An enduring reminder of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service to the Royal Australian Navy
As a former Director of Music Navy it gives me much pride to learn of the establishment of Indigenous Cultural Performer positions within the Royal Australian Navy Band. This initiative creates a great and enduring legacy for the current Director of Music, Commander Cassandra Mohapp RAN.
https://fb.watch/e6s_L1EO3Q/
This NAIDOC Week I am reminded of my deep privilege to commission Darren Moffitt to paint ‘The Salute’. The artwork was unveiled at the Navy Centenary Concert on 10 July 2011. ‘The Salute’ was the Navy Band's gift to the Royal Australian Navy on its Centenary. The drum corps in all RAN Band detachments began wearing slings adorned with ‘The Salute’, to represent the Royal Australian Navy's enduring acknowledgment of Indigenous service. The drum corps first paraded on the international stage wearing these slings in 2011 during the Brunei International Military Tattoo and then at the Nanchang International Military Tattoo later that year.
Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a very long and proud tradition of service to the Royal Australian Navy as uniformed members of Australia’s Defence Force and also as civilians who proudly served with Australian sailors in times of peace and war.
On the surface this painting depicts a dugong surrounded by other sea creatures in blue coastal waters. A coastline of earthy tones frames the sea creatures and is strewn with an array of traditional Aboriginal stencil paintings of hands and weapons, silhouette paintings of a kangaroo and hunter, rock wall paintings of tall ships and a set of footprints that follow the coastline. The painting has a story and without this the true meaning of the artwork is not easy to understand or fully appreciate. The story describing this painting is about traditions, history and warriors.
The central feature in this painting is a dugong. The dugong has very strong cultural links to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and like the Navy, it is inherently connected with the sea. The dugong appears to be caressing a starfish in this painting; the true meaning of this gesture is embedded within this story.
Surrounding the Dugong in the blue coastal waters are other sea creatures that also have special meaning. Five dark blue starfish form the Southern Cross constellation around the dugong and this is significant because the Southern Cross represents Australia and the stars on the Australian White Ensign. In this artwork it also symbolises ‘country’. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples ‘country’ is extremely important and ‘protecting country’ has always been a fundamental part of Indigenous culture - ‘Protecting Country’ is why the Royal Australian Navy exists.
The dugong is surrounded by five smaller sea animals, each representing Navy’s values with two of each type to symbolise both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: the Stingray for Honour, Fish for Honesty, Shark for Courage, Crab for Integrity and Turtle for Loyalty. Although these animals are from the same sea, they are very diverse in nature, reflecting and acknowledging the rich diversity of Australia’s Indigenous culture. The coastline frames the sea animals in earthy tones and is covered with stencil paintings and rock wall paintings that represent the past: tall ships for the Royal Navy, and Bungaree whose footprints tell of his circumnavigation of Australia.
Bungaree was a well known character in the Sydney area and in 1802 / 1803 he accompanied Captain Mathew Flinders on the HMS Investigator during a Royal Navy survey mission around the Australian coastline. This significant event is arguably one of the earliest examples of Indigenous service to the Navy – even though the vessel was Royal Navy and Bungaree was not a serving member, this event represents a distant link to Indigenous involvement and service to the Royal Australian Navy.
The hand stencil paintings in this artwork represent and acknowledge ‘ancestors’ and the weapons are symbolic of past warriors. The boomerang, nulla nulla and stone axe are also used in Royal Australian Navy ship crests to represent Australia– this honours Australia’s Indigenous heritage and distinguishes Australian warships from the British.
The stark kangaroo and Aboriginal hunter represents HMAS Parramatta, the first commissioned ship of the Royal Australian Navy and first of many to bear Indigenous names. HMAS Parramatta (I) was a River Class Torpedo Boat Destroyer and from 1916 to 1928, the ship’s badge featured a stark kangaroo, which was then changed to an Aboriginal with spear in hand, standing in shallow water, with an impaled and entwined eel on the end of the spear.
This was to link the ship’s badge design with its name; the translation of “Parramatta” is “where eels lay down”. In 1961, a motto for the ship’s badge “Strike Deep” was adopted; this linked the badge design with the ship’s naval role. This artwork highlights a long tradition of Indigenous involvement and service in the Royal Australian Navy by uniformed members and civilians. It explores the origins of this tradition with a link to Bungaree’s experience and the notion of warrior instincts and ‘protecting country’ that is embedded deep within Australia’s Indigenous culture. The artwork also demonstrates how the Royal Australian Navy continues to honour Australia’s Indigenous heritage through the use of Indigenous names for its warships and cultural materials that feature on official Navy badges. This artwork also draws a correlation between the Navy’s values and Indigenous service.
#ServinginHarmony#NavyBand#AusNavy#ProudtoServe#AllInthistogether#OurPeople#ProudtoServe#YourADF#NAIDOC2022#GetUpStandUpShowUp
Commenti