not just on Anzac Day, but every day.

Jessa Rogers is Associate Professor of Indigenous Education at the University of Melbourne.

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