Reconciliation: Searching for Australia's Soul: Norman Habel: Amazon.com.au: Books

Reconciliation: Searching for Australia's Soul: Norman Habel: Amazon.com.au: Books


Reconciliation: Searching for Australia’s Soul
Norman C. Habel
Harper Collins Australia, 1999
ISBN 1863717595 

Reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians continues to tear at the heart of Australia, exposing our struggle for soul. In the deepest sense, this quest is not just political and social, but also spiritual and human. Reconciliation: Searching for Australia's Soul remains timely as Norman Habel explores the significance of the continuing reconciliation process for the spiritual dimension as part of Australias identity. He writes: I am an Australian, a fifth generation Australian. For a long time, I have wondered what it means for me - for all of us - to be Australian. I have reflected on our spirit, our characters, our identity. Reconciliation: Searching for Australias Soul is the result; an invitation to become an advocate for reconciliation. 

For Norman Habel, being Australian means embracing the story and struggle of the Aboriginal peoples for justice and recognising their suffering since 1788 as integral to our spiritual heritage.

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Reviewer: Margaret Press RSJ, Lecturer, Catholic Institute of Sydney 


The title makes it clear that this timely reflection on the process of reconciliation is made in a spiritually informed context. If there is any doubt in the mind of a prospective reader, it is dispelled by the author in his Preface: 'My journey has made me realise that authentic reconciliation in the Australian context has a moral and spiritual dimension' (p.vi) From the first, Habel uses his personal life experience, the background of family history, as well as his Lutheran training as the material from which he weaves a thesis, supported by his expertise in the exegesis of the Christian scriptures.

In this way he makes the point that the kind of subjectivity which he claims for himself is essential if all Australians, not only political and church leaders, are to join effectively in the process. That kind of participation, he claims, requires individuals to understand the culture of indigenous Australians, to explore their history and to listen to stories of their suffering. Obviously, the depth of understanding, the empathy with which such listening and exploration occur will vary widely. However, he continually emphasises the inner nature of any true desire for reconciliation, while noting the delicacy of the the political moves needed to advance it. False moves and blunders are only too possible on both sides of the process, as is evident from the most recent public statements on the semantics of the 'stolen generation' report.

Habel methodically sets out his plan of approach, both in the introductory chapter and in summary form at the head of each ensuing chapter. He identifies himself as an advocate for a process of reconciliation that would come about from informed dialogue, with both indigenous and non-indigenous participants recognising the spiritual nature of the process. After setting out the vision for Australia which he shares with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, he then devotes a chapter to clarifying the terms and principles involved in such informed dialogue, namely truth, justice, identity, suffering and forgiveness. For the purpose of clarification, he returns to two sources which recur
throughout the book – his own experiences and examples from the scriptures. He relates each of the principles to past events which belong to the encounter between Aborigines and incoming settlers. Here he declares that justice, social justice, is concerned with restoring a right balance of power, with the relinquishing of power by one group requiring a change of heart. (p.38) One is reminded that the term reconciliation can have more than one meaning, such as when accountants balance their books, as well as the restoration of interpersonal or inter-cultural relationships. Here and elsewhere, suffering
and forgiveness are linked to church-based experiences of repentance, confession and forgiveness as well as taking place in the public domain. The process of healing for both parties is linked to the suffering which has been endured.. 

Following his recommendation that we Australians explore, listen to and come to
understand the truth of indigenous suffering, he next relates examples of what he calls the seven sins, injustices inflicted by non-indigenous people on Aborigines, which are well documented. He names them as dispossession, genocide, massacre, dehumanisation, destruction of culture, assimilation and desecration. He returns later to this theme, suggesting seven appropriate formulae of apology, and seven rituals of healing, based on the sins he has named.
These injustices Habel lays squarely at the door of racism, the term which perhaps occurs most frequently throughout the chapters. He defines racism as an ideology which has pervaded Australian history, the system by which governments, institutions and
communities have ordered our society. He includes here the typical missionary viewpoint that these nomad people of a different skin colour were somehow inferior as well as heathen. The kindness of Lutheran, Jesuit and other church mission staff, even if paternalist, is not really accounted for here. Examples of false interpretation of scriptural texts which have been used include the attribution of God's curse on the descendants of Ham in Genesis 9 (pp77-78). Many scientific and anthropological theories have reinforced the drive to colonise, accounting for attitudes which Habel claims are
enshrined in Australian education systems, religious practice and political life.
Traditional beliefs found in both indigenous and non-indigenous cultures about the land and creation could, Habel maintains, form a basis for reconciliation. While he discusses reverently the spiritual nature of Aboriginal ties with the land he places less emphasis on the primacy of land ownership for many non-indigenous Australians, ranging from the suburban quarter-acre block to vast rural properties. This urge to own one's piece of land is seen to come into conflict with native title legislation, such as Mabo (1992) Again,  ecological and environmental damage is regarded as suffering dealt out to the land, in the
view of people of both cultures.
Again, reasoning from his own experience and religious tradition, Habel treats of the difference between shame and guilt which may be suffered as a result of the sins he has enumerated. Likewise, apology and confession are seen to have differing features. The articulation of sorrow for injustices for which past generations were responsible is a sticking point for many Australians, not only their Prime Minister. Habel appends to this chapter (pp132 ff) some suggested formulae for apologies which can be expressed for the seven sins previously listed.
In his chapter on symbols of suffering and healing, Habel associates with biblical
symbols of suffering and of creation the stolen children and the suffering Spirit of the Land, as expressed in Rainbow Spirit Theology (1997), the joint work of the Rainbow Spirit Elders, with whom he was associated.
Finally, he returns to his personal vision, using the kind of repetition and emphasis which perhaps is a legacy of his preaching style. He reflects on the contemporary social and political climate in Australia, in which, for instance, there are recurrent efforts to discredit any notion of a 'stolen generation'. Half of those canvassed in political polls agree that no apology is called for past injustices. Habel reminds readers that the essential ingredients of the reconciliation process must be a raised consciousness, accompanied by changed attitudes in the light of social justice. He sees that schools would play an important part in this consciousness raising and education in social justice, with an active part to be taken by young and old in the healing rites which he suggests.

His Appendix sets out in detail seven healing rites to offset the seven sins committed against indigenous Australians. The appropriate sites which he chooses are linked to specific stories: invasion at Sydney Cove, genocide at Tasmanian locations, Maralinga, linking dehumanisation, dispossession and land degradation, for instance. Teachers would find his suggestions a useful tool. Habel's comprehensive bibliography reveals his reliance on both indigenous and non-indigenous writers. It offers source material for further information, whether it be reports and official documents such as the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991) or Sir Ronald Wilson's Enquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families
(1997), or the writings of the poets and prophets like Anne Pattel-Gray, Veronica Brady, Tony Kelly ,David Tacey, the Rainbow Spirit Elders, Yunupingu or Djiniyini Gondarra.

If there are limitations to this impassioned plea for all of us to understand and join in a move towards reconciliation with our fellow Australians, they do not detract from its power to impress. To confine a discussion of racism, even in Australia, to attitudes which have governed our dealings with indigenous people, is to ignore the effects of such racist attitudes on other cultures, especially to our Asian immigrants, whether of recent arrival or Australian born of Asian parents. This is probably attributable to Habel's declared intention to be concerned with 'the specifics of Australian history' (p.7), which does not
relate the phenomenon to universal experience or theory. Again, the biblical and religious background to much of his work may not resonate with many Australians who make up a very secular society. Many worthy citizens may still not understand or be moved by his view of the spiritual nature of reconciliation, the spiritual basis for discovering a common Australian identity, yet respond to his principles of truth, justice and compassion.