‘A spiritual ripple effect’: Shedding light on learning with Traditional Owners

In 2005, The Wadja people welcomed Baha’is to Country through the Queensland Regional Baha’i Council – a body consisting of nine individuals who administer to the affairs of the Faith in the northern Australian region.  

A significant ceremony, it signalled an ongoing spiritual relationship – the Traditional Owners gifting the Baha’is with something from “the ancient cycle” – in this case, traditional bush medicine gumbi gumbi and red ochre – and the Baha’is gifting the Traditional Owners their Most Holy Book – The Kitab-i-Aqdas, “the new laws for today,” said senior lore man of the Wadja tribe Kugaman Banbari (Phillip Obah Junior).  

“What that does, is brings the old with the new and moving forward with the new,” he said. “That whole Country now comes under the banner of Baha’u’llah and they’re now governed by the true administrative order.   

“If the ceremony can happen right throughout Australia, it will create a big spiritual ripple effect that will have a big spiritual impact on the whole country itself, leading towards rejuvenating and advancing the Baha’i Faith in this country.”

He said the friends across Australia should “allow and open themselves up to learn from the Aboriginal people”.  

“Family groups is a social and spiritual concept First Nations people have been practicing for over thousands of years,” he said. “They will teach us about junior youth empowerment and reaffirmation – in a sustainable and systematic way where a child is taught how to live off the land, shown their connection to Country, then moving into youth, where they participate in either men’s or women’s ceremonies to access greater knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the spiritual lores and principles. Then they become youth leaders as young men and women, teaching youth, and a systematic cycle continues”.  

Wadja man living in Townsville Kentyn Obah said engaging with the Aboriginal communities had to be done in a spirit of learning. “The Welcome to Country is that spiritual approach to reciprocity,” he said.  

“This is what we’ve done in Queensland. It’s a big ceremony where there’s a reciprocal approach of gift-giving.  

“How can we get this process going? It’s so important and so instrumental in our progress together.”

To date, there have been five Welcome to Country ceremonies through which Baha’i institutions have engaged with local Aboriginal tribal councils.  

Townsville resident Zafar Smith added that the Townsville community is learning how, through a spirit of reciprocity and humility, “the individuals are learning that they are not teaching the Aboriginal people about the Baha’i Faith. They teach us.”  

“The First Nations people already know about groups of families. It’s called the ‘kinship system’. They will teach us about progressive revelation. It is called ‘Tjukurrpa’ – the Ancient cycle.” 

Zafar said it was vital that communities across the country approached their Aboriginal tribal councils to learn about true spiritual form and significance of Welcome to Country ceremonies, reaching out to their elders and working together with the Baha’i Writings to build a community.   

“We need to learn the significance of this ceremony,” Zafar said. “Welcoming to Country is the beginning of an ongoing spiritual relationship. It is not a single event but an ongoing exchange of spiritual knowledge. It is saying we see you for who you are. That is the key.”  

At this year’s National Baha’i Convention, a recommendation was passed that Australia’s national Baha’i governing body, the National Spiritual Assembly, create a space at the national level that focusses on the gathering and distribution of learning about the engagement of Aboriginal people, tribal councils and elders, led by Aboriginal Baha’is.

Sharing the following quote from the late Farvardin Daliri, a Townsville resident who committed his life to engaging with Aboriginal people, Zafar said:  

“Engaging Aboriginal people is easy. You have to sit with them where they are, sit with them under the stars, eat with them, if they are sleeping in the grass, sleep with them in the grass, spend time with them. It is us who will learn from them.”

Kugaman Banbari references his father, Wagan Guburu (Philip Obah Senior), saying that: “Dad had no doubt that, when reading the Gleanings by Baha’u’llah, he’d find answers relating to Aboriginal spiritual lore and principles, which tells us that the ancient spiritual lores and principles First Nations peoples practice to this day is one in the same, but now renewed.”