Australia and the World Past and Present

A monument stands at Earlwood Oval in Sydney. Attached to it is a plaque that most people walking by probably don’t stop to read.

The plaque was produced in 1988 for Australia’s Bicentenary event. It reads:

‘John Parkes Memorial. This monument is dedicated to the memory of the original landowners John Parkes of Halesowen who was the first European settler; and all those who followed them’

The monument and plaque have stood, quietly marking time until being spotted by some school children. They decided that they would write their local council a letter.

The children were concerned that the plaque was not an accurate reflection of history. Specifically, there was no mention of the Bedigal people who were clearly living in the area before the arrival of Parkes.

The Bedigal people were living in the Sydney Basin area at the time of European arrival.

The understanding and representation of history changes over time. How do we deal with public statues, monuments, memorials such as this?

Some advocate tearing them down. Destroying them. Some use the term ‘ceremonial destruction’.

Another idea is relocating them to a park or museum for ‘fallen statues’.

This approach is akin to ‘burning the books in the library’. If monuments are removed from the public space, the people, events and ideas associated with them (whether good or bad) also fade from public consciousness.

The Canterbury-Bankstown City Council did not go down this route. Instead, in consultation with local indigenous people, they have opted to add another plaque. It reads:

‘This monument is rededicated to honor Bedigal, enduring custodians of country, and to the memory of John Parkes of Halesowen, who took up a colonial land grant here in 1816. We are “those who followed them”. First Nations people, descendants of the colony, and people more recently arrived from around the world. We walk together, tell our histories, looking to the future.”

This kind of engagement with the monument is a positive one. By adding a different perspective or narrative to the first plaque, it allows visitors to the memorial to see how historical understanding has changed over time. The addition of the plaque is constructive rather than destructive. Rather than divide, the new plaque seeks to unite. Somthing old has not been removed from the world, but something new has been added.