You are seated for the opening session of a conference, let’s say an academic, government or community conference, in a capital city of Australia. As the last members of the audience straggle in with their cups of coffee, conference organisers cross the stage, checking microphones and filling water glasses. The chatter in the auditorium lessens to the odd murmur as the starting time on the program arrives. The first item is a ‘welcome to country’, where an Aboriginal traditional owner will give a short speech on Aboriginal ties to the land and the traditional cultural mechanisms for welcoming visitors. If it is a larger conference, this might include a didgeridoo performance, dance or smoking ceremony.

If any Australians were not yet aware of the ‘welcome to country’ (WTC) ritual, Kevin Rudd’s decision in 2008 to begin the first sitting of the Australian Parliament each year with a welcome from a traditional owner is likely to change that. Over the past two or three decades, the practice of inviting a representative of the local indigenous group to ‘welcome’ the audience onto Aboriginal country has become commonplace at all kinds of events from football matches to the opening of a new hospital ward. The twin ritual of an acknowledgement of country, where a non-indigenous person or an indigenous person who is not a traditional owner acknowledges that the site is Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander land, is even more common, prefixing all sorts of speeches and presentations (especially those about indigenous issues), radio programs and even books.