We gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention
Coming from all points of the southern sky
Make this statement from the heart
Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes
Were the first sovereign nations of the Australian continent
And its adjacent islands
And possessed it under our own laws and customs
This, our ancestors did
According to the reckoning of our culture from the creation
According to the common law from time immemorial
And according to science more than sixty thousand years ago
This sovereignty is a spiritual notion
The ancestral tie between the land, or 'mother nature'
And the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom
Remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither
To be united with our ancestors
This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil
Or better, of sovereignty
It has never been ceded or extinguished
And co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown
How could it be otherwise
That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia
And this sacred link disappears from world history
In merely the last two hundred years?
With substantive constitutional change and structural reform
We believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through
As a fuller expression of Australia's nationhood
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet
We are not an innately criminal people
Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates
This cannot be because we have no love for them
And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers
They should be our hope for our future
These dimensions of our crisis
Tell plainly the structural nature of our problem
This is the torment of our powerlessness
We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people
And take a rightful place in our own country
When we have power over our destiny, our children will flourish
They will walk in two worlds, and their culture will be a gift to their country
We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution
Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda
The coming together after a struggle
It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship
With the people of Australia
And a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process
Of agreement-making between governments and First Nations
And truth-telling about our history
In 1967, we were counted
In 2017, we seek to be heard
We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country
We invite you to walk with us
In a movement of the Australian people
For a better future
Society's enormous
Alienation breeds
Loneliness so sad
We need company
So get off those little screens
And find out what it all means
Gather 'round the campfire
The campfire of humankind
So come on down
Come on down
To the stompin' ground
Come on down
Faces are glowin'
Strange music plays
Smoke adds distortion
In a magical way
Time passes freely
We're all passing through
A night 'round the campfire
Is gonna do it for you
So come on down
Come on down
To the stompin' ground
Come on down
So come on down
Come on down
To the stompin' ground
Come on down
Everybody
Come on down
Come on down
To the stompin' ground
Oh, won't you come on down?
