A Welcome to Country is a ceremony performed by Traditional Owners of the land and/or sea where an event is taking place to welcome visitors. A Welcome to Country can therefore only be performed by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person with ancestral ties to the place where the welcome takes place.
Only Traditional Owners/Custodians of the land on which the event takes place can deliver a Welcome to Country. To arrange a Welcome to Country in your area, contact our Regional Network office nearest you. They can provide contact details for a Traditional Owner/Custodian.
It can be performed by any person as a way to show respect for Aboriginal peoples, cultures and heritage and the relationship the ongoing custodians have with the land.
Not all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can perform a Welcome to Country as it must be given by an appropriate person such as a recognised Elder within the local community. In some parts of the Territory there may be disputes about who the Traditional Custodians are.
A Welcome to Country ceremony should be arranged for major public events, forums and functions in locations where Traditional Owners have been formally recognised. A welcoming ceremony is also appropriate if the event has broad impact on, or is significant to, Aboriginal people.
A spokesperson for the NSW Aboriginal Affairs Department says there is no official fee schedule for ceremonies, as they vary in complexity and audience. She believes $400-450 for a 15-20 minute Welcome is typical and dismisses as “rubbish” a report of $1200.
A Welcome to Country can only be undertaken by an elder, formally recognised traditional owner or custodian to welcome visitors to their traditional country. The format varies; it may include a welcome speech, a traditional dance, and/or smoking ceremony.
An elder has been defined as "someone who has gained recognition as a custodian of knowledge and lore, and who has permission to disclose knowledge and beliefs". They may be male or female, and of any age, but must be trusted and respected by their community for their wisdom, cultural knowledge and community service.
A Welcome to Country is done by a local Traditional Owner or Elder who holds the authority and knowledge to share a welcome from a particular local region. This can be done through speech, dance, song or ceremony.
For example, for an event of about one hour such as a school opening, the Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country should be no more than five minutes. Discuss with the person performing the ceremony and the Master of Ceremonies to ensure the event is completed in the allocated time.
A Welcome to Country is a ceremony performed by Traditional Owners of the land and/or sea where an event is taking place to welcome visitors. A Welcome to Country can therefore only be performed by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person with ancestral ties to the place where the welcome takes place.
Welcome to Country ceremonies, once viewed in light of the points discussed above, are not ultimately meant to entertain - even though they might provide cultural entertainment - but rather are intrinsically political acts. They are performative acts, not mere performances.
Elders are usually addressed with "uncle" or "aunty" which in this context are terms of respect. They are used for people held in esteem, generally older people who have earned that respect. They don't need to be elders. At many activities and events the protocol is "elders first".
The following text can be used in response to the traditional Welcome to Country: I respectfully acknowledge the past and present traditional owners of this land on which we are meeting, the <traditional name/s> people. It is a privilege to be standing on <traditional name/s> country.
'Custodians' reminds of the ongoing obligation to look after country, and that Aboriginal people don't own the land, but it owns them. 'Owner' reminds that their land was never formally ceded to anyone and of Australia's history of denying ownership and Aboriginal people's sovereignty over their lands.
Anyone can and should perform an acknowledgement. Example - “I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the (people) of the (nation). I would like to pay respect to elders past, present and emerging and any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today.”
Aboriginal people refer to an Elder as 'Aunty' or 'Uncle'. However, it is recommended that non-Aboriginal people check the appropriateness of their use of these terms as referring to an Elder or leader as Aunty or Uncle may not be appropriate for an outsider unless a strong relationship has been established.
Being an Elder is not defined by age, but rather Elders are recognized because they have earned the respect of their community through wisdom, harmony and balance of their actions in their teachings.
The three criteria are: being of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent identifying as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person being accepted as such by the community in which you live, or formerly lived.
This is usually a recognised Elder from the local community. The Elder welcomes people to their land. A Smoking Ceremony is undertaken in Aboriginal communities in order to cleanse a space in which the ceremony takes place, so as to allow peace and recognise the importance of the occasion.
Welcome to Country
This is a tradition that has been practiced in Aboriginal culture for thousands of years. Australia is made up of many different tribes with different land areas. In the old days, tribes that wanted to pass through another tribe's country needed permission to do so and had to be welcomed through.
There is no one Aboriginal word that all Aborigines use for Australia; however, today they call Australia, ""Australia"" because that is what it is called today. There are more than 250 aboriginal tribes in Australia. Most of them didn't have a word for ""Australia""; they just named places around them.