By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Britain’s King Charles was embraced by an Indigenous elder after a welcome smoking ceremony on Tuesday in the birthplace of Australia’s urban Aboriginal civil rights movement in Sydney, a day after being heckled by an Indigenous senator in Canberra.
Charles met Indigenous elders at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in inner-city Redfern, where he was embraced by elder Michael Welsh, and a woman introduced herself as a member of the Stolen Generation – a reference to Aboriginal children systematically removed from their families decades earlier. “Welcome to this country,” she said.
A day earlier, Charles was heckled at Parliament House in Canberra by independent senator and Indigenous activist Lidia Thorpe who shouted that she did not accept his sovereignty over Australia, and demanded a treaty for Indigenous people.
The fallout from Thorpe’s outburst has been mixed, with some calling her brave and others disagreeing with her approach to reconciliation. But it has put a fresh spotlight on Australia’s colonial history and its relationship with Indigenous peoples.
While the atmosphere at Redfern on Tuesday was respectful, some people who came to see the king expressed sympathy for Thorpe’s actions.
“We’ve got stories to tell and I think you witnessed that story yesterday,” Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council Chairperson Allan Murray said.
In a radio interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Tuesday, Thorpe said she “wanted the world to know the plight of our people”.
Former Olympic athlete Nova Peris, who was the first Indigenous woman elected to federal parliament, wrote in a social media post she was “deeply disappointed” by Thorpe’s actions, which “do not reflect the manners, or approach to reconciliation, of Aboriginal Australians at large”.
Emotions around Indigenous rights and Australia’s colonial history are raw after a national referendum on whether to alter Australia’s constitution to recognise Aboriginal people was rejected last year.
Charles referred to Australia’s “long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation” in a speech on Monday before he was heckled by Thorpe.
Under glorious spring skies, the king later visited a social housing project designed with the support of his King’s Trust Australia charity in the inner suburb of Glebe. He toured the construction site with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who grew up on a public housing estate.
Claude Tighe, an Indigenous man in Glebe who saw the Lidia Thorpe protest on social media, said: “I want him to talk to real traditional owners. There’s a lot of us here”.
“She spoke for Aboriginal people,” he added, referring to Thorpe.
LARGE CROWDS AT SYDNEY HARBOUR
Charles and Queen Camilla are visiting Sydney and Canberra over six days before travelling to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa.
A large crowd welcomed the royal couple at the Sydney Opera (NASDAQ:) House forecourt, including Marion Hesket, 75, who had been in the same spot to see Charles and Diana in 1983.
“I wouldn’t miss this chance to see him again. I love him, he does such a lot of good,” she said.
“I think he and Camilla make a wonderful couple. He was my prince when I was a little girl,” said Lucille Taylor, 83.
Charles will speak with performers before meeting the public and then board a boat to review Australia’s navy fleet on the harbour.
