A draft Welcome to Country and Acknowledgment of Country policy included in the agenda for Monday’s meeting is recommended to be adopted by the council.

The objectives, outlined in the draft, are to both acknowledge the cultural importance of Aboriginal people and their importance to the region’s heritage and identity, along with providing direction to elected officials and officers around the protocols for such events.

Northern Midlands Mayor Mary Knowles said this could mean the introduction of an Acknowledgment of Country before each council meeting – though this would be up to the council to decide.

“We would like when appropriate to acknowledge the Aboriginal Community,” Cr Knowles told The Examiner. “And we would like, when we do so, to do it correctly.”

“It’s obvious that we are going to do it, we need a council policy to cover it.”

In accordance with Office of Aboriginal Affairs guidelines, clear distinctions are made between a welcome and an acknowledgment.

A Welcome to Country can only be given by a Tasmanian Aboriginal person, welcoming visitors to their land.  

In the absence of a Tasmanian Aboriginal person, an Acknowledgment of Country can be given in respect and recognition of their “survival and continual connection with the land spanning more than 60,000 years”.

Cr Knowles pointed to a Welcome to Country given at the recent Terra Populous event in Poatina as an example of their importance.

“It was an excellent ceremony,” she said. “It was a privilege to be a part of it.”

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