Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In this week’s Friday Focus, we’ll look at how to get back your stolen land. If you’re an Indigenous Australian who’s grown up in this modern, grievance-obsessed, victim-centric world, you may feel that history has failed you. You might think the British were outright thieves and your ancestors were robbed of their sovereign land. Consequently, you feel you deserve your ancestral land back. Well, thanks to the ABC—and thank you to the viewer who sent this in—we’ll show you the cutting-edge strategy to get it back.
This is the TV show Restoration Australia, hosted by architecture expert Professor Anthony Burke. The series follows passionate homeowners as they breathe new life into historical properties across the country. Naturally, you can find it on iView under the “Feel Good” category.
But today’s tutorial on how to get your stolen land back is based on an Aboriginal couple’s journey. On screen, you can see them standing in front of an old church. This is from Episode 4, titled Breakaway Creek. The ABC explains it better than I ever could:
“Host Anthony Burke meets a First Nations family aiming to reinterpret a simple and remote timber church into a getaway home honouring dispossessed ancestors and proud culture.”
Because nothing screams “rectifying historic injustice” quite like a stylish weekend getaway home.
This topic was considered so monumentally important that the ABC even published a standalone news report on it. So here’s the tutorial, Step 1: Buy some property. The couple bought St Philip’s Church, located in western Victoria, for $145,000 a few years ago. As they note: “This old church will become a celebration of Gunditjmara heritage.” The ABC adds that it’s land that was originally “stolen from Craig’s Aboriginal ancestors by the Church of England.”
Because nothing says curing generational dispossession quite like paying market value to the people who allegedly took it.
Which brings us to Step 2: Respectfully remove church iconography and infuse it with local Indigenous art. In this before-and-after photo, first, you see a religious symbol on the roof. Then, with one quick flick of the wrist, that pesky Christian cross is completely gone. Because nothing says triumphantly reclaiming your culture quite like a bit of casual desecration.
Step 3: Hang a traditional eel net right from the centre of the ceiling. As we all know, the best place to catch a freshwater fish is fifteen feet in the air, directly between your kitchen and your leather sofa.
And finally, Step 4: Repurpose the altar area. You can see the original church altar has been replaced with a luxurious, elevated king-size bed, while the traditional stained-glass window now features a couple of native cockatoos and a serpent. Some of you might look at this and claim it’s a blatant sacrilege, suggesting the owners should seek forgiveness for sleeping where people used to pray. But don’t worry, the ABC addresses that by quoting the owner directly:
“I have no forgiveness for them over what they did. They made life miserable for people. If you did try to practise your culture or speak your language, then you were punished.”
So there you go. In four easy steps, and with absolutely no forgiveness required, that’s exactly how you defeat colonialism and triumphantly reclaim your stolen land.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
In this week’s Friday Focus, we’ll look at how to get back your stolen land. If you’re an Indigenous Australian who’s grown up in this modern, grievance-obsessed, victim-centric world, you may feel that history has failed you. You might think the British were outright thieves and your ancestors were robbed of their sovereign land. Consequently, you feel you deserve your ancestral land back. Well, thanks to the ABC—and thank you to the viewer who sent this in—we’ll show you the cutting-edge strategy to get it back.
This is the TV show Restoration Australia, hosted by architecture expert Professor Anthony Burke. The series follows passionate homeowners as they breathe new life into historical properties across the country. Naturally, you can find it on iView under the “Feel Good” category.
But today’s tutorial on how to get your stolen land back is based on an Aboriginal couple’s journey. On screen, you can see them standing in front of an old church. This is from Episode 4, titled Breakaway Creek. The ABC explains it better than I ever could:
“Host Anthony Burke meets a First Nations family aiming to reinterpret a simple and remote timber church into a getaway home honouring dispossessed ancestors and proud culture.”
Because nothing screams “rectifying historic injustice” quite like a stylish weekend getaway home.
This topic was considered so monumentally important that the ABC even published a standalone news report on it. So here’s the tutorial, Step 1: Buy some property. The couple bought St Philip’s Church, located in western Victoria, for $145,000 a few years ago. As they note: “This old church will become a celebration of Gunditjmara heritage.” The ABC adds that it’s land that was originally “stolen from Craig’s Aboriginal ancestors by the Church of England.”
Because nothing says curing generational dispossession quite like paying market value to the people who allegedly took it.
Which brings us to Step 2: Respectfully remove church iconography and infuse it with local Indigenous art. In this before-and-after photo, first, you see a religious symbol on the roof. Then, with one quick flick of the wrist, that pesky Christian cross is completely gone. Because nothing says triumphantly reclaiming your culture quite like a bit of casual desecration.
Step 3: Hang a traditional eel net right from the centre of the ceiling. As we all know, the best place to catch a freshwater fish is fifteen feet in the air, directly between your kitchen and your leather sofa.
And finally, Step 4: Repurpose the altar area. You can see the original church altar has been replaced with a luxurious, elevated king-size bed, while the traditional stained-glass window now features a couple of native cockatoos and a serpent. Some of you might look at this and claim it’s a blatant sacrilege, suggesting the owners should seek forgiveness for sleeping where people used to pray. But don’t worry, the ABC addresses that by quoting the owner directly:
“I have no forgiveness for them over what they did. They made life miserable for people. If you did try to practise your culture or speak your language, then you were punished.”
So there you go. In four easy steps, and with absolutely no forgiveness required, that’s exactly how you defeat colonialism and triumphantly reclaim your stolen land.
MUSIC
Allégro by Emmit Fenn
