Lately, my attention was drawn to news from Australia in June that reported a ceremony taking place in Queensland to celebrate the renaming of Fraser Island — a World Heritage-listed island that lies just off the east coast — as K’gari, the original name used by the Butchulla people.
This recognition and honouring of the First Nation People’s culture and history is in sharp contrast to what I observed as the Japanese consul-general in Melbourne two decades ago. At that time, Australians were divided between liberals and conservatives, and the former’s argument for apologies to indigenous people was strongly resisted by the latter.
It took another decade for the declaration of apologies to materialize. In this context, I am impressed by the substantial change Australia has brought about.