About SEA OF HANDS (Yasmina B.)

The Sea of Hands was originally conceived in 1997 as a creative way of demonstrating opposition to the Federal Government's proposals to amend the Native Title Act to restrict Indigenous
native title rights.
Antar (Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation) wanted to actively engage people and capture their imaginations in a way that politicians and media could not ignore. Australian Artists Against Racism came up with the idea of recyclable plastic hands in the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, planted in a design.
The Sea of Hands was born !



Native Title :

Native title is a property right which reflects a relationship to land which is the very foundation of Indigenous religion, culture and well-being. The non-discriminatory protection of native title is a recognised human right.

Under the Native Title Act 1993, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner is required to:

• prepare an annual report to the Attorney-General on the operation of the NTA and its effect on the exercise and enjoyment of human rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and
• report, when requested by the Attorney-General, on any other matter relating to the rights of Indigenous people under the NTA.

The objectives of the Commissioner are to provide and promote a human rights perspective on native title; assist in developing more efficient native title processes; and to advocate for the co-existence between Indigenous and non-Indigenous interests in land based on compatible land use.


Plastic hands in the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, each one carrying one signature from the Citizen's Statement, were installed in front of Parliament House in Canberra in October 1997, in what was the largest public art installation in Australia. The Sea of Hands has become a symbol of the People's Movement for reconciliation. Wherever possible, the Sea of Hands reproduces designs by a local Indigenous artists.

History of the flag :

The Aboriginal flag is divided into two equal halves. The top is black, the bottom is red and there is a yellow circle in the centre. The black half symbolises Aboriginal people past, present and future. The yellow circle is the sun, the giver and renewer of life. The red half of the flag is the earth. It also represents red ochre symbolising spiritual attachment to the land.



Now a little tourism :

Uluru, also called Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia.

Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site.

Uluru is sacred to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara, the Aboriginal people of the area.

It has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and former paintings.





You can see why the Aboriginal owners are called the Uluru climbers.

The first Sea of Hands was held on the 12 October 1997. 70,000 coloured plastic hands, each one carrying one signature from the Citizen's Statement, were installed in front of Parliament House in Canberra.

I enjoy admiring those oceans of colorful hands which stretches far and wide forming waves.

If you want to see a video which shows the installation of the plastic hands click here.
If you want to create your own hands click here and then go on "ADD A HAND".
Show imagination !

RABBIT PROOF FENCE :

In class we saw a film called Rabbit Proof Fence. The director is Phillip Noyce.


The story begins in Western Australia in 1931. It tells the story of Molly 14 years old, Gracie 10 years old and Daisy who is only 8 years old, daughters of Aboriginal mothers and white fathers.



The story begins in the tiny depot of Jigalong in northwestern Australia on the edge of the Gibson Desert.They live with their mothers and grandmother.
The white fathers of the three girls who worked on the long fence have abandoned them and moved on.

In Perth, Mr A.O. Neville, the chief protector of Aborigines is the legal guardian of every Aborigine in the State of Western Australia.White people called them "white-caste". His plan is to married aborigine women to white men in order to eliminated half caste. By this title he has the power to remove any half-caste child from their family from anywhere within the state. This is what he kidnap the 3 girls. He want these children forget their language and customs and become completely assimilated into white culture.

What touched me in this film is the scene showed in this picture. It consists about the separation between the 3 girls and their mothers. It's a terrible thing to be dominated and forced to give up all that is sacred to you.This key element is what make this Australian film such a wonderful spiritual adventure story and one of the best films I have never seen.

To my mind, those 3 girls are very courageous. Moreover they are so cute and charming ! I enjoyed watching this movie even if it was sad because we can really see their conditions of life.The story is based on historically true events.

I hope you see this film because it is a moving and an interesting movie !

TO CONCLUDE :

In the fourth unit, we talked about the Sea of Hands, about 3 films (Apocalypse Now, Saving private Ryan and Band of Brothers which all deal with war) and of course about Rabbit proof fence. All those films refer to tragic and dramatic events in the past.
Some favourite people proverb might be « an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ». But sometimes revenge is not the best way to sort out of a problem or to do justice. In life we must learn to forgive. In fact, like aboriginal behaviour, people have to turn over a new leaf. But on the other hand it is clear that it is not very easy to forget.

Working on this site was very interesting since I have learnt a lot of information about the Sea of Hands which taught us about a whole new culture. Indeed I had never heard about the history of Aboriginals from Australia before. Besides this kind of work is original and can be beneficial. In fact, we do not usually work on the Internet.

Thank you for watching !!!

THE END...

Sea of hands Arthur P.

The Sea of Hands was created by ANTaR in 1997. Today, about 300 000 people have joined this solidarity movement, and 120 000 hands have been created.

This artistic event was created to put on an equal footing all the people who live in Australia... But only 300 000 citizens out of the 19 500 000 inhabitants of Australia have signed this petition.
Australia was conquered by The English in 1788. It all began with the discovery of Australia by Captain Arthur Phillip.
After that, English people took command on the island.
English people have cultivated and populated this land and they forgot the Natives’ rights on Australian ground. English conquerants tries to abolish aboriginal people by the wash of their blood, with mariage between aboriginals and english people.

However in 1974, The Sea of hands told Australian people that this was not their native country, and that the natives had been forgotten by the settlers.

So I think it's very important to remember that english australian people are strangers on the island and that they have ruin native australian's lifes. The ANTaR movement help aboriginal pepole to make a new life by get a real job and to be respected.

http://seaofhands.antar.org.au/
You can join too ! Come on !

see of hands Atilla MERT

The Sea of Hands is recognised by hundreds of thousands of Australians as a symbol of the people's movement for rights-based reconciliation. It was ANTaR’s first public event, staged to protest against the Federal Government's proposed changes to the Native Title Act. 70,000 plastic hands in six colours, each one carrying one signature from a petition in support of native title and reconciliation, were installed in front of Parliament House in Canberra in October 1997. The six colours of the Sea of Hands represent the colours of the Aboriginal flag (red, black and yellow), the Torres Strait Islander flag (blue, green and white), and the Australian flag. Each Sea of Hands installation is a unique event, and wherever possible, is designed by a local Indigenous artist, using symbols and themes appropriate to the Indigenous traditions of that region.


- réconciliation fondée sur les droits

- 70000 mains en plastique de six couleurs

- Les six couleurs de la mer de mains représentent les couleurs du drapeau aborigène (rouge, noir et jaune), le pavillon des îles du détroit de Torres (bleu, vert et blanc), et le drapeau australien.


my opinion:

I think this organization Antar is very useful because it is humanitarian . Its goal is to assist Aboriginals
and
I think the film Rabbit Proof Fence is very interesting because we can observe in which conditions aboriginal used to live.

sea of hands - Fanny V.P

The sea of hands is an event created by ANTaR. These hands represent the name of over 300 000 Australian children so as to support the native title and reconciliation. It is the symbol of the movement to support the rights of the Australian Natives.


There are at least two flags in Australia: one is composed of the English flag and the Southern Cross, and the other is black and red with a yellow circle. Black symbolizes the natives of Australia, red represents the earth and yellow, the sun, which is the origin of life.
This is the second flag:

Each year Reconciliation Week is held between 27 May and 3 June to commemorate two very important dates in Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian relations:

27 May is the Anniversary of the 1967 referendum when 90% of Australians voted to remove clauses, which discriminated against Indigenous Australians, from the Australian Constitution.

3 June is the Anniversary of the High Court’s handing down of the judgement made on the Mabo case, in which Eddie Mabo argued that Murray Islanders’ rights to their land were not extinguished by the annexation of the islands by the State of Queensland. The Court agreed and ‘terra nulius’ – the idea that Australia had been empty of people when settled by the British – was abandoned.

After we see the film about the stolen children, who they are placed in the center, we understand why it is very important for the Natives of Australian to celebrate this two Anniversairies.

And since then we can see in the Australian cities different sea of hands:






Such as in Lincoln's Inn Fields, on London:

The Sea of hands looks like Native Art: everything has a signification.

The film about the stolen children is very dark and hard. Their lifes are horible juste because they are diffrents and black. They are consider for someone, who is less important than a white man. We steal very small, we see this film, this si very interesant, we learn a lot of things.

"Forgive, or forget?" should be talk about this chlidren stolen and ask if we can forget this event, if we can forgive the people they organise it.

Sea of hands Paul-Antoine

ANTaR (Australians for native Title and Reconciliation ) has been campaigning for Indigenous rights since 2004 .

The Sea of Hands is ANTaR's primary public education initiative and Australia's largest public art installation. The Sea of Hands has been installed in every major city and many regional locations throughout Australia, and continues to gather signatures everywhere it appears.



















These are Aboriginals playing native instruments.













The Sea of Hands has become a symbol of the
People's Movement for reconciliation.

Now, I'm going to talk about the aboriginals in Australia.
Traditional aboriginal culture -throwing the boomerang, ritual dancing, starting fire with sticks - is what lots of tourists expect to see in Australia. Thanks to movies and books people have romantic ideas about ancient aboriginal civilisation... Reality is quite different. Not many Indigenous live in major cities in Australia, and it is hard to meet native Australians on the streets of Melbourne, Sydney or Adelaide, cities were tourists go.
The only touches of Aboriginal culture are artifacts such as boomerangs, paintings, and musical instruments such as didjeridoo and rainstick which one can buy in souvenir shops.

Aboriginal music on
the streets of Adelaide

Spear throwing

Lighting the fire with sticks



The reason why there is not much of aboriginal culture left lies in the events back in 1700's which continued until the mid 20th century. Shortly after colonization, aboriginals were ruthlessly (pitilessly) attacked by white settlers in the southeast territories of Australia. Many of the Aboriginals died from diseases brought to Australia, due to the fact that they had never been exposed to these sicknesses before.
Nowadays the elements of reconciliation with the indigenous population of Australia are a very important part of the Australian political life. Hot discussions were started about the lack of official public apologies from the Australian government to the so called 'Stolen Generation' of Aboriginals.

That's why, ANTaR tries to protect the Indigenous culture because they are in danger of extinction.



Here is Ayers Rock, which is sacred ground for the Aboriginals who call it Uluru.













Here are some pictures of aboriginal art which is wonderful.













Each line, each spot represents something.
The painter wants to convey a message in
his paintings because, it is not just art, it is a symbol.



I found this quest really interesting because
we were able to learn much more about a culture we knew nothing about.
ANTaR is a really good organization and it should continue because every culture has the right and the need to be helped if there are fewer and fewer people living this culture.









Now I am going to talk about the beginning of the film (rabbit proof fence) that we saw before the holiday. We can see in this film how the aboriginal children were torn away from their family and with which violence they were taken outside their birth place. The government does not feel sorry to these children and consider them as slaves. It does not feel sorry to the families of the stolen children either, which cannot continue to live normally without their children. Why do the government steal all these children? I think it is to eliminate the Aboriginal race. They did not want a third race, they just wanted either white or Aboriginals.
The violent scene where a man stole aboriginal children is really hard because it shows us how white people were in the nineteenth century and how they considered Aboriginals as animals just because they lived into the wild with no technology.

This question "Forgive, forget ?" makes us think about how aboriginals people could forgive what White people did to them in the past and how they could forget the horror they went through.

Sea Of Hands wazna berrakmouch 2nd9

THE HISTORY OF THE SEA OF HANDS !

The Sea Of Hands is a movement which was created in 1997. The Sea Of Hands was created by ANTaR ( Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation ).

It was a physical representation. Over 300,000 people joined this movement created by an Australian organization. Many people supported this movement.

In December 23rd 1994, the General Assembly decided to celebrate the International Day of the World's Indigenous People.

Over 300,000 Australians have signed their names on one of 120,000 plastics hands for the Sea of Hands, to show they support indigenous people's fight.

THE HISTORY OF THE FLAG !

the Indigenous flag :

- black represents the Indigenous people of Australia

- red represents the Australian ground

- And yellow, in the center, represents the sun !

the Australian flag :

- In the left hand-side angle, we can see the English flag because Australia belonged of the English Empire.

- The 5 stars situated on the right hand side of the flag stand for the Southern Cross which is a constellation of stars visible from the southern hemisphere.

- The star have 7 branches located in the lower left is the star of the Commonwealth. Each branch of the star represents a state or territory of Australia.

The six colours of the Sea of Hands represent the colours of the Aboriginal flag (red, black and yellow), the Torres Strait Islander flag (blue, green and white), and the Australian flag.

Here the Aboriginal flag replaces the English flag. You can see the 5 stars ( Southern Cross ) which is a constellation visible from the Southern hemisphere.

antoine prata sea of hands

Over 300,000 Australians have signed their names on one of 120,000 plastic hands that make up the Sea of Hands, to show their support for Native Title and Reconciliation.

The Sea of Hands was created in 1997 as a powerful, physical representation of the Citizen's Statement on Native Title.

The Citizen's Statement was a petition circulated by ANTaR to mobilise non-Indigenous support for native title and reconciliation, at a time when native title rights were under serious threat from the Howard Government's proposed changes to the Native Title Act 1993

I HAVE CHOSEN THIS PICTURE (ON THE RIGHT) because racism exists all over the world

Plastic hands in the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, each one carrying one signature from the Citizen's Statement, were installed in front of Parliament House in Canberra in October 1997, in what was then the largest public art installation in Australia.

The Sea of Hands has become a symbol of the People's Movement for reconciliation - and a tangible recognition of the failure of the Howard Government to lead Australia in the reconciliation process.

I find this manifestation useful and interesting. it is a good idea and the Sea of hands is a beautiful show.

on the picture on the left I have painted hands in browm for the skin color of aboriginals and on these hands I have painted lots of points in blue for the number of supporters.