Lisa Dennis
The community gathered at Castlemaine Secondary College on Friday for a moving ceremony to mark National Sorry Day.
Dja Dja Wurrung elder Aunty Paulette Nelson performed the Welcome to Country before Wadawurrung woman Aunty Kelly Anne Blake shared her personal story of the impacts of the stolen generations and the ramifications it has had in ‘fracturing’ both sides of her family across generations.
“This cycle of fractured families, babies and kids being taken or given away for their own good to prevent them being stolen or taken by the government has repeated itself in my family for generations. This has cascade effects, and my generation is left trying to repair these generational wounds,” she said.
Aunty Kelly said she felt fortunate to have come to live with her loving grandparents and ‘crazy cousins’ here on Djaara country as a child, and grateful to be embraced by the local Dja Dja Wurrung community as one of their own. However, she says the pain of growing up without her mother and her father left scars.
“I hope to set an example for my children and other generations by showing them that they must not wait for someone to tell them who they need to be, how they need to be, and to know who they are and trust that. You are the creator of your destiny, you are the navigator of your journey in this life, and you are supported and guided by your ancestors,” she said.
While Sorry Day is a chance for the community to say how profoundly sorry we are for the policies of the past, numerous speakers, including mayor Rosie Annear, CSC school captain Elias Mitchell-Girvan, and heartfelt poetry shared by youngsters from Chewton and Winters Flat Primary Schools, reminded those in attendance the impacts continue.
Today, 23 years after the Bringing Them Home report and 12 years since the National Apology, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still 10.6 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be removed from their families. We must do better.
Nalderun’s Kathryn Coff issued an impassioned plea to local schools to step up and work with their mob to get Indigenous kids engaged in school and help them make true lasting change for a brighter future.
To close, Master of Ceremonies Vic Say invited community members to write a reflection or make a commitment to be a voice for a reconciled tomorrow and bind their scroll to the ‘Sorry Day Tree’.
The event was followed by the official launch of Reconciliation Week at the Castlemaine Market Building on Saturday morning. For the full program visit the Nalderun Facebook page.
