Families of Indigenous veterans will be allowed to take part in future Anzac Day marches together under one banner after Reconciliation Tasmania and the state's RSL branch reached a landmark agreement, described as an Australian-first.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As part of the deal, both organisations have agreed to find an alternate day to commemorate the Frontier Wars, which refer to conflicts between Aboriginal people and Europeans that occurred between 1788 and the 1930s.
According to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, the Frontier Wars were estimated to have led to the deaths of more than 20,000 Indigenous Australians and about 2000 Europeans.
Coronavirus: All the latest updates on COVID-19 for Tasmania
RSL Tasmania president Robert Dick said the wars should be acknowledged as part of Australia's history.
"When it comes to Frontier Wars, what we have agreed with Reconciliation Tasmania is that Anzac Day is not the day to commemorate that," Mr Dick said.
"Anzac Day starts on April 25, 1915 and moves forward from there. It doesn't even encompass the Boer War and we have a special commemorative day for that.
"We agreed that we would work with Reconciliation Tasmania to see if we can get a special day of recongition for them and also work towards getting a memorial where they can actually get some form of closure."
In other news:
While some community members would probably criticise the RSL and its agreement with Reconciliation Tasmania, Mr Dick said it was the right course of action to take.
"We believe that it's about time reconciliation really took place with the Indigenous people," he said.
"Reconciliation Tasmania said recognition of the Frontier Wars encompasses everybody, not just the Indigenous but also the white settlers as well so at least they're being encompassing so why can't we?
"It's part of our history, it's probably not a part of our history we are extremely proud of or should be proud of but it has to be recognised."
Through a series of meetings with the Reconciliation Tasmania, Mr Dick said he learned a lot.
"A lot of people seem to think they're there to stir up trouble and agitate and things like that," he said. "They're not. All they're after is recognition for something which happened in their past."
Reconciliation Tasmania's chief executive Mark Redmond said the state was now home to the first RSL branch in Australia which had made a commitment to acknowledge the Frontier Wars.
"RSL Tasmania has stood tall in acknowledging the Indigenous servicemen and women of the ADF, but also in acknowledging the impact of the Frontier War as a tragic part of Tasmanian history alongside the respect and homage granted to all our veterans," Mr Baker said.
"The Aboriginal community remains committed to having the Frontier War acknowledged in some space and time to be decided.
"There is work underway to commemorate this tragic part of our history through a floral emblem similar to that used for Remembrance Day, the Flanders Poppy, and for the Frontier Wars on the mainland, the Sturt's Desert Pea."
Mr Baker said Auntie Wendal Pitchford took the lead in working with others, such as Australian War Memorial florist Hazel Davies, to symbolise the Frontier War in Tasmania with a local flower, Kennedia prostrata, which was now called the Wandering Warrior.
"It is time that the Flanders Poppy, the Sturt's Desert Pea and the Wandering Warrior walk together," he said.