As the Garma Festival draws to a close Monday, so too ends a significant weekend in Australian politics and Indigenous affairs.
With the prime minister unveiling what he thinks the question for the upcoming referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament should be, many across the nation are considering the other key recommendations set out in the Uluru Statement From the Heart, such as a Makarrata Commission for treaty making and truth-telling.
“I think truth-telling is the next big step for us” Professor John Maynard told Living Black.
“Nothing can change unless we heal from the past. Hopefully the government will come on board and we can actually take the country forward and walk onto a shared, equitable future for all.”
This appears to be the prime minister's plan, after outlining to NITV at the Garma Festival that he wants to see all Australians take ownership of the vote to constitutionally enshrine a First Nations Voice to Parliament in the Australian Constitution.
But Maynard believes that truth-telling means we all need to take a closer look at our uncomfortable past and examine what really happened during the founding years of Australia as a British colony.
“There's still that denial of frontier war (in Australia). The reality is, it's a part of the history: you can't sweep it under the carpet, you've got to deal with that history and then hopefully heal from it.”
Asked by Living Black host Karla Grant why some people don’t want to recognise this part of our history, Maynard was dispirited.
Professor John Maynard speaking to Journalist Karla Grant on 'Living Black' (Source: Living Black)
“I don't think Dr. Sigmund Freud could figure it out," he said.
"And when you read the story of Myall Creek and the brutality and the horrific nature of what happened to those Aboriginal people there, you shake your head in disbelief.
"[But] some people just can't be dragged kicking and screaming to reality."
'I switched off from school'
Life for young John Maynard ran at a very different pace to where it is now for the author and historian. Growing up the son of a successful Aboriginal Jockey, John found himself around the stables of the nearby Broadmeadow Racecourse or travelling from town to town following the horse racing scene.
“I remember that my mother said to me that, by the time I was 12 months old, I'd been in every town in New South Wales, at least those with a racetrack on it, so I guess there was certainly a strong connection with horse racing for me.”
It’s surprising that Maynard didn’t enter the horse racing world. As a school student, he had little interest in attending class, as he frequently stared out the window thinking that life must be better on the outside.
As a child with mother Judy at the stables near their home. Source: Supplied
But at the age of 12 Maynard remembered some stark words from his father while eating breakfast.
“My father came in from the stables and sat down with his cup of tea and looked at me across the table. He said, ‘Son, if you've got any thoughts about being a jockey, reconsider.’ Clearly, I was not built to be a jockey. So, he advised me to go in a different direction.
Fortunately for Maynard his lack of interest inside the classroom didn’t transfer to the home. He loved to read.
“I consumed an incredible amount of books, particularly history. I wanted to learn what the hell had happened [to our people]. Where were we in the history of this this country?”
It would take Maynard a further 25 years and random jobs, including as a truck driver, builder’s labourer and as a barman before he would find what he was really looking for.
Aged 17. Source: Supplied
Family tree revelation
It would take unemployment and a “kick up the bum” from his father, to ultimately steer Maynard towards his greatest calling.
Given the task of putting together the family history of his father’s side, Maynard set out to see what he could find at the University of Newcastle’s Wollotuka, Aboriginal Education Centre.
“There was a woman I spoke to there, named Tracey Bunda, and the quickest way to tell the story is that by the time I'd turned around, Tracey had kidnapped me and enrolled me as a diploma student. It had a massive impact on me. It was totally different to what I'd experienced in school. I took to it like a duck to water.”
By the age of 41 Maynard would graduate with a diploma and a new world view of Australia’s history. He made it his mission to find out more about the First Nations stories that had long been forgotten by the history books.
John Maynard in 1995 after graduating with a Diploma from the University of Newcastle aged 41 (Source: Supplied)
John’s masters thesis was just one example. He tracked his grandfather's involvement in organized Aboriginal political activism from 1924. His work proved to be ground-breaking and helped uncover that Aboriginal political activism had started in Australia much earlier than had been thought.
“The Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association was led by my grandfather. No one realized then how big that movement was and how influential they really were.”
Maynard would also go on to write a book about Aboriginal jockeys titled ‘Aboriginal Stars of the Turf’ in response to his interest in his fathers’ career and his want to acknowledge the other Indigenous jockeys that had come before.
“I always wanted to know, where were they in the history books? Where were they in the history? You know these stories are there; and for me that's the driver, to deliver that to our communities.”
John's father Mervyn Maynard riding 'English Standard' onto win at Randwick Racecourse in 1955 (Source: Supplied)
First Nations warriors
For many Australians our nations involvement in war is often a topic of great interest. For Maynard, the interest extends to Aboriginal servicemen and women who served. In 1988 the historian received a small grant to research Indigenous soldiers of the First World War,
“Back then there was said that there were 230 Aboriginal men who'd served in the First World War. Well, that number now has grown to over 1,000. So now we are hearing of about their sacrifices for their so-called country. It’s incredible.”
But Maynard knows that Aboriginal people have been fighting for much longer than just Australia’s recognised wars.
“We've been in conflict since they first arrived here, you know, and it's had a horrific impact onto our lives from when the British first arrived here.”
A depiction of the Frontier Wars conflicts that took place across the nation (Source: Supplied) Source: Supplied
“Only six decades after the British arrival, 60 to 90% of our people were dead through disease and war. Imagine if 60 to 90% of this population was taken out today, you'd have to drop a number of atom bombs around the country to have that level of decimation.”
When is a war not a war?
There’s no denying that massacres of Aboriginal people took place across Australia during colonization, but the question over whether they should be considered as a war remains.
The Australian War Memorial considers its role is to tell the stories of Australia’s men and women in the armed forces who went to war or peacekeeping missions.
But when looking at the colonial past, the memorial has previously said that their plan will mean “increasing our colonial period collection holdings, particularly relics and works of art related to frontier violence.”
Maynard thinks the AWM should be doing more.
Members of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy march during the ANZAC Day Parade at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, Wednesday, April 25, 2012 (Source: AAP) Source: AAP
“[Aboriginal warriors] fought for their families, they fought for their communities, they fought for their country. They need to be recognized and they deserve that recognition of what they stood for.”
Asked what a Frontier Wars memorial could look like in Canberra, Maynard told Karla Grant:
“It should be part of the Australian War Memorial. When you look up that driveway and they've got monuments to the Boer War, and they've got monuments to Korea and Vietnam, how about a monument to the to the Frontier Wars as well.
"Instead of having a monument up the back up the hill, it should be covered in the Australian War Memorial. Take it to that next level. Be brave about it, you know, be courageous. Don’t be frightened.”
But there is movement in the right direction. Just last year the Prime Minister, who was then Opposition Leader, publicly commented about the Frontier Wars. The first time the leader of one of the major parties acknowledged that the conflict happened.
Looking down ANZAC Parade to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (Source: AAP) Source: AAP
Maynard however says the politicians need to go further in acknowledging our past to see things change.
“We know the historical implications of this sort of stuff, and we've been talking about it for a long time. When are we going to get a politician brave enough to stand up, or a political group to stand up and support us and take the country forward? That’s what’s needed.”
You can hear more from Professor John Maynard on Living Black, now available on SBS On Demand.
