King Charles met with Aboriginal elders who claimed the Royal Family have ignored them for hundreds of years after a senator protest yesterday.
Uncle Allan Murray, a leader of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, spoke of his people’s goal of sovereignty and their desire to be heard.
The elder said: “We’ve been ignored. We can’t rest on our laurels.
“We are proud, sovereign people, and we continue to walk on this great land.
King Charles met with Aboriginal elders who claimed the Royal Family have ignored them for hundreds of years.
PA
Murray said: “The Union Jack was put on our land without our consent.
“It was his (The King’s) family that goes back to 1770. We’ve sent to the Kings and Queens asking to be recognised but have been ignored since 1770.
“I think he listened to what I said.”
The Aboriginal elders welcomed King Charles as they called for “proper conversations” about Indigenous rights a day after the Aboriginal-born Australian senator heckled the King during a speech.
The King was also seen hugging a survivor of Australia’s ‘stolen generation’ during the engagement.
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Murray continued: “We always long for a return of our sovereignty. We are a sovereign people, we have never signed a formal agreement or treaty.
“There’s ill feeling in the community and our people are being violated, discriminated and displaced.”
The meeting was part of the six-day royal tour of Australia, before King Charles flies to Samoa to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
It follows Indigenous senator Lidia Thorpe’s outburst at the King while he gave a speech to the Australian Parliament yesterday where she shouted anti-colonial slogans, including “You are not my King.”
The King was welcomed to the engagement with a traditional smoking ceremony where smoke is wafted to signify a welcome to indigenous land.
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The King was also seen hugging a survivor of Australia’s ‘stolen generation’ during the engagement, who was taken from his family at the age of eight and placed in a children’s home where he was given the number 36.
Uncle James Michael’ Widdy’ Welsh, 72, described the King’s greeting as a “genuinely good cuddle”.
He continued: “I had a really good feeling about him. I got the feeling he is somebody who genuinely cares.”
The King was welcomed to the engagement with a traditional smoking ceremony where smoke is wafted to signify a welcome to indigenous land.
