At Monash Health, we seek to create a safe and welcoming environment that embraces everyone’s skills, perspectives and experiences, and promotes fair opportunities and resources for all.
As part of our commitment to an equitable and inclusive culture, this article provides advice for acknowledging Traditional Owners and giving inclusive welcomes for meetings and events at Monash Health.
We encourage you to model respectful and inclusive behaviours by following this guidance and adapting it as needed for your event.
What’s the difference between a Welcome to Country and an Acknowledgement of Country?
A Welcome to Country is performed by Aboriginal Traditional Owners for people visiting their country. This may be a speech, or include a traditional dance, music, or smoking ceremony.
An Acknowledgement of Country is delivered by someone who is not a Traditional Owner.
When we acknowledge country, we recognise the Traditional Owners of the land we’re on, and pay respect to their stewardship, culture and lore going back thousands of years.
When should I make one?
You can deliver an Acknowledgement of Country at the beginning of a meeting, forum, conference or event.
Where appropriate, the Acknowledgement of Country can be an educative tool personalised for each event and speaker.
Who should I acknowledge?
Monash Health delivers care across the lands of the Bunurong (Bun-er-rong)/Boonwurrung (Boon-wur-rung) and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung (Wur-und-jerry Woy-wur-rung) peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation.
When working from home, you may be on the lands of another of the Traditional Owner groups located across Victoria. You can find out whose country you’re on with this map from the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council.
What do I say?
There are many ways to acknowledge Traditional Owners. You can use the words below as a starter.
“I acknowledge that Monash Health delivers care on the lands of the Bunurong (Bun-er-rong)/Boonwurrung (Boon-wur-rung) and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung (Wur-und-jerry Woy-wur-rung) people and I wish to acknowledge them as the Traditional Owners. I would also like to pay my respects to them, their culture and their Elders past, present and future.”
or
“I am joining this meeting from my home on the Traditional Lands of the [insert the name of the Traditional Owners]. I pay my respect to them and their Elders, past and present. I would like to extend that respect to the Elders on the lands where you are joining from.”
How can I elevate my Acknowledgement of Country?
To deliver a truly meaningful Acknowledgement, consider how the words you use relate to the Traditional Owner history of the local area, and to you personally.
- Start by finding out about the Traditional Owners where you live and work.
Since time immemorial, every piece of this country has been spoken for and tended by First Nations peoples and each people have a story, language and a culture as deep and rich as the next. - Do your research.
There are great online resources available to learn more about the Traditional Owners where you live and work, such as the Koorie Heritage Trust Victoria and State Library of Victoria collections. You can also learn more about the proud histories of First Nations peoples with resources like The Biggest Estate on Earth (also a book); or The First Australians SBS Documentary series. - Make it personal, meaningful and purposeful. Examine your own connection to where you live and work, and learn more about the history and ongoing culture of Traditional Owners, and the important part acknowledgement plays in creating a culturally safe environment for your First Nations colleagues.
- Make it respectful. A key element of an acknowledgement is to pay your respects to Elders and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are part of your event or meeting. Consider how every respectful acknowledgement reflects the spirit of reconciliation. As part of your research, be conscious of any cultural sensitivities.
You can read some of the acknowledgements below for inspiration.
Personal Acknowledgement
“I’m a non-Aboriginal Vietnamese Australian. Growing up, my parents and I did not think of our suburb as the unceded land of the people. My high school education was a product of an English Imperial belief system. Now as an adult I’ve had the opportunity to learn more. I live in Merri-Bek within the land of Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung. When I walk along the “Merri Merri” creek every morning, I now know that this was a camping ground for over 80,000 years, and this land was a place of connection, complex governance systems and culture. I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, the Elders part, present and into the future, and the continued legacies and resilience of their people.
Work Team Acknowledgement
Our team would like to acknowledge the Bunurong/Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples whose lands we work on. We acknowledge that these are unceded lands. Every day we work to improve the health of our patients, and we want to acknowledge that health practices and medicine have been practiced here on this land from time immemorial. We acknowledge the Elders and their concepts of holistic wellbeing and connection that has kept the Bunurong/Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung peoples healthy for 80,000 years.
Acknowledge the strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture
I acknowledge the First Peoples of the land where we live, work and play: the Bunurong (Bun-er-rong)/Boonwurrung (Boon-wur-rung) and Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung (Wur-und-jerry Woy-wur-rung) peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation.
I recognise that they have delivered healthcare on these lands since time immemorial.
More and more, we are seeing that ancient and living wisdom recognised as best practice for First Nations people.
Birthing on Country, for instance, is now seen as a powerful tool for closing the gap, by returning birthing services to Indigenous communities and Indigenous control to enable a healthy start to life.
And so I pay my respects to Elders, past and present, and acknowledge the ongoing spiritual link First Nations Peoples have to their lands, culture and lore; and recognise that their connections build healthier families and communities.
Find out more
- View a map depicting the vibrant diversity of First Nations cultures across Australia on the AIATSIS website.
- Watch Shelley Reys’s empowering TEDx Talk: “Deliver an Acknowledgement of Country that really means something | Shelley Reys | TEDxSydney”
- Find more resources on the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council website.
- You can use read our Guide to Inclusive Event Welcomes and Introductions.
- You can use this slide for your online meetings and events.
Updating your email signature with the new wording
We remain committed to creating an inclusive environment and experience for all. To reflect this, we have updated our email signature template. The updates include our commitment to creating a safe and welcoming environment wording and the option to add your pronouns. The correct use of pronouns increases the awareness of gender diversity across our organisation allowing our employees to show respect and support for the LGBTIQA+ community, each other, our patients, and our community members.
Further details can be found here
Approved by Dan Carter, Chief Aboriginal Health Advisor