Aboriginal Tent Embassy … left in the dark by the unenlightened

Now listen carefully this isn’t spin, this is true: Canberra – yes Canberra – is set to come alive for two weekends over March 2011.

“Enlighten” is this year’s enthralling new theme for the Canberra Festival, and all participants have been promised to see Canberra in a whole new light.

Sounds promising… so let’s shed a little light of our own.

This year The Museum of Democracy at Old Parliament House, that august white building opposite the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, will feature as one of the main attractions. Come dark it is expected that a hush will come over the gathered crowds as a series of powerful hi-tech lights splash brilliant colours and images all over the white facade.

Those of you old enough to be nostalgic about drive-in theatres or Pink Floyd concerts are set to be in for a treat.

After being bedazzled by the lightshow, ticket holders will then be lured inside Old Parliament House to participate in an exclusive After Dark Experience that promises all manner of intrigue;

Spies, Leaks and Scandals

The event marketing reads…
“Running through much of Australia’s political life is a thread of secrecy and illicit knowledge. In the hot-house atmosphere of Parliament House, it was hard to keep any secrets. Now, some of the truth can be told – at least for the period when Old Parliament House was the nerve-centre of Australian political life. Explore some of the secrets of the House in this exclusive tour. Hear the stories this building can tell; of times when foreign spies dominated the front pages of our newspapers and when the everyday espionage of journalists provided our daily headlines – in the places where these events actually happened. This is an intriguing and unique look at some of the stories that made Australia.”

Meanwhile outside in the dark in front of Old Parliament House …

… the unenlightened will miss the following facts.

1. Long time Aboriginal Tent Embassy resident Ms Jude Kelly who renounced her Australian citizenship in mid-February 2011 was extended the offer of meals during the festival and a free single concert ticket to see either George Benson, Inxs, Chris Isaak or Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons by the event organizers.

2. Senator Kate Lundy’s office was kindly able to provide the last two Aboriginal Flags to the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, thereby exhausting the Embassy’s allocated quota for the year. Several have already been issued.

3. The Museum of Democracy was able to provide free photocopies of double sided A4 black and white interpretative handouts about the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

4. The CityWide gardening team kindly agreed to assist with picking up some hard rubbish which has been waiting for disposal for over a month from the grounds of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

5. ANTaR ACT representatives have called in for the second time this year with an excellent offer to help out.

6. A few dollars have been collected at the donation box thanks to visitors to the Embassy, including a senior Kuwati delegation.

7. A lady kindly donated and promptly errected a three person tent to be used as a library, to store information resources collected over the years by the Embassy and its residents.

Support?

… so as you can imagine with all this support, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is now ready to participate in the Canberra Festival! Right?!

I wonder. Is it really ready to welcome possibly hundreds of curious visitors day and night during the festival? – or does all this support still really amount to nothing short of being left in the dark?

In all honesty, for those of you who care, or who perhaps wish to be ‘enlightened’ about the finer points, you should know that a few things are still missing after repeated calls for assistance …

1. Interpretive signage about the Embassy;
2. Full official acknowledgement as a cultural heritage site (still awaiting deliberations);
3. Recognition of the Embassy on street signage in and around the Parliamentary Zone;
4. The offer of a generator and lighting to light banners, steps and tents around the Embassy during events;
5. Inclusion in any management or planning of events that impact on the Embassy and the Parliament Zone around it.

Not to provide the Embassy and its residents with these basic requests tends to cast Canberra and its authorities in an unfavourable light to say the least.

Give it some thought. Off in the dark possibly thousands of visitors to the Canberra Festival will see fires burning in and around the Embassy. You can be sure of that. And I wonder, what will the ‘unenlightened’ visitors amongst them make of this spectacle? What will they see beyond the smoke?

And to think, in only a matter of years we – we Australians – will be having a referendum to ‘recognise Indigenous Australians’ in our Constitution. Right now, it all seems so far off … in the dark.