ARTICLES
Keeping our community and members updated on local and national news along with a variety of issues affecting the Aboriginal community
LATEST ARTICLES
Our archive of content from the old website will slowly be merge into this section. When this is complete there will be a nice variety of news and events information.
Aboriginal women have fought against gendered violence perpetrated by white men since day one
“In the past week, three Aboriginal people have died in police custody. How many of you know that it’s thirty years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody and in that time, there have been over 455 deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.” Sue-Anne Hunter shares her powerful speech, spoken from her ancestral lands at the March For Justice in Narrm, on Monday 15 March 2021. Aboriginal women have been resisting white male violence since 26th Jan 1788. Patriarchy and the violence that goes hand in hand with it came to these to shores on a ship. Let me tell the story of Cammeraygal woman Barangaroo. A leader and cultural authority and holder of Cammeraygal lore, she was the fourth wife of Bennelong. When a white woman stole fishing gear from her clan, Barangaroo physically intervened to stop her from being flogged in the white settlement. Barangaroo was the one to stand up against Governor Arthur Phillip. She refused to dress in western clothes; she refused to speak in English. In defiance of Governor Phillip, she broke her spears, and [...]
INCREDIBLE MOMENT
Germany to Apologies for William Cooper snub 'The fact that Cooper and the Australian Aborigines' League stood up for Jews when they themselves were not even recognised as citizens in their own land is truly remarkable'. William Cooper’s grandson Uncle Boydie (left) delivering a copy of his grandfather’s protest letter following Kristallnacht to Dr. Felix Klein of the German government in 2017. THE German government will issue a historic apology on Sunday, 82 years since the day that Yorta Yorta man William Cooper and a delegation from the Australian Aborigines’ League (AAL) marched to the German consulate in Melbourne to lodge a petition that protested against the “cruel persecution of the Jewish people by the Nazi government of Germany”. The petition – which the consulate refused to accept – was considered to be among one of the very few private protests against the treatment of Jews to have occurred anywhere in the world following Kristallnacht. Cooper and the AAL’s righteous act was even more remarkable given the status of Australia’s Aboriginal people at that time, who were denied full citizen rights – and would [...]
Historic change to Advance Australia Fair, Australia’s national anthem, in the ‘spirit of unity’
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia's story was ancient, as were the stories of the country's First Nations peoples.(ABC News: Rhiannon Shine) More than 140 years after it was first composed and performed, Advance Australia Fair is again being updated in a move the Prime Minister says reflects a "spirit of unity". From January 1, 2021, the second line of Australia's national anthem will change from, "For we are young and free" to "For we are one and free". Governor-General David Hurley has agreed to the Commonwealth's recommendation to make an amendment to the anthem for the first time since 1984. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement that the change was being made for all Australians. "During the past year we have showed once again the indomitable spirit of Australians and the united effort that has always enabled us to prevail as a nation," he said. "It is time to ensure this great unity is reflected more fully in our national anthem. "Also, while Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, our country's story is ancient, as are the stories [...]
Commemorative coin raises Aboriginal flag copyright debate
Commemorative coin raises Aboriginal flag copyright debate An Indigenous organisation is questioning how the Royal Australian Mint can issue coins featuring the Aboriginal flag at the same time as the Australian Senate is investigating the flag’s copyright issues. Laura Thompson, co-founder of Clothing The Gap, helped start the #PrideNotProfit petition and Free The Flag campaign which led to the Senate inquiry into the flag’s private copyright protection. She said she was surprised that the Mint released a coin set featuring the Aboriginal flag before the copyright issues were resolved. Earlier this month, the Royal Australian Mint released two sets of coins to celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Aboriginal flag. Retailing for $30 and $120, both sets contain a two-dollar gold coin featuring a black and red design to represent the Aboriginal flag. The Mint’s executive general manager Mark Cartwright said the organisation had worked with copyright holder, Luritja artist Harold Thomas, and profits from the sale of their collectable sets would be returned as a dividend to the Federal Government. “Should anybody be making money off flags?” Thompson said. “Aren’t flags meant [...]
More ancient wonders revealed at Budj Bim Aboriginal site
More ancient wonders revealed at Budj Bim Aboriginal site South-west Victoria's world-heritage listed Budj Bim Aboriginal site has yielded further ancient wonders, with laser technology revealing previously unrecorded fish traps and stone huts, deepening its cultural and historic significance. The discoveries were made using light detection and ranging technology that mapped the landscape and penetrated vegetation to reveal features that are invisible to the naked eye. New scans of the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape have revealed more remnants of stone huts and a complex aquaculture system. The scans uncovered a 115-metre extension of the previously found fish trap complex, and groups of huts hidden beneath the scrub. Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, which is on Gunditjmara Country, 270 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in July last year. It is among the oldest examples of aquaculture in the world and dates back more than 6600 years. The Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation campaigned for more than a decade to achieve international recognition from UNESCO. The Gunditjmara people engineered their land by building a complex system of weirs, channels [...]
Remembering the 1946 Pilbara strike
Remembering the 1946 Pilbara strike, Australia's longest, that paved the way for Indigenous right. An aboriginal man sitting on old weathered cars during the day at an Aboriginal community. Marshall Smith and what's left of the cars that carried workers in the landmark 1946 Pilbara strike.(ABC Rural: James Liveris) The rusting car bodies that Banjima man Marshall Smith sits among at Mingullatharndo community are a daily reminder of one of the most significant human rights struggles for Indigenous people in Australian history. WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images and names of people who have died. "Some days I look at these trucks and think, how did they do it? "Mr. Smith said. "They were survivors, and this is the proof." What Mr. Smith is referring to is the 1946 Pilbara strike, when 800 Aboriginal pastoral workers walked off stations in a campaign for fair wages and working conditions. For many years, the workers were denied wages or paid either a low sum or compensated in rations of tea, flour, sugar and tobacco. It was coupled with [...]