Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

The year was 1987. The band was Midnight Oil. The album was Diesel and Dust. The song was “Beds Are Burning”. The message was that White Australia ought to recompense Aboriginal Australia.

The time has come to say fair’s fair
To pay the rent, to pay our share
The time has come, a fact’s a fact
It belongs to them, let’s give it back

How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?
How can we dance when our earth is turning?
How do we sleep while our beds are burning?

It was a great example of classic Aussie rock and roll.  But is it the truth?

To Whom Does It Belong?

Biblically, we have to begin with a foundational proposition.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the rivers.”
~ Psalm 24:1-2

As the Creator and Sustainer of the Earth, God is the One to Whom it belongs! We must begin with this truth. The land, the natural order, and every group of human beings belong to the Lord. If there’s any ‘rent’ to be paid, we all need to be ‘paying’ it to the Lord God.

And what does He require of us? “To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). Jesus stated, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and “you shall love your neighbour as yourself”. (Matthew 22:37, 39)

That’s the ‘rent’ we all should be paying!

Our lives ought to honour God the Father, surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ, and under the control of the Holy Spirit.

To paraphrase Midnight Oil:

The time has come, a fact’s a fact
It belongs to Him, give yourself back.

The ‘Rent’ Has Been Paid

Even if we momentarily step beyond this foundational proposition, the ‘rent’ has been paid. The arrival of Europeans on Australian shores and the development of the modern inclusive nation of Australia have brought immense benefits to Aboriginal Australia.

Yes, some aspects of Aboriginal culture were lost. Yes, European-background settlers set up home and claimed ownership of lands through which Aboriginal peoples had formerly roamed. Yes, sometimes misunderstandings resulted in conflict. Yes, greedy-hearted individuals caused hardship and suffering to others.

These sorts of things have occurred throughout history whenever one group of people engaged with another group. In fact, Manning Clark claimed that the successive waves of Aboriginal peoples that crossed the then land bridge from South-East Asia into Australia, in effect, dispossessed those who had arrived earlier and pushed them southward.¹ The migrations, over several centuries, of the Negrito peoples, then the Murrayian peoples, and then the Carpentarian peoples, resulted in the newer arrivals claiming what had previously ‘belonged’ to the earlier arrivals.

But to go back to my train of thought, the ‘rent’ has been paid. Modern Australia has found a place for its Aboriginal peoples. Australian taxpayers have contributed billions of dollars in welfare and development projects for Aboriginal peoples. The granting of native title over some areas of land is an expression of a willingness to cooperate and share. Modern medicine and education have been made available to Aboriginal people. And, most importantly, the Gospel has been proclaimed to Aboriginal people, out of recognition that Jesus’ death was as much for their spiritual freedom as anyone else’s.

Sadly, there are some people who continually focus on what was lost. They attempt to rewrite history as one ongoing story of oppression and victimhood. They romanticise pre-European settlement as a time of wondrous perfection, free of all hardship and suffering. They pretend that Aboriginal Australia gained nothing from the European arrival.

And now, they want a Voice, a Treaty, and a ‘truth-telling’. “It was ours”, they say. And they want it back.

No, that’s not the answer!  The answer is for us all — of every ethnic and cultural background — to bow our knees before God. Because it always was His, and it always will be His!

___

1. CMH Clark, A History of Australia. MUP. Vol. 1, page 3.

Photo: Matt Hrkac, 2023 Invasion Day Rally, Melbourne/Wikimedia Commons