The performance of Waŋa — which means spirit — starts behind a thin veil, with a glimpse of the “in-between world” and an ancient Yolŋu funeral ceremony.
Telling the story of a spirit’s journey after death, Larrakia choreographer Gary Lang has worked with Rirratjŋu lore man and ceremonial advisor Banula Marika to create the performance.
“This performance is called Spirit and it’s the spirit of the Dhuwa clans,” Mr Marika said in Yolŋu Matha, with assistance from an interpreter.
“When I pass, my spirit will travel back to my homeland, the homeland that we’re telling this story about.”
The spirit world is said to be joyful about a spirit’s return after death.(Supplied: Paz Tassone)
Waŋa is set to music by Darwin Symphony Orchestra.(Supplied: Paz Tassone)
“This is also my other home and place where my spirit comes from and my clan.”
The collaboration between the NT Dance Company, MIKU Performing Arts and Darwin Symphony Orchestra attempts to capture the pain and the relief of a spirit’s passing.
Mr Lang said his late grandmother also taught him about the spirit world.
“She said ‘what happens Gary, in the spirit world, when that spirit has to come to the physical world, there’s tears of sadness there because it’s a loss and there’s tears of joy in the physical world’,” Mr Lang said.
The performance is a collaboration between Gary Lang and Banula Marika.(ABC News: Felicity James)
“and [after death] it works in reverse, there’s tears of sadness because there’s a loss and there’s tears of joy because it’s going back home.”
He said the performance tried to represent the process of passing through a veil from the physical world into an “in-between world”.
“We don’t know that in-between world,” he said.
“Between that veil and before you actually step into the heavens, I think that’s where all the ceremony happens in culture.
Gary Lang describes his works as ‘Indigenous ballet’.(Supplied: Paz Tassone)
“That it helps you to leave all the physical attachments behind and then you step into the world of wonder.”
Funeral ceremonies can last for days, weeks or months in Yolŋu culture, including in Mr Marika’s community of Yirrkala.
“It depends on who the person is, the season, what’s happening with the weather, it’s not like a clock,” he said.
“It’s the time for what needs to happen for that person and for the family.”
In this performance, the ancient story of a spirit on its path home — guided by the morning star — comes together with a modern interpretation of grief and mourning.
“Building up a relationship with family over in east Arnhem Land, it’s not only a one day or two day thing, it’s basically a lifetime of connection, making that connection, forming that trust,” Mr Lang said.
“I’m still learning, and especially in traditional culture, I’m still learning.
Small glimpses of ancient rituals were incorporated during the performance.(ABC News: Felicity James)
“I don’t say I know it all but I have to do the right things by asking permission.”
Mr Marika has been more than willing to share his knowledge with others.
“It’s helping to come together and learn each other’s culture and have a better understanding of each other,” he said.
“So people can understand our culture that’s been around for over 80,000.”
Modern movement has been fused with ancient rituals in Waŋa.(ABC News: Felicity James)
After death the spirit follows the morning star back home.(ABC News: Felicity James)
First Nations fashion is about much more than just clothes.
Key points:
The National Indigenous Fashion Awards were held in Darwin last night to recognize First Nations creatives in the fast-growing industry
Babbara Women’s Center in Arnhem Land and Maningrida artist Esther Yarllarlla were recognized at the awards
Artists and organizers say the Indigenous fashion industry creates opportunities for economic development and cultural awareness
According to one of the people behind the National Indigenous Fashion Awards, the fast-growing industry is a gateway for greater recognition of First Nations people and culture more broadly.
“When we come together as Australians to make decisions around things like an [Indigenous] voice to parliament … people will have a better understanding,” Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation Chair, Franchesca Cubillo, said.
“Because they’ve had those conversations with First Nations people, because they’ve bought those textiles or they’ve seen paintings or fashion.
“All of these important first steps allow First Nations people to take their place in Australia and be valued and appreciated.”
The awards started during COVID lockdown in 2020. (Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
The third annual NIFAs — which see Indigenous designers and artists from all over the country recognized for their work — were held in Darwin last night.
“It is so overwhelming to have First Nations people coming from all regions of Australia coming to Larrakia Country,” Ms Cubillo — who is a Larrakia, Bardi, Wardaman and Yanuwa woman — said.
She said the awards provided a platform for First Nations artists to showcase their work to a broader audience and provided economic opportunities for Indigenous communities.
“It is black excellence, it is unbelievably empowering and the lovely thing is there’s … amazing economic return that happens as well,” Ms Cubillo said.
“It means that our First Nations creatives have really clear pathways to engage in what is the Australian Fashion Industry, it’s a $27 billion industry.
“Our aesthetic is ancient and tens of thousands of years in the making, but equally so cutting edge … that we are seeing it gracing catwalks … in Milan, London and in Europe, in Asia”
Arnhem Land artists at the forefront of fashion
Kunibidji artist Esther Yarllarlla won the Traditional Adornment Award for her Mokko (bark skirt) made with traditional weaving and knotting techniques.
Esther Yarllarlla brought fellow artists from Maningrida on stage to receive her award. (Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
Hailing from the Arnhem Land community of Maningrida, her work is part of a cultural practice she learned from her mother and is now passing on to the next generation.
“I was starting from 10 years old, right back,” she said.
“I’m teaching my grandkids right now. Telling stories to them.”
She brought all of the artists from the Babbara Women’s Center — the arts center she works out of — onto the stage to receive her award.
Babbara Designs have been recognized in an exhibition in Paris. (Supplied: Ingrid Johanson)
“I’m happy but I was shaking — it was the first time for me to come [to the awards],” she said.
“I told them ‘we go together’.”
Originally established in 1983 as a women’s refuge, the Centre’s textile production arm, Babbara Designs, was also recognized at the awards as one of Australia’s oldest continuously operating Indigenous textile enterprises.
Artists from the Center have gone on to have their designs featured at an exhibition in Paris.
“We’ve gained such an incredible audience from social media and the Babbara Designs side of our business has just given our artists such incredible opportunities for travel and financial independence,” Babbara Women’s Center Assistant Manager Ziian Carey said.
“It’s giving a platform for our artists to tell their stories, tell their culture.”
Denni Francisco has won the Fashion Designer Award two years in a row. (Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
Industry expected to grow, become ‘on par’ with Indigenous art
Wiradjuri designer and Founder of Melbourne-based fashion company Ngali, Denni Francisco, won the Fashion Designer Award for her collection designed in collaboration with Gija artist Lindsay Malay.
This is the second year Ms Francisco has won the award, with her win last year allowing her to receive mentoring by Country Road.
She said there has been a massive “elevation” of First Nations fashion in recent years.
“Not that it wasn’t there before, but there is more visibility of it now,” she said.
“With that visibility comes more inspiration.”
Ms Cubillo said the future of Indigenous fashion is bright.
“We will find more and more First Nations designs and fashion appearing in more and more front windows at David Jones and Myer and major department stores,” she said.
“First Nations textile design and fashion will be an industry on the same par as Indigenous art.”
Millions of people pass through the doors of one of America’s most popular museums each year.
But few come with a purpose as deeply personal as the group of Indigenous South Australians who recently arrived at the front steps.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following story contains images and voices of people who have died.
For decades, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History has held the remains of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whose bones were taken from Australia in order to be studied in the United States.
Major Sumner was one of several representatives from the Narungga and Kaurna nations who made the long journey to the US capital to take their ancestors home.
The repatriations to Australia are the result of years of lobbying by Indigenous leaders, with the Smithsonian initially resisting the return.(ABC News: Jade Macmillan)
“Let the world know this is what happened to our people, to the people that passed on,” he said.
“They were taken away, they were put in boxes and kept in museums and poked.
“Once we rebury them, they[will]no longer be touched.”
A long history of ancestral remains taken from Indigenous land
The repatriation from Washington was the third time the Smithsonian Institution had returned ancestral remains to Australia.
It earlier repatriated bones taken from the Northern Territory during a major scientific expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948.
Thousands of plant and animal specimens, as well as Indigenous artefacts and paintings, were taken during a major scientific expedition in the 1940s.(Supplied: Frank Maryl Setzler, NAA Photo Lot 36, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution)
Co-sponsored by the Smithsonian, National Geographic and the Australian government, the months-long trip was carried out by a team of scientists, anthropologists and photographers from both Australia and the US.
Martin Thomas, a professor of history at the Australian National University, said the researchers collected thousands of plant and animal specimens, as well as Indigenous artifacts and paintings.
But they also took human remains, without the permission of traditional owners.
“With travel time, they were away for the better part of a year,” he said.
“And so the understanding was that they would come back with collections that would be the dividends on that investment.”
ANU history professor Martin Thomas says researchers took remains without the knowledge or permission of Indigenous people.(Supplied: Frank Maryl Setzler, NAA Photo Lot 36, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution)
In his 2018 documentary Etched in Bone, Professor Thomas showcased footage taken during the expedition of American Frank Setzler removing remains from a cave at Gunbalanya.
The film cites Setzler’s diary entries to argue he deliberately hid what he was doing from the local Indigenous people.
“I paid no attention to these bones as long as the native was with me,” he wrote on October 7, 1948.
“During the lunch period, while the two native boys were asleep, I gathered the two skeletons which had been placed in crevices outside the caves.”
The remains stolen during the expedition were finally returned in 2008 and 2010.
“He was more an archaeologist than an anthropologist, so more interested in past eras, than contemporary cultures,” Professor Thomas said.
“And he wasn’t really somebody who was interested in documenting culture, particularly, even in his own field of specialisation, which was North American anthropology.
“He was much more of an excavator.”
Museum acknowledges long wait for Indigenous communities
The remains repatriated in July 2022 entered the Smithsonian’s collections between 1904 and 1931, before the expedition to Arnhem Land began.
The institution would not detail how it acquired them, referring only to “accessions” and “exchanges” with other museums.
The remains of two people have been returned to the Narungga and Kaurna nations in South Australia, while a further 23 will be held by the Australian Government until traditional custodians are determined.
“We realize as museums that we have to be part of the 21st century,” the National Museum of Natural History’s director Kirk Johnson said.
“And move towards repatriation of human remains and funerary objects, and with much more respect to the source communities from which these objects came.”
Kirk Johnson, the director of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, acknowledged the long wait of Australian Indigenous communities.(ABC News: Jade Macmillan)
The repatriations to Australia are the result of years of lobbying from Indigenous leaders, with the Smithsonian having initially resisted the return.
That was despite laws being passed in the US in the 1990s requiring the repatriation, on request, of human remains and ancestral objects belonging to Native American people.
“When you take people off Country, you’re taking away their spirit,” Narungga man Cyril Kartinyeri said.
“And bringing them back to Country, then that’s their resting place.”
Indigenous leaders Douglas Milera, Cyril Kartinyeri, Major Sumner and Allan Sumner in Washington DC.(ABC News: Jade Macmillan)
Mr Johnson acknowledged the long wait of Australian Indigenous communities, with one collection of ancestral remains still to be returned at an undecided date.
“We’re in communication with the Australian government and with the communities to make sure that we get these things going,” he said.
“Fast enough I’m sure is not fast enough for the communities, but we really want to be as responsive as possible.”
Remains to be reburied on Country
On a hot Washington summer’s day, the visiting Indigenous leaders carried two boxes containing ancestral remains, draped in the Aboriginal flag, into the gardens outside the museum.
Under the shade of a large tree, they performed a smoking ceremony and reflected on the significance of the task they were about to undertake.
Allan Sumner, Major Sumner, Douglas Milera and Cyril Kartinyeri perform a traditional smoking ceremony at the Smithsonian museum in Washingon DC.(ABC News: Supplied)
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be here today, as we represent our nation groups,” Allan Sumner said.
“And to write our histories, according to us.”
The Kaurna, Ngarrindjeri and Yankunytjatjara man said the group had experienced mixed emotions while in the US but was hopeful of making a positive impact by taking the remains back for reburial.
“It’s not the most pleasant thing to do but it’s the right thing to do for us.
“This is about healing for ourselves, healing for our Country, and our people.”
Major Sumner had not been in Washington for long but was already looking ahead to the trip home.
“It’s going to be a joyful one. Because it’s their spirit, you can feel their spirits and feel them,” he said.
“I talk to them and tell them you’re going home now.
“We’ll get you there as fast as possible and get you back to where you came from.”
The remains of two people have been returned to the Narungga and Kaurna nations, and 23 will be held by the Australian government until traditional custodians are determined.(ABC News: Supplied)
First Nations designers and artists from across the country have come together in Darwin to showcase some of the nation’s leading Indigenous fashion.
The Country to Couture fashion show has been held on Larrakia Country, in Darwin, as part of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair.
Artistic director, Shilo McNamee, said 18 designers and artists took part in two sold-out shows.
“We’ve had so much interest from all these amazing designers, artists and creatives, so we’ve got two really big shows,” she said.
A model showcasing a design from Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance. (Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
A design from Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts in collaboration with Aly De Groot Art. (Supplied: Michael Jalaru Torres)
‘Culture is a very important thing’
Wendy Hubert, an artist from the Juluwarlu Art Group in Western Australia, designed and modeled clothes for the show.
Wendy Hubert and Wimiya Woodley. (ABC NewsMitchell Abram)
She said it was a pleasing experience to showcase Indigenous culture.
“Culture is a very important thing that we share with others … And you have to feel good to share your culture,” Ms Hubert said.
“To share and acknowledge ourselves, to be proud of ourselves, to have pride in yourself and be accountable.”
Wendy’s grandson Wimiya Woodley also took part in the show, and was his first time taking to the runway as a model.
A design by Linda Puna from Mimili Maku Arts, in collaboration with Unreal Fur.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
A design by Linda Puna from Mimili Maku Arts, in collaboration with Unreal Fur.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
“I’m feeling pumped to show my family’s culture, being around all these other First Nations people, it’s very empowering he said.
“We’ve come a long way as blackfellas… and to be in this venue in the capital of the NT… it’s very magical.”
A design by Ngali by Denni Francisco, with textile adapted from Lindsay Malay.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
‘Carrying our stories’
Creative Director Shilo McNamee said she had been blown away by the response to this year’s Country to Couture events.
“Audiences are really excited to come and support the show, support designers and artists,” she said.
“There are quite a few local people involved in the show, we’ve got local talent on stage as our closing performances… so it’s great that Darwin people could come get behind it.”
A model wearing a design by Western Australia’s Juluwarlu Art Group.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
A Gantharri by Bobbi Lockye design on the catwalk.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
Bobbi Lockyer, a designer who also took part in the show, said she was encouraged by the response to the event.
“It’s so important because it’s a way of carrying our stories through and showcasing our incredible resilience and talent,” she said.
“It’s really incredible to be able to include my culture and include my art, and the storytelling through the pieces in my designs.”
The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair continues with the National Indigenous Fashion Awards and a public program of events beginning on Friday.
A brightly colored entry from Nagula Jarndu Art Centre.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
Traditional owners of a popular tourist destination in Victoria’s north west are calling on the federal environment department to urgently intervene and protect the area from further desecration.
Key points:
Mallee traditional owners have applied to the Commonwealth for Lake Tyrrell to be culturally protected
Elders say the site is home to burials and culturally significant archeology
Traditional owners have proposed an eco-tourism alternative that won’t desecrate sacred sites
Lake Tyrrell, an ancient saltwater lake that is dry most of the year, is a tourist drawcard for the small but vibrant town of Sea Lake.
Indigenous elders from Wemba Wemba Aboriginal Corporation made the application to Tanya Plibersek’s office after the local council approved plans to build a tourist park and put its in-principle support behind the resumption of the Mallee Rally, an off-road dune buggy race.
The rally that runs around the lake, also known to traditional owners as Direl, started in 1973 but was discontinued in 2019 after Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) recommended it stop because of heritage concerns.
Traditional owners from the Mallee including Gary Murray and Bobby Nicholls say their application is a last resort.(ABC Wimmera: Alexander Darling)
Preventing further damage
The report found hearths, flaked stone material, directly on the race track indicating the presence of culturally significant artefacts.
Direl, meaning ‘sky’ because of its mirror-like reflections of the sky when wet, is also an ancient meeting place for traditional owners and home to burial grounds, artefacts, mounds, and middens.
One of the lead applicants, Gary Murray, a Wemba Wamba and Wergaia elder, said Direl is culturally significant because it is the home to creator spirits like the dark emu that was also central to First Nations astronomy used for foraging.
He said while the report recommended the race stop, there was a chance it could summarize as the report did not offer the same protections from private development that a Cultural Heritage Management Plan did.
Gary Murray would like the lake to be permanently protected from the Mallee Rally, unregulated tourism, and private development.(ABC Lateline)
“The root cause of our concerns is the Mallee Rally, the lack of heritage protection progress, and poor planning and development regimes around Direl by the Shire of Buloke and [the] state,” Mr Murray said in the application.
He also said the DELWP report did not analyze the salt mining activities and tourism park, even though water and electricity infrastructure that had been installed — according to a specialist First Nations archaeologist who visited the site in November 2021 — had already caused damage.
He said traditional owners were worried that tourism, while encouraged, would be unregulated and lead to damage, pollution, and desecration of sacred sites.
Bobby Nicholls, a multi-clan Aboriginal elder and applicant, says governments have failed Indigenous landowners.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Mr Murray criticized the DELWP conservation plan for failing to survey large portions of the lake and shoreline.
Organizers of the rally, the Sea Lake Off Road Club, had offered to modify the route but fellow applicant and Wergaia elder Bobby Nicholls said the rally in any way made it incompatible with preserving cultural heritage because it was an uncontrolled environment.
“They tear around open county … and given there are some very sensitive areas where we need protection … [the buggies] can go anywhere off the track,” Mr Nicholls said.
“We have no choice but to engage the Commonwealth as a last resort.”
An eco-tourism alternative
Mr Murray said traditional owners had proposed an eco-tourism precinct that would preserve the cultural heritage of the site and bring greater economic benefit to the region than the Mallee Rally.
The rally was estimated to bring in $250,000 over a single long weekend.
Mr Murray said the precinct would also include a planetarium for the study of First Nations astronomy and culture, and a research facility on the history of First Nations of the Mallee.
He said the cultural heritage values of Direl were comparable to Uluru, Kakadu, and Lake Condah, which were UNESCO World Heritage-listed.
Lake Tyrrell is renowned for its astronomy, which traditional owners want to see hosted at a planetarium.(ABC News: Danielle Grindlay)
“The concept would attract schools, universities, government agencies, domestic and international tourists on a major scale,” Mr Nicholls said.
He compared the rally to running a bulldozer through the MCG or local cemeteries.
“There’d be a massive outcry, yet when we talk about preserving and protecting our sites whether they be burial sites, middens, mounds or whatever, people don’t take that into consideration.”
Lake Tyrrell, also known as Direl, means ‘sky’ and is known for its mirror-like reflections when wet.(ABC News: Danielle Grindlay)
Mr Nicholls and Mr Murray said hearing the federal Opposition Aboriginal affairs spokesperson and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, voice his support for the rally was concerning.
Buloke Shire Council said development works for the caravan park were halted until a cultural heritage management plan was completed.
The Victorian government confirmed that a Cultural Heritage Management Plan had not been lodged buy the caravan park developers.
It also confirmed that the Lake Tyrrell Conservation Management Plan recommended the Mallee Rally not continue and that a Cultural Heritage Permit would be required for the rally to proceed.
An Australian Aboriginal language only spoken by a handful of people in the Northern Territory has become the inspiration for a new artificial intelligence system, potentially helping people better communicate with machines.
Key points:
The AI system aims to help humans and robots to better communicate
Researchers developed it drawing on some features of the Aboriginal language, Jingulu
It’s considered an endangered language, with only several elderly speakers remaining
Jingulu is considered an endangered language that’s traditionally spoken in the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.
A study, recently published in the academic journal Frontiers in Physics, suggests it has special characteristics that can easily be translated into commands for artificial Intelligence (AI) swarm systems.
“Maybe one of the most powerful things with Jingulu [is] that it gives us the simplicity and flexibility which we can apply in lots of different applications,” lead researcher at University of New South Wales Canberra, Hussein Abbass, said.
AI swarm systems are used in machines to help them to collaborate with humans and undertake complex tasks than humans command them to do.
Experts say Australian law is not up-to-date to sufficiently regulate the rising use of artificial intelligence. (Chris Yang: Unsplash)
Dr Abbass said he stumbled on the Jingulu language by accident, while developing a new communication system.
“When I started looking at the abstract, it didn’t take much time to click in my mind about how suitable it is, for the work I do on artificial intelligence and human AI teaming,” he said.
Language easily translatable into AI commands
Dr Abbass said it was normal for AI researchers to draw on different forms of communication for their work, including other human languages, body language and even music.
However, he said the Jingulu language was especially well-suited to AI because it had only three verbs — ‘go’, come’ and ‘do’ — which meant it could be easily translated into commands.
“The specific AI model that we are working on relies on the very simple concepts of attraction and repulsion, in physics …. and underneath this very simple concept fits the mathematics of our AI,” he said.
“We can apply the ‘go’ and ‘come’ to the attraction and repulsion concepts, in the mathematical model that we have, and the ‘do’, to when there’s no movement in a space.
“The structure of Jingulu matches extremely nicely to the mathematics, and that’s what made it really fascinating, for what we do.”
“I have not encountered another language that has all of these advantages simultaneously, and in alignment with AI.”
Jingulu is a language traditionally spoken in the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.
‘Unique’ elements of language beneficial for AI
Study co-author and University of Canberra professor in linguistics Eleni Petraki said Jingulu’s flexible sentence structure was also an advantage.
“[In most languages] words appear in a specific order …. in Jingulu however you can split those elements,” she said.
With only several, elderly fluent speakers remaining, Jingulu is considered an endangered language, according to Rachel Nordlinger, a linguistics professor at the University of Melbourne and director of the Research Unit for Indigenous Language.
She said while there were related Aboriginal languages with similar features, Jingulu had some unique characteristics.
“What’s different about Jingulu is that other languages might have small numbers of verbs, but there might be 20 of them or 30 of them, whereas Jingulu has only three,” she said.
“The structure’s similar, but it’s different in having such a small number of verbs, that combine with other words.”
AI system has ‘almost infinite’ applications
The new artificial intelligence system created with Jingulu in mind, JSwarm, was initially developed to help farmers herd sheep, as a language which would allow an app used by farmers to communicate with unmanned aerial vehicles performing the task.
It has not yet been implemented, with its developers still working to secure funding.
However Dr Abbass said the system could potentially be used beyond agriculture in the future, including in areas such as medicine to defence.
“[There are] almost an infinite number of applications,” he said.
Like most Australian Indigenous languages, Jingulu is considered endangered.
Sign of growing interest in Indigenous languages
Dr Abbass said the AI system was the first instance he was aware of in which an Australian Indigenous language had been used “at the interface of human and AI communication”.
“You never know where good ideas will come from, and without keeping our minds open, we won’t be able to innovate,” he said.
Dr Nordlinger said researchers’ use of Jingulu to develop the system was an example of the growing level of interest in Indigenous languages in Australia, both from Indigenous communities themselves and the wider Australian public.
“People are becoming more aware of how fascinating these languages are, but also how endangered they are, and therefore how precious they are,” she said.
“I think [this study] is a sign of the growing interest for sure, and it can be a real positive.
“It can only be a good thing to have more attention and more appreciation of these languages.”
The Albanese government’s proposal to enshrine an Indigenous advisory body in the constitution should include words that formally recognize Indigenous people as Australia’s first inhabitants, advocate Noel Pearson says.
Key points:
Noel Pearson says the constitution should include words that recognize Indigenous people as the first peoples of Australia
He says a Voice to Parliament would be both symbolic and practical
He says the Voice proposal should appeal to “constitutional conservatives”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese outlined the core three sentences of a draft constitutional change in a speech to the Garma Festival of Aboriginal culture on the weekend.
Those three sentences would establish a Voice, with a role of advising the parliament and the executive, with its exact powers to be defined by the parliament in future legislation.
But right before outlining the proposed words, the prime minister said the change would be “in recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders as the First Peoples of Australia”.
Mr Pearson said it was important that those introductory words themselves be written into the constitution, alongside the enshrinement of the Voice.
“I think that they’re important words to retainas a prelude to those … substantive sentences,” he said.
7.30 host Sarah Ferguson asked if that recognition needed to be “spelled out” in a clause of the constitution, or whether it could be sufficiently “implicit” in the creation of the Voice.
But Mr Pearson said again the words of recognition were an important inclusion.
“It would adorn the substantive words,” he said.
Voice proposal ‘constitutionally conservative’ and practical
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks at the Garma Festival on Saturday.(ABC News: Michael Franchi)
Mr Pearson said the Voice proposal should appeal to “constitutional conservatives” because it respected the primacy of the constitution and the parliament.
“This isn’t a proposition that has its origins in a leftist proposal. And in my view, this is the formula for success, because we need conservative constitutionals and conservatives and Liberals generally, to join this journey to complete the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Mr Pearson said he was “extremely moved” by Mr Albanese’s speech at Garma.
“I didn’t know that he could connect with me in that way.” Mr Pearson said.
yin and yang
The Opposition’s shadow attorney-general, Julian Leeser, has left the door open to the Coalition supporting the proposal while calling on the government to release more detail about the body’s role.
Indigenous Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called the Voice an exercise in “virtue signaling” over practical action.
But Mr Pearson said the Voice could do both: symbolically representing Indigenous Australians in the nation’s most important legal document, and practically improving the lives of Indigenous people.
“The practical dimension is the kind of the yin to the yang,” he said.
“And my view is that a Voice will achieve both. It will symbolize the recognition of the voices of the original Australians. But it will also result in better laws and policies.”
Mr Pearson said he had met recently with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who he said was “absolutely sincere” in his publicly stated concerns about welfare in Aboriginal communities.
He said he would soon meet with Mr Dutton again, and was optimistic about his potential support for the model.
“This is a modest proposition, modest but profound, capable of being consistent with liberal and conservative thinking,” he said.
Labor MP Marion Scrymgour has hit back at Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Price over comments she made about the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The Voice to Parliament was a key element of the 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart and called for an elected Indigenous advisory body to the Federal Parliament.
The proposed body would advise the government on issues affecting First Nations people.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Sunday evening Ms Price said the proposal was being driven by elites.
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“Having just come back from Garma myself, there are people in remote communities who do not have a clue,” she told Chris Smith.
“Make no mistake, this is being driven by elites who have largely been part of the gravy train.
“An industry that has been built on the backs of the misery of marginalized Indigenous Australians, and enshrining a voice is enshrining their voices into parliament to ensure that they can never be removed or dismantled.”
Ms Scrymgour, who represents the Federal Northern Territory seat of Lingiari, was asked about the “offensive” comments just one day later.
“I find that a bit offensive,” Ms Scrymgour told Sky News Australia on Monday.
“Because a lot of the people who have been leading these discussions for many years – including myself – I don’t see myself as an elitist.”
Ms Scrymgour cited her experience being in the remote Indigenous communities as she rejected the gravy train claim.
“I’ve spent nearly 40 years on the ground in communities watching our people struggle and taking it up to governments,” she said.
“I know a lot of the people who work in that industry would find her comments not only offensive but also sad.
“I don’t think there’s been a gravy train of Indigenous members who have worked on this for a long time.
“We have absolute commitment to our people and we will continue to have that commitment.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled his government’s preferred Voice to Parliament referendum question and three provisions to be included in the constitution during his address at the Garma Festival gathering of indigenous leaders in north-east Arnhem Land.
During the speech to the Festival on Saturday, he said the question needed to be “simple and clear”.
The draft question will be posed as: “Do you support an alteration to the constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?”
The three sentences that would be added into the constitution are:
There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to parliament and the executive government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The parliament shall, subject to this constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.
For the Indigenous Voice referendum to be successful, the “Yes” vote needs a national majority and must be carried by at least four of the six states.
There have been only eight successful referendums out of 44, with the last constitutional amendment to be carried taking place in 1977
When Aunty Denise McGuinness looks up and down Gertrude Street in Fitzroy, she sees her community’s history everywhere.
“Fitzroy’s so significant to Aboriginal people … if you come from Perth, anywhere, you come straight to Fitzroy,” she says.
The inner-Melbourne suburb is now dominated by expensive houses, trendy bars and designer homewares, in recent years garnering a reputation as a hipster haven.
But it’s still home to the large public flats where Ms McGuinness lived as a girl.
Fitzroy’s recent gentrification has transformed Gertrude Street, but a new project is bringing its history back into focus.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Fitzroy and the surrounding suburbs were a meeting place for Aboriginal people who’d left behind restrictive lives on missions or emerged from state institutions, searching for family links the government had tried so hard to severe.
“We were discriminated against, there was only one pub that would let us drink, and that was the Builders Arms,” Ms McGuinness recalls.
Several stories shared in the project involve life-changing meetings at the Builders Arms Hotel.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Now, the stories of laughter, tears and powerful civil rights victories born on this part of Wurundjeri land are free for all to hear, through a truth-telling phone app.
Named Yalinguth, after the Woi Wurrung word for “yesterday”, the app follows your GPS location, producing rich audio stories that reveal the recent history of the land you’re walking on.
A map marked by bubbles invites the user to step into the stories of elders.(Supplied)
Wander past the Builders Arms Hotel, and Uncle Jack Charles comes through the headphones, telling you how he discovered Melbourne’s Indigenous community inside as a teenager.
Stroll down to Atherton Gardens, and the late Uncle Archie Roach’s haunting lyrics and story invites you to reflect on the cruel cost of the Stolen Generations.
Further down, by the police station on Condell Street, elders share their memories of racist treatment by the justice system.
Bobby Nicholls, a multi-clan traditional owner with Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Wotjobaluk connections, says the project is a powerful way of ensuring the legacy of civil rights leaders including Sir Doug Nicholls, William Cooper and Jack Patten are more widely known.
“They came into Melbourne to achieve a lot of things, and one of those things was to ensure that Aboriginal people had equal rights,” he says.
Bobby Nicholls says his community is still fighting for access to the culturally appropriate services it needs.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
It was on Gertrude Street that the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service was opened in 1973, offering a safe space in an era when stories of racist treatment in health services were common.
The health service was one of several community-run Aboriginal organizations that emerged in the 1970s.(abcnews)
“[In Echuca]they used to have the expectant mothers to be out on the verandah of the maternity hospital, so they weren’t taken into the wards like non-Aboriginal people,” Mr Nicholls says.
Ms McGuinness spent two decades working in the community-controlled service, which ran on little more than community passion in the early years.
The creation of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service gave Indigenous people an option that wasn’t run by white Australia.(Supplied: Aunty Denise McGuinness)
“Back in those days, we didn’t need the funding that we rely upon now,” the Gunditjmara, Wiradjuri, Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman says.
“We worked at the health center … three months without a wage, three to six months.
“We still delivered the service.”
Ms McGuinness hopes those who take a walk through the stories offered by elders will gain a deeper appreciation of the struggles her community has endured.
“Get a different understanding and learn the struggles back then,” she says.
The app offers an audio tour of the streets around Fitzroy, revealing the rich Aboriginal history of the area.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Gunaikurnai and Kooma-kunja artist BJ Braybon gathered many of his elders’ stories for the app.
He feels young Indigenous people taking in the stories will find themselves changed.
“It’ll change the young people because it will help them to understand about their elders’ history,” he says.
BJ Braybon contributed to the artwork featured on the app.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
Yorta Yorta man Jason Tamiru, who helped formally launch the Yalinguth app this week, says the trove of elders’ stories collected on the app represents a chance to become better informed.
“History’s shaped us all, good and bad,” he says.
Jason Tamiru says the audio app respects the oral history traditions of Aboriginal communities.(ABC News: Joseph Dunstan)
“Outside of our own community some people have made judgment of us and that judgment is incorrect and there’s been a lot of books, lot of stories and those stories haven’t been always positive.
“You want to hear the truth, you want to hear from the right people.
“Engaging with the app, you’re going to engage with a lot of elders, a lot of people that hold stories and those stories are important.”
You can find out more about the Yalinguth project on its website.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants Australians to consider a draft question — released by the government this weekend — asking whether the constitution should be changed to create an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Key points:
Anthony Albanese has announced the question he wants to ask the Australian public at a referendum
Legislation for the Voice will not be written until after the referendum has happened
Indigenous people want the government to make the referendum and Voice discussion accessible for communities
He told ABC’s Insiders program that a referendum could be as powerful as the national apology for the Stolen Generations and the Mabo decision.
“This is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our maturity as a nation, to uplift our whole nation. And I’m very hopeful that we can do so,” he said.
“I recognize that it’s a risk, but if you don’t try then you have already not succeeded.”
A Voice to Parliament, created via a referendum, was the key recommendation of hundreds of Aboriginal people at Uluṟu in 2017.
There is now a push from the Opposition and the Greens for more detail on what role and function the body would have.
The Voice has been described as an advisory body that would permanently give frank and fearless advice to the federal parliament.
But the Prime Minister has suggested there will be limitations to the power a Voice would have, stamping out the claims from the previous government that it would become a “third chamber” of parliament.
“We’re a democratic nation, and parliaments, in the end, they’re the accountable body,” he said.
‘Use your voice and be heard’
The Prime Minister made his pledge at Garma, a cultural festival hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation in north-east Arnhem Land.
This year, there’s been a reunion of sorts, as clans come together for the celebration, for the first time since the pandemic began.
It has been 17 years since Gumatj and Rirratjingu woman Yirrmala Mununggurritj was last at the Garma Festival.
Ms Mununggurritj says honoring the legacy of her late elders and amplifying the voices of women was her main priority.
Yirrmala Mununggurritj says Anthony Albanese is putting Indigenous issues “on the map”.(ABC: Jeddah Coast)
“Now that my grandmother’s not with me anymore I’m just here living her legacy, continuing her work which means so much to me … I feel so close to her here,” she said.
She has been busy encouraging young women at the festival to have their say in policy-heavy discussions about topics that affect them.
“Shame is a big thing for Indigenous women and girls in my community, but I’m trying to teach them that it’s a good thing to speak up, use your voice and be heard,” she said.
She has also returned in time for a significant step forward on the path to constitutional recognition for Indigenous people, the announcement of a question that could be asked at a referendum on a Voice to Parliament.
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PM Anthony Albanese to announce draft referendum question
After hearing snippets of the Prime Minister’s speech on Thursday, Ms Mununggurritj said she would like to see the government make an effort to make the language used throughout the referendum campaign more accessible for young people.
“I’ve got a little bit of an understanding of it [the referendum] but I’m still learning about my other culture in the English world, just like many others,” she said.
“They should make it more interesting, so that we can be more excited about it and want to actually learn about it.
“I think I heard him [Mr Albanese] talk about racism which is pretty important … because me as a young kid I grew up being racially discriminated against … I’m just glad that he came here [to Garma] to put us [Indigenous people] and these things on the map.”
Voice legislation will not come before a referendum, PM says
For some, the announcement of a draft question for a referendum has brought a sense of relief that after years of delays, action is finally being taken on the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
But for others, it’s what the government hasn’t announced that is causing doubts.
Garma is held on Yolngu land, where people are connected through ancestry, story and ritual.(ABC News: Michael Franchi)
The Prime Minister wants the question and proposed changes to the constitution to be clear and simple — but that comes at the cost of leaving it to the parliament to determine the composition, powers and function of the Voice.
“The legislation of the structure of the Voice won’t happen before the referendum,” Mr Albanese said.
“What some people are arguing for is having a debate about the consequences of a constitutional change, before you have any idea of whether the constitutional change should happen,” he said.
Mr Albanese said he did not want the debate leading up to the vote to suffer the same pitfalls as failed referendums.
“We were looking for all of the detail and saying well if you disagree… with one out of the 50 [clauses]but 49 are okay — vote no,” he said.
“We’re not doing that. We’re learning. We’re learning from history.
“It’s about giving people who haven’t had that sense of power over their own lives and controlling their own destiny.”
