Mungo…
The Port Phillip Citizens for Reconciliation respectfully acknowledges the Yalukit Wilum
clan of the Boon Wurrung Nation who are the traditional owners and custodians of the land.
This newsletter is supported by a Community Grant from the City of Port Phillip and printed with the assistance of the Member
for Albert Park, Martin Foley, MP. April 2014
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FROM THE CO-CHAIR
Special events: I’d like to encourage you to make plans to support two significant events that PPCfR is in the process of organizing next month.
The first is a lunch to commemorate Sorry Day on Friday, 23 May at South Melbourne Community Centre. It is being held prior to the national commemoration on 26 May so as not too clash with events that the City of Port Phillip is hosting, and will include entertainment and a great meal. The theme for Sorry Day is ‘Let's Walk the Talk’.
The other event, proposed for the evening of either May 28 or 29, is a talk to raise awareness of the campaign to have Indigenous Australians recognized in the Constitution. Special speakers include Daphne Yarram, Board Member, National Congress of First Peoples, and activist, singer/songwriter, author, film maker, Richard Frankland (to be confirmed). The evening is being presented in partnership with the City of Port Phillip, Reconciliation Victoria, Sacred Heart Mission and St Kilda Baptist Church, I’ll post more details in the next issue about these and other events being held during Reconciliation Week from 27 May – 3 June; you can also check out our website: ppcfr.org..
Guest speaker: Please come along to our April meeting to hear a talk from special guest speaker David Collis. An educator at the University of Melbourne, David has spearheaded efforts to provide university access to people from diverse backgrounds. He is currently the Program Leader of the Bachelor of Arts (Extended), a scholarship program that he helped establish five years ago that provides a pathway for Indigenous students from all around Australia to study at the University of Melbourne. He is also a Foundation Studies educator with the University of Melbourne’s Trinity College, teaching international students, a committee member and former
Co-Convenor, with Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) Victoria. David recently joined
PPCfR and we look forward to his involvement. There will be some light refreshments after the talk, so I hope people can stay around.
IWD: Gael, Meg, Deb and I attended a cocktail reception on 4 March for International Women’s Day hosted by the City of Port Phillip. We heard interesting speeches from Dr Toni Meath, Principal, MacRobertson Girls' High School; from Mandy Burns, CEO, Ardoch Youth Foundation and Linda Davison, Co-ordinator, Clarendon Children's Centre, South Melbourne. Each addressed the theme ‘Empowering Women through Education’ and talked about their own experiences. It was a good evening that also gave us the chance to renew acquaintances and make some new ones.
Utopia: Further to items about John Pilger’s recent film of the same name in last month’s Mungo, I was interested to read comments about the film from the Australian of the Year, Adam Goodes (see below). ‘Utopia’ had only a short run at Cinema Nova. Hopefully is available on DVD so that more people can see the film and judge its merits for themselves.
Rosemary Rule
ANTaR updates
The Annual National Close the Gap Day Picnic held in Sydney on 20 March was a great success. Kirstie Parker, Co-Chair of the Close the Gap Committee and Co-Chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, spoke about the important gains the campaign had already made, such as reductions in infant mortality and smoking rates. She stressed that in order to build on these improvements we need the Federal Government to show leadership and forge a nationally coordinated approach to funding with the state and territory governments. The key to ensuring this happens is ongoing support and commitment from the Australian people. As Kirstie stated, the fact that over 1,250 events were registered for National Close The Gap Day with approximately 150,000 Australians involved, demonstrates that the Australian public believe that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equality must remain front and centre of the national agenda. ANTaR Australia invites people across Australia to take action and encourage our nation’s Premiers and Chief Ministers to renew their commitment to Close The Gap via www:.
Meanwhile in Victoria, ANTAR’s priorities for 2014 are to forge closer relationships with Local Reconciliation Groups (LRGs). Michael Anderson will be seeking information from LRGs about meeting times in order to attend and to gain support for ANTaR’s work. People and groups are all encouraged to join. ANTaR Vic is looking to engage with Traditional Owners across the state to get plaques for more nations across the state. Find out more about ANTaR’s work by visiting www.antarvictoria.org.au or phone 9483 1363.
Reconciliation Australia news
The Recognise Journey to Recognition campaign was re-launched in Fremantle last month and will head south along the WA coast before heading towards Cape York. The most recent Auspoll polling statistics show that 49 per cent of the public now know about the recognition goal, and that the support levels have held, with 58 per cent in support and only 12 per cent of people
opposed. What is the role of LRGs? We encourage LRGs to get in contact with your local schools, faith based groups, community groups, libraries etc to see if they would like to know more on this issue. Perhaps a forum in your local area? Reconciliation Victoria can help support this through our Speakers Registry.
Note: Reconciliation Victoria is supporting PPCfR’s ‘Recognise’ talk being held in late May.
Stonnington Citizens for Reconciliation (SRC)
SRC is very pleased that a Curriculum Project, based on the Aboriginal History of Stonnington is finally completed. When we initiated this project with Council and various educational institutions in Stonnington, we naively thought that it would be finished in a few months, that was four years ago. It will be launched at a function for Council’s Reconciliation Week celebrations this year and then go into schools at grade 4 – 6 level. We were advised to aim it at this level because kids in this age group will still go home and talk to their parents about their school work, whereas any older and it’s uncool to talk to parents, shock horror! This way we hope to educate a few parents at the same time.
We hope it will give the students something to talk about and believe that it is very important for them to learn a local history, not just that Aboriginal peoples live in remote communities.
The curriculum consists of a Teacher’s Guide and a Student Guide and Learning Journal, which cover eight topics, Our Place - Our Space; What do we want to find out more about?; Real History, real people; Artful thinking; Walking into the past; Histories; Bringing it together, and Celebrate! The Teacher’s Guide contains many useful suggestions for resources and activities and a section of Cultural Notes for Teachers. The cultural notes were considered to be very important as teachers are often wary of tackling indigenous issues for fear of “Doing or Saying the Wrong Thing”. We hope that this will allay some of these concerns. We also had the project approved by the Boon Wurrung Foundation, the Boon Wurrung being our main traditional owners. After being launched the whole program will be available on the City of Stonnington’s website, so anyone who may be interested could get access to it. We hope that this will be the start of something big. We always hoped, over the years it has taken to finalise this project, that other reconciliation groups would be inspired by it and take it up with their local council to produce something similar for their area. However, this may depend on your area having a local Indigenous History in the first place. We were fortunate that our council had already commissioned this. If your area does not have one then this may be your starting point. Ro Bailey, SRC.
Reconciliation, recognition and justice
Noel Pearson, activist, lawyer and Chairman of the Cape York Group, is delivering a special, one-off lecture on ‘Reconciliation, recognition and justice’, the case for this historic constitutional reform campaign at St Kilda Town Hall, on Tuesday, 8 April, 6.45pm. $10, students free and registration required. Tickets must be pre-purchased, either online at: www.aujs.com.au/noelpearson or by phoning the ADC office, 9272 5677. The event is sponsored by B’nai B’rith, ADC – Anti Defamation Council and the Australasian Union of Jewish Students.
Memorial appeal launched
An appeal has been launched seeking pledges of $300,000 towards the erecttion of a memorial to two indigenous men who in 1842, were the first people publicly executed in Melbourne. Last year the City of Melbourne voted to erect a memorial to Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheener, hanged for the murder of two whalers while resisting white settlement. Patron of the grassroots Commemoration Committee, Boon Wurrung elder Carolyn Briggs, is spearheading the fundraising campaign. People are asked to pledge funds, not cash, via tunnermaul.com. Sums pledged will be forwarded to Melbourne Council once a decision on the nature of the monument is made. The memorial is envisaged near the site of the execution in Franklin Street.
The GODS of Wheat Street
Filmed in northern NSW, the six part series was created and written by Jon Bell and is produced by Every Cloud Productions (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries) and screens on ABC1, Saturday April 12, 8:30pm.
An intimate journey into the lives, hearts and humour of the Freeburns – a modern Aboriginal family of local legends – The Gods of Wheat Street is about letting go of the past, with the aid of a little magic and enough deadpan humour to tackle the future. The GODS of Wheat Street boasts a cast of some of Australia’s finest Indigenous actors including Kelton Pell, Ursula Yovich, Lisa Flanagan, Logie Award-winning Shari Sebbens, Bruce Carter, Mark Coles Smith, Rarriwuy Hick and Miah Madden.
St Andrews Market Indigenous Celebration
A celebration to honour the market site as a traditional Indigenous Meeting Place. Saturday 15 April, from 8am to 2pm. Regular market with additional Indigenous stalls. Spirit of Place Indigenous Festival at 11am: Welcome to Country with Auntie Di Kerr and a performance with the Jindiworabak dancers. This will take place on the sacred ground at the top of the market ground near the Chai Tent.
Framlingham celebrates
The Framlingham Aboriginal Community invites you to help them celebrate their 150th anniversary, a significant milestone event in Victoria as Framlingham is one of the only two surviving Aboriginal settlements from the ‘mission days’. This event will be delivered as one-day festival to be held on Saturday April 12th, in the heart of Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve. It will be open to the whole of the community, and will include cultural activities, an oral history tour, food, music, children’s entertainment, arts and craft and traditional games. Music to be provided by Archie Roach, Shane Howard, Yung Warriors and more to be announced. For further information, contact Alice Ugle:
T: 55671003.
Songlines Koorie Pride school holiday program
Songlines is running workshops in Drumming, Traditional Dance, Traditional and Contemporary Indigenous songs, song-writing + music production on Tuesday 8th-11th April from 10:30am to 4:00pm. Where: Drop off and pick up is at Songlines, 48 Mary Street, Preston. Most workshops will be held at the Northern Blues Function Centre, Preston City Oval (across the road from Songlines). Who: The program is free of charge and is open for all Indigenous young people between the ages of 8-16. How: Bookings are essential. All registrations are to be completed online. Food and drinks will be provided to all participants on the day. Please let us know of any dietary requirements when you make your booking. The workshops will culminate in a performance by the young people at the Koorie Pride Youth Festival on Saturday 12th April from 2:00-6:00pm at the Ray Bramham Gardens, Darebin (Cnr Bell Street and St Georges Road - behind the Darebin Arts Centre). Songlines is also looking for skilled and experienced volunteers to assist during the school holiday program. Please contact Songlines’ Youth Co-ordinator on 03 9471 2939, or if you are interested in getting involved.
Women’s group
Looking for a group of like-minded women to bond with, to learn about and share your culture? The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Women’s group is back. To find out more, please contact Hayley Penrose, the Indigenous Women’s and Family Worker at Inner South Community Health Services, 9525 1300 or 0459988341.
Utopia follow-up
Adam Goodes, the Australian of the Year, brilliant Sydney Swans champion footballer and occasional essayist, turned his thoughts to John Pegler’s film of the same name. He said that the buzz around the film had been unprecedented yet very little had appeared in the mainstream media. :Imagine watching a film that tells the truth about the terrible injustices committed over 225 years against you people, a film that reveals how Europeans, and the governments that have run our country, have raped, killed and stolen from your people for their own benefit. Now imagine how it feels when the people who benefited most from those rapes, those killings and that theft – the people in whose name the oppression was done – turn away in disgust when someone seeks to expose it. Frankly, as a proud Adnyamathanha man, I find the silence about ‘Utopia’ in mainstream Australia disturbing and hurtful. As an Australian, I find it embarrassing.”