Talk:Welcome to Country

Source for Bess Price quote
Paywalled. Was, and still is. Amos Aiken, Natasha Robinson (2012-11-13) "Elder should shrug off Aitken white man remark, says MP" The Australian. Cited in — Pelagic ( messages ) – (12:48 Fri 29, AEDT) 01:48, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hi - I'm not quite sure of what you're suggesting here. Can you explain further, please? But it did cause me to have a look at the criticism section, and wonder why we're giving so much weight to quotes by irrelevant commentators. Do we really care what Bill Hassell's opinion is? It looks more like a Facebook comment than a serious WP:CRITICISM. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 03:49, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Perhaps the criticism section should be cleaned up a bit so that the main criticisms are stated first and expanded on followed by a relevant direct quote from a commentator making that specific argument. For example; the 'invented tradition' criticism could expand on the relatively recent custom, being developed by Ernie Dingo etc. Rather than just a quote like "Windschuttle calls them "an invented tradition."Jayykke (talk) 10:48, 6 August 2021 (UTC)

Confused ...
Could somebody tell me what I'm missing in seeing an inconsistency between consecutive paragraphs here: one states that Welcomes to Country have been in use for "thousands of years", yet the very next documents that the first to be "publicly performed" was in in 1974: which is it? Rpot2 (talk) 00:15, 21 October 2021 (UTC)
 * It's all cited. Yolngu ceremonies were (and are) not publicly performed as such - they were for greeting a specific group of people; "publicly performed" means performed in front of an audience which is open to all comers. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 08:43, 16 June 2023 (UTC)


 * Where is the evidence that's been in use for "thousands of years? >>>The Yolngu peoples engaged in the ceremony to welcome Dutch explorers in the seventeenth century, and with Makassan trepangers from the mid-eighteenth century.<<<
 * Where is the evidence for that?
 * We know that it was invented by Ernie Dingo and Richard Walley. 59.102.14.96 (talk) 06:14, 16 June 2023 (UTC)
 * The content of the article is fully cited. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 08:01, 16 June 2023 (UTC)

I have doubts also as to the validity of the claims its been done for thousands of years as the word country is unknown to first nations. it was an introduced term by white folks. even first nations who travelled over seas (yes it happened) did not have a word for country in their cultures. a welcome to the village ceremony can not really be considered a welcome to country. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.97.245.84 (talk) 01:52, 20 July 2023 (UTC)
 * One could reasonably assume that "Welcome to country" is an English translation of the local Aboriginal language words meaning "welcome to my land/home". The Noongar certainly had a word for "country" - boodjar. Note that "country" in this context is not Country in the usual English language sense, but Country (Indigenous Australians). Mitch Ames (talk) 07:24, 20 July 2023 (UTC)

Mandatory for NSW government events
The article currently says

The cited reference says "The Protocols require..." but "Compliance: Not Mandatory". The link from that - ref Recognition of Aboriginal Cultural Protocols and Practices - doesn't work, but the Wayback Machine found it at https://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/assets/memos-circulars/9c019010f0/Indigenous-Ceremony.pdf, which says (for "official" events) "As a minimum requirement, an Acknowledgement of Country ceremony should be undertaken".

If the Protocol itself is not mandatory - per the cite in the article - surely the welcome/acknowledgement is not mandatory. Or is there some other reference that says it is? Mitch Ames (talk) 03:02, 2 September 2023 (UTC)


 * Certainly seems that way. Unless someone finds a more recent citation contradicting this, I think the article needs changing. Laterthanyouthink (talk) 11:58, 3 September 2023 (UTC)

Ernie Dingo and Richard Walley
1976 Welcome to Country was created to receive a Maori Group,it is not Ancient or Ancestral but was created as a sign of Respect. 61.68.70.21 (talk) 02:58, 8 June 2024 (UTC)