News

Healing continues, 10 years on from Apology

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 05:47:00

A community day at Mildura’s Nowingi Place will mark the tenth anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations on February 13.

“Heal our past and build our future” is the theme of the day, being organised by Mallee District Aboriginal Services Bringing Them Home support workers Belinda King and Justine Bowden, in collaboration with the Healing Foundation.
The women say inclusive community events are an important part of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities creating a different future for themselves and their children.
“This anniversary is an incredibly important one for Aboriginal people and for all Australians and to think that it’s been 10 years is hard to believe,” Ms King said.
“We are moving forward, and we are making progress and that’s why this event at Nowingi Place is a day for community – all community.  To recognise the past, but to understand that we are also focussed on breaking the cycle for the future.”
Ms King said her own family continued to feel the legacies of Stolen Generations forced removals and her own work is now focussed on others who continue to be affected, either directly or indirectly.
“Every day in my job I am reminded just how far reaching those effects were and are,” she said.
“I work with people who were removed, children of people who were removed, or even their grandchildren and the impacts are life-long and they flow from one generation into the next.”
The MDAS Bringing Them Home Program works in partnership with Linkup Victoria and the Koori Heritage Trust to reunify families affected by the Stolen Generations, as well as supporting families impacted by more recent forced removals.
For one Mallee family, the anniversary week will be a particularly emotional time, with Bringing Them Home workers facilitating the reunification of a mother and daughter who have not see each other for more than 20 years.
“Those are the big events in our work, reconnecting families that have become lost to each other and counselling and supporting the family members through that process,” Ms King said.
“But rebuilding cultural knowledge and understanding throughout the community is also an important part of what we do.”

MDAS Bringing Them Home Support Worker Justine Bowden said the importance of rebuilding culture could not be under-estimated.
“Many people are in a constant cycle of grief and loss not just for those removed, but also the cultural knowledge taken from them and their families,” Ms Bowden said.
“Young people struggle with identity in any case, but it’s especially hard for a young Aboriginal person to know who they are when their family’s cultural connection has been lost or disrupted.
“This day is about acknowledging the past, healing and it’s about strengthening and sharing our cultural identity.  If we want a different future, that takes everyone’s effort,” she said.
The Community Day will begin at 11 am and run until 3 pm on Tuesday February 13. It will include bush tucker, cultural performances, bandana-making with traditional materials, ochre and clay face painting a yarning circle and community artwork creation. Everyone is welcome.