Re: General Discussions
Reply #477 –
In Victorian schools it was the Patriotic Declaration:
"I love God and my country, I will honour the flag, I will serve the Queen and cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the law."
I suspect that it didn't achieve the desired effect; the baby-boomers were probably more likely to take part in civil disobedience than those who came before and after, and they deserted the established churches in droves.
The Patriotic Declaration is very different to the acknowledgement of Traditional Owners Thry. The declaration was intended to instill obedience and adherence to a set of values imposed by Government. The acknowledgement is simply paying respect.
By the way, I wrote the first Traditional Owner acknowledgement for the Victorian Government at the request of Steve Bracks. It was meant to be a form of words to follow when folk weren't sure how to respectfully acknowledge TOs. Public servants, MPs etc were encouraged to tailor their acknowledgement to the occasion. It's changed a bit since then and is often parroted rather than tailored ... and I don't really understand how you can have "emerging elders"