Kevin Rudd had begun secret discussions to create a new national cultural institution before he was dumped as prime minister – a vision that would have built on his legacy as the leader who apologised for systemic mistreatment of the first Australians over generations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Behind the scenes, the then prime minister instructed bureaucrats in 2009 to begin discussions for a landmark museum dedicated to Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, to be built in Canberra's parliamentary triangle on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin.
Days after US President Barack Obama inaugurated a new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, Mr Rudd has called on Australia's political, cultural and business leaders to take up the idea of a new museum – funded by government, philanthropic donations and corporations who owe debts to Indigenous Australia.
The former Labor leader had asked the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet to identify a site and funding for a nationally significant architectural monument and educative institution.
"We tentatively looked at sites somewhere between the National Library and the High Court of Australia," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Media from London.
"That of course did not come to pass because the government changed a year later but why I think it is important is it's an ideal way for all Australians to become familiar with the histories, cultures and stories of the hundreds of Aboriginal tribes who have lived on the Australian continent for 30,000 years."
He said a national monument to Indigenous Australians remained a great omission for hundreds of thousands of visitors to the national capital every year.
"Through DNA testing we've now established what I've said for a long time, that Aboriginal civilisation is the oldest continuing civilisation in the world," Mr Rudd said.
"If that doesn't cause us a degree of national pride then I don't know what does."
The plan could follow the new Smithsonian outpost, which tells the story of African American struggle, success, culture and promise from slavery to Mr Obama's rise as the first black president.
Mr Rudd said a national committee with Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians could be established, representing a "healing moment for the country" like his historic 2008 apology in Parliament.
"I believe as part and parcel of key debates on the general future of Indigenous Australia, closing the gap, constitutional recognition and debates concerning a treaty, that these can be accompanied by an appropriate recognition of the kind we've seen built during the Obama administration," he said.
He called for the plan to be free of partisan ownership, and said major corporations including Rio Tinto and BHP should make sizeable contributions to a development fund for the project to repay decades of exploitation of Indigenous land and communities.
One possible site identified by Canberra's strictly enforced National Capital Plan is a high-profile site adjacent to the Questacon science museum and Reconciliation Place, currently "reserved for a significant national building and/or a significant national place of special status and interest".
