Indigenousness has always been misinterpreted as belonging to the past tense. Aboriginality is more than a museum piece, but a living culture that changes with time. St James' commissioned the artwork as a way to counter the heritage listed colonial memorials to early explorers Edmund Kennedy, John Gilbert and Captain Collet Barker that were on their walls. These memorials recall in a one-sided way the fatal incidents between the Europeans and Aboriginal people. The artwork is not a beginning or an end.
Reconciliation stands at the heart of the Christian gospel.
In a fractured world God calls us to repentance and to new life in Christ. The unveiling of the plaque marks a step in the movement towards reconciliation. The Rev Susanne Pain said the unveiling of the artwork in the historic church was particularly significant because the parish contains the place British first landed. St James was designed by convict architect, Francis Greenway, was consecrated in 1824, and is the oldest existing ecclesiastical building in Sydney. In our journey of reconciliation at St James, we have begun to understand our own building, the indigenous culture of the local area and the need for continuing steps towards new life together.