Central Land Council

The Land is Always Alive

Hear Our Call

When Pope John Paul visited Australia in 1986 he asked the Australian Catholic Church to arrange a national event where he could address the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. Alice Springs was chosen as the venue and the CLC played a major role in the organisation of the Pope's visit.

CLC Chairman Wenten Rubuntja was commissioned to paint a large canvas which was presented to the Pope along with a message shield calling for his help in seeking a just settlement for Aboriginal people:

We the indigenous people of Australia call for justice as owners and occupiers of this country. Our Being is in the Land. We belong to it as it always belonged to us, but the integrity of our culture, our economy, our relationship with the Land has been denied since the invasion of 1788. .Peace and justice can only be achieved if the lie of 'terra nullius' and the injustices that it continues to create are destroyed.

Hear our call

Your Church had played a part in our dispossession and oppression. Your visit gives you the opportunity to add your voice to our 200-year struggle for peace and justice. On behalf of our ancestors and the children still to be born we expect you to heed our call for reconciliation and justice.

On 29 November hundreds of Aboriginal people from all over Australia gathered in Alice Springs to hear the Pope offer his support in the fight for justice:

You have learned how to survive, whether on your own lands, or scattered among the towns and cities. Though you difficulties are not yet over, you must learn to draw on the endurance which your ancient ceremonies have taught you. Take heart from the fact that many of your languages are still spoken and that you still possess your ancient culture. You have kept your sense of brotherhood. If you stay closely united you are like a tree standing in the middle of a bushfire sweeping through the timber. The leaves are scorched and the tough bark is scarred and burnt; but inside the tree the sap is still flowing, and under the ground the roots are still strong. Like the tree you have endured the flames, and you still have the power to be reborn. The time for this rebirth is now! Let it not be said that the fair and equitable recognition of Aboriginal rights to land is discrimination. To call for the acknowledgement of the land rights of people who have never surrendered those rights is not discrimination. Certainly what has been done cannot be undone. But what can now be done to remedy the deeds of yesterday must not be put off until tomorrow.