Do you know your rights this World Indigenous Day?
Today is World Indigenous Day and because #WeAreIndigenous we’re celebrating with this timely reminder of our rights as set forth in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Brought to you with the support of Kalinya Communications and Amnesty International Australia.
After Garma, we must learn from the failures of the referendum campaign
Now that Malcolm Turnbull has killed any hope of a referendum for any Aboriginal “voice”, it is time for the Indigenous disciples of constitutional recognition to turn their eyes to legislation. But first, those who so blindly believed a referendum was likely to be announced at Garma, need to take a hard look at themselves and the way they operate.
We are the lucky country for a privileged white majority. A republic could turn this around
Bill Shorten has raised the issue of a republic once again when he released his plan at the Australian Republican Movement gala dinner on Saturday night to put the question to the public. The predictable knuckle-dragging has ensued due to the shortsighted who continue to see value in pledging allegiance to a foreign head of state.
The legacy of Elea Namatjira
To celebrate the 115th birthday of Albert (Elea) Namatjira, Google has published a doodle painted by his granddaughter, Gloria Pannka, but for all the acclaim that the Western Arrernte artist was showered with during his lifetime, Namatjira still found himself being regarded as less than the average white man.
Imagine the untold stories we’ll find with more people of colour on television
Growing up, I loved my television, it was something I could get lost in or something that I could go outside and re-enact after watching. But the older I got, the more I started to realise that I couldn’t see myself on the screen.
Kaya! Ngaji mingan! Wayiba! Yandanji! What now? Which way? Hello!
When the theme for this year’s NAIDOC Week was announced, I was over the moon. Having a keen interest in language and linguistics, I feel that the “Our Languages Matter” NAIDOC theme is a perfect avenue to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of our mob.
It’s a long walk for Indigenous justice. That’s why I’m crossing Australia one step at a time
I started this journey walking from Perth to find the truth and find a new way for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Australia. For the past 50 years our people have been fighting for rights, but it’s like it has just gone down the drain too many times.
The Wombat to Kaptn Koori – Aboriginal representation in comic books and capes
Growing up, I was a huge comic book fan, but I often wondered why there weren’t many Aboriginal comic book heroes (or villains). I knew of Gateway from Marvel’s X-Men comics, and Condoman from health promotion posters and … Well, that’s about it actually.
Teila Watson: Indigenous knowledge systems can help solve the problems of climate change
All over the planet, we are are facing the most urgent time in human history, the most dire situation of all: the effects of the destruction of our earth. Ice-caps are melting, the climate is changing, and species of animals and plants are being threatened and dying out. Yet many of “the powers that be” are still supporting, pushing and funding the destruction of our life-giving earth, through mining, various forms of agriculture and unsustainable energy creation and usage.
Fifty years on from the 1967 referendum, it’s time to tell the truth about race
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, in a sunset ceremony in central Australia, approximately 300 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander delegates from across Australia delivered the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Convened by the Referendum Council, the statement put forth an Indigenous Australian position on proposed constitutional reform, rejecting constitutional recognition in favour of a treaty.
1967 was a moment when it seemed easier to tell the truth. We need another such moment
I was three at the time, so I don’t remember any of it, but the impacts on my life are profound. 27 May 1967 is widely understood as the day Australia stood as a nation almost unanimously in support of Aboriginal people and their right to be citizens of this country.
