Indigenous leaders have condemned people who booed welcome to country speeches at Anzac Day dawn services across the country, with an army captain stating “racism is a cancer”.
Elders who spoke at services in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth on Saturday morning were booed following a campaign by Fight for Australia, the group formerly known as March for Australia, which has previously staged major anti-immigration rallies.
Uncle Jack Pearson, a Yimithurr man and a captain in the Australian army, said “racism in any shape or form is a cancer to any society”.
The Indigenous military expert said there was “nothing wrong with free speech and protest”.
“But it’s got to be respectful, particularly on days like this … a very special day for all Australians,” he said.
Welcomes and acknowledgements of country were solemn events, he said, recognising First Nations people “and their contribution to what we know as Australia today”.
“First Nations people have been here since before the idea of Australia existed. Racism or racial bias is a disruptor to our common humanity in Australia – to who we are in Australia. It is not in the Anzac spirit.”
Marcia Langton, laureate professor of Indigenous studies at the University of Melbourne, said those who booed had committed a “despicable and ignorant … moral crime”.
Writing in Guardian Australia, she said those who intentionally disrupted services should face bans.
“The morons who tried to snatch the sacred moment away … deserve more than contempt and a few words of rancour,” Langton said on Saturday.
“They should be named, photographed and banned from all future Anzac Day services. If the AFL can ban disruptive racists, the police forces of Australia should similarly be able to deal with these people.”
At Sydney’s dawn service in Martin Place, a small but noisy group of interjectors shouted and jeered as Uncle Ray Minniecon was delivering his acknowledgement of country.
After those disturbing the peace were quieted and the acknowledgement concluded, a chorus of applause and cheering by thousands rang for an extended period to show support for Minniecon.
Uncle Ray Minniecon at Sydney’s dawn service on Saturday. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP“We do have laws to try and deter people from this, but it seems like these people still want to be lawless,” Minniecon, whose ancestry includes the Kabi-Kabi and Gurang-Gurang peoples of Queensland, said after the ceremony.
Minniecon, a veteran himself whose grandfather served in the Light Horse Brigade, was instrumental in starting the annual Coloured Diggers event and march in Redfern, which honours the service and sacrifice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans.
The total number of Indigenous Australians known to have served in the first world is almost 1,000 – and research continues.
From the Boer war on, Indigenous Australians have served, first for the British Imperial Army and then the Australian defence force, in every international mission.
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