For Maitland residents who have non-Aboriginal heritage, the city’s bicentennial celebrations could be seen, at face value, as a chance to have a party and boost community spirit.
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But Cr Loretta Baker’s words of warning at Tuesday’s council meeting are worth serious consideration.
No matter which way you look at it, a bicentenary of a city or town in Australia hinges on the arrival of European settlers in that place.
For many Aboriginal people, this was the beginning of a dark time that still has serious effects to this day.
So it may be easy for some people to get swept up in the idea of Maitland’s 200 year birthday, but there needs to be consideration of how, and whether, the occasion can be marked in a culturally sensitive way.
It’s likely that the bicentenary will be measured from either the first permanent settlement of European people or the date that Maitland was officially declared a city.
Cr Baker made an important point when she said that any celebrations needed to be carefully planned to ensure they were sensitive and inclusive of Maitland’s Indigenous residents.
Bathurst is in the throes of celebrating its bicentenary and appears to have considered this issue with its local Aboriginal people from the Wiradjuri nation.
Any efforts to be culturally sensitive and inclusive for Maitland’s bicentenary will have to go well beyond simple tokenistic measures, such as simply having Aboriginal representation on the organising committee.
The question is how will our city’s leaders make sure that residents can celebrate the date they earmark as Maitland’s bicentenary in a way that takes everyone’s history into account?