Mark has chosen an auspicious time for the launch of his latest book This Country: A reconciled republic? The Canberra launch by Gatjil Djerrkura and this launch straddle 3 June. That date is significant for This Country. It was the date in 1769 which brought Captain Cook to the South Seas to observe the transit of Venus and go on to claim this country—or at least the eastern coast—for the Crown of Great Britain and Ireland. It is a date that has some significance for a republic, for it was on 3 June 1953 that, in this country, we received reports of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Queen Elizabeth and her heirs and successors ‘in the sovereignty of the United Kingdom’ are, by force of the Imperial Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, the monarchs of this country. And 3 June is significant for reconciliation, for it was on that date in 1992 that the judgment of the High Court in Mabo v Queensland [No 2] was published.
But the title of the book does more than draw attention to a date. It is an evocative title, challenging us to define our conceptions of the place where we are, the kind of people we aspire to be and the type of government we favour.
‘Country’ is a term which resonates with all Australians. It is, says Mark McKenna ‘a word that goes deeper than nation.’
Do we love this land? Do we care for its survival as the inland rivers dry, the old growth forests are clear felled and salt rises as the water table sinks? Is sustainability the key word in our plans for development of energy supply, transport, housing and urbanisation? Country is a term that evokes warm sentiments in all Australians, but it does not always translate into action. It is a term which evokes a deeper meaning in the minds and hearts of Aboriginal Australians. It is the term which our Indigenous citizens use to describe the land to which they belong—not land as an integer of commerce but land as a source of life. The significance of country to Aboriginal Australians was eloquently described by the late Professor Bill Stanner in his 1968 Boyer Lectures ‘After the Dreaming’:
When we took what we call ‘land’ we took what to them meant hearth, home, the source and locus of life, and everlastingness of spirit. At the same time