Conference home

Conference Papers

Session U2: Identity and Community

1. Ingrid Matthews: Apology One Year On - Personal and media perspectives

Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow pdf 1.4MB

Abstract

This paper represents a follow-up to a panel convened in October 2008 on the Apology to the Stolen Generations. Three Darug people were among the six panellists, and agreed to be interviewed for their impressions of the Apology one year on. Each interviewee is a professional in an identified position, working with their local community.

As convicts were freed from their own bondage in Warrane and Burramatta, they fanned out along the Deerubbin River. The Darug people were dispersed and removed – from their lands, kin, and traditional knowledge from 1789 onwards. Their achievement in having established Merana Aboriginal Community Organisation for the Hawkesbury Inc., which runs many programs including a bush regeneration group to teach children to care for country, is that the local and other Aboriginal people in the area have a centre around which to gather, organise, commemorate and celebrate.

This first part of the study revealed showed the consistent Aboriginal priorities of the well-being of children, land and elders. There remains singular concern about human rights abuses in the Northern Territory; and frustration with the disconnect between an uplifting speech and the daily challenges of community education and welfare policies. A second data set was built using mainstream and Aboriginal media stores. Stories from February 2008 and February 2009 were gathered and analysed for what shifts in concerns and priorities could be discerned. The media coverage appeared in significant contrast to personal views – which is not unusual; but which was not only in style but in content. Finally, I used text mining software to make some overall comparisons between the interview transcripts, the media stories, and the text of the Apology itself; and have drawn some tentative conclusions from the commonalities and disparities in the texts.

Author Bio:

Ingrid Matthews (BEc, UNE, 1992; LLB, UNE, 2008) is a research officer at the UWS Centre for Cultural Research. Before moving to the Centre in 2007, Ingrid spent five years with the UWS School of Environment, where she co-ordinated Caring for Country with UWS with Darug Aboriginal educator Chris Tobin. She previously worked with women escaping domestic violence in Armidale and Alice Springs. Ingrid volunteers with local environment and Aboriginal groups, including Yellomundee BushCare and NAIDOC (Hawkesbury). In 2007 she was awarded a Human Rights Law prize by the NSW Bar Association.

2. N. Murray, A. Brown, P. Stewart, T. Austin: Sharing Our Stories and Building on Our Strengths: Indigenous Presenters Talk up Their Community Health Projects

Full paper | Audio | Video | Slideshow pdf 134KB

Abstract

This session will be built around a screening of the film Sharing Our Stories and Building on Our Strengths, which tells the story of Aboriginal health workers preparing to present at an international mental health conference and the support provided by the Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit in getting them there. It also showcases the work of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and the Fitzroy Stars Football Club, and features the Aboriginal dance troupe, Koori Youth Will Shake Spears.

The film emanated from a Victorian Health Promotion Foundation funded project, in which Onemda worked with a group of Aboriginal health workers to define, document and present their unique community health programs at the From Margins to Mainstreams: 5th World Conference on the Promotion of Mental Health in September 2008. It is accompanied by an evaluation report about Onemda’s pre-conference training program for the development and strengthening of communication skills for 13 of the Indigenous speakers at the conference, and how Onemda developed and undertook this innovative capacity-building program.

Sharing Our Stories and Building on Our Strengths—narrated by Project Officer Ngarra Murray, a Wamba Wamba Yorta Yorta woman—tells the story of two of those presenters, Anthony Brown and Troy Austin, and the various organisations for which they work. Anthony, a Gunditjmara man, is the Koori Kids and Adolescent Mental Health Coordinator at the Family Counselling Service within the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, and the Breakfast Show host at 3KND, Melbourne’s Indigenous community radio station. Troy Austin, another Gunditjmara man, is Executive Officer of the North West Metro Regional Justice Advisory Committee and President of the Fitzroy Stars Football Club.

Author bios

Ngarra Murray is a Wamba Wamba Yorta Yorta woman from the North West and North East of Victoria. She currently works at Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit and the Centre for Excellence in Indigenous Tobacco Control at The University of Melbourne. Prior to working at the University, Ngarra was a project officer with the Pastor Sir Douglas and Lady Gladys Nicholls Memorial Project, Museum Victoria and the City of Melbourne. She recently worked on the film, Sharing our Stories and Building on our Strengths. A film that acknowledges the significant contribution that Indigenous health professionals make to their community.

Paul Stewart  is a Taungurong man from Central Victoria who has 10 years experience working in Aboriginal Community Organisations.  Paul commenced with Onemda- Koori Health Unit at The University of Melbourne in April 2002. Previously, Paul worked with the Aborigines Advancement League and the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service in Melbourne.  Paul interests include health research methodologies and ethics in Aboriginal Communities.

Anthony Brown is a Gunditjmara man from Western Victoria who has 28 years experience working in the Melbourne Aboriginal Community, Anthony commenced with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service (VAHS) in 1982 as a field officer. In 1994, Anthony worked with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and then in 2000 Anthony was appointed as Chief Executive Officer at the Fitzroy Stars Aboriginal Community Youth Club Gymnasium. Anthony is back to the place were he started in Aboriginal Health (the VAHS) were he Co-ordinates the Koori Kids Adolescent Unit. Anthony is also the breakfast radio host on Melbourne Indigenous radio station 3KND 1503 am

Troy Austin is a Gunditjmara man who has lived his life in the urban environment of Melbourne in Victoria.  Troy has almost 25 years experience working with the Aboriginal community in Melbourne including roles with the Fitzroy Stars Aboriginal Community Youth Club Gymnasium, North West Metropolitan Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee and Aboriginal Affairs Victoria.  Troy has been a passionate advocate for Indigenous people in Victoria having held positions such as the ATSIC Commissioner for Victoria, Tumbukka Regional Council Chairperson and member of the Premier’s Aboriginal Advisory Council.  Troy is currently employed as the Coordinator of Indigenous Policy and Programs at the Darebin City Council on secondment from the Department of Justice Koori Justice Unit.  Troy is the President of the Fitzroy Stars Football Club a club he helped resurrect after a 13 year absence from competitive football.