An exciting celebration of culture

LEARNING ABOUT CULTURE TOGETHER… Last week at a GV Health’s NAIDOC event, Graham Briggs invited members of the community to learn how to play the didgeridoo, with mixed results. Photo: Ash Beks.
LEARNING ABOUT CULTURE TOGETHER… Last week at a GV Health’s NAIDOC event, Graham Briggs invited members of the community to learn how to play the didgeridoo, with mixed results. Photo: Ash Beks.

It was a time for reflection and celebration of Aboriginal culture last Thursday at GV Health for their annual NAIDOC Week celebrations.

The Elsie Jones Education Centre was absolutely packed for the event. During his speech, GV Health CEO Matt Sharp noted that this was by far the biggest NAIDOC Week turnout he had ever witnessed, with construction workers, GV Health staff, community leaders, Indigenous elders and members of the general public in attendance for an entertaining and educational series of speeches and performances.

Aboriginal elder Lance James commenced proceedings with an official welcome to country, acknowledging elders past, present and emerging. Elder James took a moment to acknowledge the Cummeragunja walk-off, a protest that occurred in February 1939.

The Cummeragunja Mission was mostly home to Yorta Yorta people who had been relocated in the late 19th century. On February 4, 1939, when Jack Patten was arrested and removed from the mission for trying to address the local people, 210 residents of the mission walked out and crossed the Murray River, leaving the state of New South Wales. The walk-off has been described as the first-ever mass strike of Aboriginal people in Australia.

Elder James said, “Those 210 people walked off Cummeragunja 80 years ago due to the brutality handed down by the government. Today, that figure of 210 people is now beyond 2000. There are many in this room who have strong connections to those 210 people.”

Following elder James’ speech, Greg James spoke to the audience about the origins of NAIDOC Week.

“NAIDOC Week is a great opportunity for everyone in the community to recognise the history and cultural achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. It’s a week that showcases Aboriginal art, dance, music, food and lifestyles.

“People need to understand that the foundations of political activism in Australia started here in our region with our mob, our culture, our family and our ancestors: the Yorta Yorta people.

“They created where we are today, because of their strength, wisdom, guts and fortitude, to stand up for the attitudes and laws that were thrown at the Aboriginal people in the 1920s and 1930s.”

The 2019 theme for NAIDOC Week is ‘Voice. Treaty. Truth.’ Regarding this theme, Mr James noted that the ‘Voice’ of Aboriginal people is critically important, especially given the history of aural storytelling in Aboriginal culture.

Regarding the second word ‘Treaty’, Mr James emphasised the need for a treaty agreement with traditional owners of the land, noting that Australia is the only country under the Geneva Convention that has not engaged in a treaty agreement.

“Lastly, it’s about truth-telling,” Mr James said. “This is key for our people. It’s an opportunity for us to set the record straight.

“I’ve been a long-term campaigner of changing the curriculum in schools to ensure that Aboriginal culture is taught from early childhood, right through to higher education.

“Curriculum writers and educators need to sit down with Aboriginal people and work closely with elders and re-write the history because the history has been written by non-Indigenous people.

“It’s not about shame or blame or guilt; it’s about the truth. It’s about recognising what happened in the past and accepting it. We as a country cannot move forward until we understand what actually happened in the past.

“It’s important for our children to understand that and it’s important for us as parents to teach them. Because Aboriginal history is Australia’s history; it’s everyone’s history.”

Guests were also treated to a series of excellent dances by the Kaiela Dhungala Butja Malnigan Dancers and an entertaining, interactive didgeridoo performance by Graham Briggs.

The NAIDOC event at GV Health was also an opportunity for the hospital to officially launch its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural response plan and to announce an exciting, whopping $25,000 donation from Goulburn Valley Health Foundation to go toward updating GV Health’s Minya Barmah room.

The Minya Barmah space will be where Aboriginal liaison officers for the hospital will be situated, as well as offering all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people a safe space to relax and have a comfortable chat over a cuppa.