The Indigenous Welcome to Country is so prevalent and widespread that it’s heard at sporting events, at the start of public meetings, during musical events, the theatre and ballet, and whenever planes land at airports. It’s even printed on receipts issued at Coles supermarkets. 

While there’s no doubt the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 led to significant dislocation, pain, suffering, and death to Australia’s Indigenous people, there is also much to acknowledge and value about the nation’s Western heritage and the ongoing debt owed to Western Civilisation.