Tag: First Peoples

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Social issues high on conference agenda

The high rate of indigenous incarceration Australia-wide, the availability of adequate education and employment opportunities, threats to remove services from remote West Australian  communities and the covenanting relationship with the wider church were among the topics discussed last month at the week-long Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress’ 2015  National Conference.

More than 150 people from every corner of the nation descended on Poatina, a small former Hydro village in Tasmania’s north, for the gathering. Daily business sessions were accompanied by  Bible teachings and workshops under the theme Holy Mountains, Healing People. Among attendees were participants in the 2015 About FACE program. About FACE stands for Faith And Cultural Exchange and has been an activity of the Uniting Church in Australia since 1984 with the aim of building meaningful relationships with Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian  Congress (UAICC) communities.

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Margaret and Haileigh face a different future

Hobart woman Margaret Collis admits she was quickly struck by the lack of blame for past white atrocities she felt laid at her feet by Aboriginal community members in Northern New South  Wales, she met during her participation in the About FACE program at the beginning of this year.

“I have heard of places where some Aboriginal people are [understandably] still very angry with white people and want to hold it [what happened in the past] over them,” she said. “But, that was  not my experience. There were no accusations directed at us.”

Margaret, who worships at Bellerive Uniting Church on Hobart’s eastern shore, was one of 17 participants in About FACE 2015 which was organised by the Synod of Victoria and Tasmania’s Commission for Mission, running for 16 days in January. She was one of 3 aged over 50, with the remaining 14 under the age of 30.

About FACE stands for Faith And Cultural Exchange and has  been an activity of the Uniting Church in Australia since 1984 with the aim of building meaningful relationships with Uniting  Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) communities. It celebrates the covenant relationship between the Uniting Church in Australia and the UAICC, and encourages participants  and those supporting them to be actively involved in covenanting and working together for reconciliation in the church and in the wider community.

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How do you travel around the world in seven days?

You go to the World Folk Festival in Springville, Utah!

In July this year, eight students from the Gorna Liyarn Indigenous dance group of Presbyterian Ladies’ College (PLC) spent two weeks in America to attend the World Folk Festival. Whilst there, they shared their  culture with people from all over the world, including spending time with a Native American group. Hanna Chulung shares her experience.

I am so honored to have represented my country and culture at the World Folk Festival in Utah. It was an incredible experience shared with many other countries. And to be able to do so through songs,  stories and dance was just unbelievable.

It was such a humble experience to have collaborated with the Native American group, Morning Star, at the festival and to have performed for the public and the owners of the Chumash Museum in Los  Angeles (LA). I was able to find out some of the history of Native Americans and compare Aboriginal culture with theirs. It was interesting to see how they lived, what their customs were, their beliefs and so  much more. I had a lot of fun at the Chumash Museum because we were given a tour around the land that they owned and we were given special access to see a cave, where villagers would have gone on a hot  day or where pregnant women would have gone to give birth.

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Scarborough smoking ceremony

Sam Dinah, prison chaplain and member of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) recently conducted a smoking ceremony at Scarborough Uniting Church. Ben Tanner,  congregation member, said, “It was a very moving ceremony and had the congregation examining their thoughts on the place of our Aboriginal brothers in our church and society today. Our love and  prayers are for Sam and the work he has committed himself to at the prisons.”

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Education journeys in the North West

Just four weeks before this edition of ‘Revive’ went to print, Gail Cresswell packed up her things in Margaret River, in WA’s south west, and moved to Mowanjum, a remote Aboriginal  community in the north of WA on the outskirts of Derby. With a passion for education in Indigenous communities, she is starting up a Montessori program for kids under three.

Montessori is an alternative form of education that encourages independence by creating an environment for children to learn at their own pace. Gail said that the system focuses  heavily on learning by observation and involves lots of one-on-one interaction. “It’s about each child,” she said. “It’s a learning journey for each child.”

“It’s about the kids learning to be resilient and learning to be responsible to themselves.”

It is also a system that has been highly successful in Indigenous communities around Australia. Towards the end of August, Gail and her assistant, Daphne Gilbey, a member of the  Mowanjum community, will be attending the Thursday Island Montessori Summit where they’ll be exploring the benefits of the Montessori approach in Indigenous cultures.

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So all may see a destiny together

The invitation to travel to Canberra to attend a vigil on the lawns of Parliament House on 18 March 2014 was extended to Uniting Church people throughout Australia. I was on long  service leave pending retirement at the time, so I was free to travel to this national event. My husband Robin and I travelled to Canberra as representatives of the WA Synod.

The vigil was part of ‘A Destiny Together: A Week of Prayer and Fasting for Justice for First Peoples. It was planned by the Uniting Church Assembly in response to the stories of  suffering from Indigenous people affected by the government Intervention in the Northern Territory and the subsequent Stronger Futures legislation.

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Building relationships, growing leadership

Libby Weeda cooking up a feed at Poulton's Pool.

Revive has previously reported on the relationship between All Saint’s Floreat Uniting Church and the people of Mowanjum, a remote Aboriginal community near Derby. Volunteers from the congregation have been running school holiday programs for the Mowanjum kids for several years now, in response to disturbing statistics on youth suicide in the area. The  program has had a positive effect in Mowanjum, and people from the Floreat congregation are also seeing effects among their own community.

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A simple act of humanity

The actor Aaron Pedersen got it in one.

When Australians get a chance to come together and vote at a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our Constitution, he said earlier this year, it  would be “a simple act of humanity.” He’s right.

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A desitiny together: Justice for Australia’s First Peoples

In July 2012 in Adelaide, the members of the 13th Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia listened to members of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) tell stories about the effects of the Federal Stronger legislation (and before that) on their lives and the lives of their communities.

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Tammy Solonec on how to practice courage

Tammy Solonec speaks out at the rally marking 20 years since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Tammy Solonec knows where her passions lie and isn’t afraid to fight for what she believes in. But courage isn’t something she was born with; it’s something that has grown inside her as she’s made her way through life.

A human rights lawyer, Tammy is currently serving as a director of the National Congress of Australia’s First People, and is also on the National Aboriginal and Islanders’ Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) and the NAIDOC Perth Committee, which finds her heavily involved in the organisation events including the Survival Concerts in Perth, held annually on January 26. Add to that, in 2012 Tammy won both Young Lawyer of the Year with the Law Society of WA and Young Female Lawyer of the Year with the Women Lawyer’s Association.

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