An unhurried man with a friendly face, Uncle Len Waters isn’t just a face in the crowd; he’s a proud Kamilaroi man with a unique bond to the land he has lived on for the last 50 years.
“I don’t mind that acknowledgement,” he said, “a lot of folks call me “Uncle”, but I don’t demand it. It’s something that gets bestowed when you grow up in that culture.”
“But I’m just Lenny.”
As NAIDOC Week was drawing to a close, on a glorious Friday afternoon at the Botanical Gardens in Tamworth, Len came to talk about something at the very heart of Australian Indigenous culture: the Welcome to Country.
“It goes back thousands of years,” he said.
“Different tribes and lands are bordered by earth, water, vegetation and so forth. Back then it wasn’t the done thing to simply turn up to another tribe.”
“I go off-country sometimes myself but I still hold that I need to get permission from the local tribe to be there. As a Kamilaroi man it’s a way of showing respect.”
The Kamilaroi land is vast, stretching from just north of Scone in the south to the Goondiwindi River in the north, Tamworth and Inverell to the east and past Lightning Ridge to the west.
“Long time ago, If a tribe was invited, there would be messaging sticks left around the place inviting them up.”
“They would be welcomed and have a smoking ceremony. A smoking ceremony diminishes all evil so we can be united as one, with no hierarchy.”
“So then they would partake in the purpose of their visit, and talk to each other and build, renew, and restore relationships.”
“Next time they see them, they have those relationships and they know they are going to be welcomed.”
It’s no secret Australia has a chequered past and has tried, with mixed results, to restore various relationships over the years since settlement. Len shared some of his experience.
“Lots has happened in this country. I grew up around missions, and they were the lowest of the low in this country.”
“It’s amazing what happens though. I grew up with persecution and that rubbish, stuff kids these days won’t know about. I knew there would be a day coming when they couldn’t touch me, and that day’s today.”
“You always get the keyboard warrior and his two cents but that’s their issue, not mine.”
“People who used to persecute and torment you would come out years later looking for you and ask for forgiveness. I just think that’s incredible.”
But amidst the constant change, one thing has always remained the same – the Welcome to Country.
“It’s gaining momentum. The stuff we’re able to do and say today – we just wouldn’t have been able to without non-Aboriginal folks getting behind it.”
His face spreads in a grin of happiness.
“I couldn’t tell you how many Welcome to Countries I do in a year but more and more companies are asking for it.”
It’s not just companies either. Indeed, not for the first time, Len was asked to perform the Welcome to Country earlier this year at an NRL fixture between the Knights and Tigers at Scully Park.
Len acknowledges the Welcome to Country is not everybody’s cup of tea however, and says that it is not fully understood.
“Someone might say, ‘I was born here, I don’t need to be welcomed to my own country’. [But] it goes back to that tradition from the beginning,” Len said.
“A welcome is more than just saying a place name. It’s our way of saying we’re glad you’re here, we want you to be kind to one another, the land, and we wish you safety here and when you leave.”
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