National Reconciliation Week (NRW), which is recognised between May 27 and June 3 each year, was once again the focus of a community Reconciliation Day assembly with the national theme of ‘Grounded in truth: Walk together with courage’ hosted by Bairnsdale West Primary School (BWPS) in its packed Nova Hall on Friday, May 31.

NRW is a week of learning about our shared histories, cultures and achievements, fostering positive race relations, but this is something the BWPS curriculum encompasses beyond just one week, encouraging its students, and the wider community, to walk side by side with understanding.

The school’s moving and memorable assembly welcomed Aboriginal elders, parents, community leaders and volunteers, as well as students from schools around the district, the school’ s talented choir getting the morning started with a beautiful rendition of the indigenous song, Inanay, which they performed again later in the program along with the national anthem, Goanna’s Solid Rock and The Seekers’ I am Australian.

Well-respected Koorie Engagement Support Officer, Aunty Dottie Moffatt, and student, Ciara Stewart, provided a warm Welcome to Country.

Aunty Dottie said she was pleased to see so many at the assembly sharing the belief that reconciliation is important. “I don’t mean just talking about it, but being here together, being a part of it, today and any day,” she said.

She shared with those gathered a bit of her own history and the changes she has seen in the hope that it “might help others to understand part of our history and why it’s important for us to recognise that it is important to continue to do better and why we need to do it together”.

Aunty Dottie spoke of her mother and the aunty who would go on to care for and become mother to Dottie and her brother when their mother died. Both her mother and aunty were part of the Stolen Generation.

“Being part of the Stolen Generation not only affected her (mother) but the whole family and every generation,” Aunty Dottie said.

“Family to me is very important, as they are part of who I am, and I am part of them.

“Our connections give us strength and purpose. My most important role has always been to look after my family.”

In raising her family, Aunty Dottie said she has been able to see things change for the better.

“When I was a student at school there wasn’t much understanding or support for Koorie kids,” she said.

“But now, here at West, we have people who are working to support kids and their families, no matter their background.”

Prep teacher, Nerrida Burns, also addressed the assembly and told of travelling Australia as a child with her parents and four sisters, exploring the country and learning to “tread carefully and be observant”.

She met many Aboriginal people in small towns and outback stations on these family trips, including a man named Raymond Wallaby.

“He led us to some pristine Aboriginal rock paintings,” Mrs Burns said.

“It wasn’t just an art painting; it was a pictorial map of what was to be found in the area.

“I recall a sense of wonder but more so feeling absolutely privileged to be exposed to these artworks.”

Earlier this year Mrs Burns said she was also privileged to join BWPS students and staff as they visited significant Aboriginal sites in the local region, exploring the local Aboriginal culture and history as part of its curriculum.

“Beyond my experiences travelling around Australia and different communities, much of my real education about Aboriginal history and culture has come about during my time here at West,” she said.

Community speakers were GEGAC chief executive officer, Jamie Williamson, and GLaWAC acting CEO, Grattan Mullett Snr, who both spoke about the stories of the past that need to be heard and taught.

“There are a lot of things we could talk about here,” Mr Williamson said.

“We could talk about the 1967 Referendum, we could talk about the 1992 Mabo decision, the establishment of GEGAC in 1972. But I’m not going to talk about those things, because I’m going to talk about education and the importance of education.

“I applaud Bairnsdale West Primary School, bringing Aboriginal culture and languages as part of their curriculum, providing opportunities for teachers to come into GEGAC and visiting various sites, and getting a better understanding of what Gunaikurnai means in East Gippsland.”

Mr Williamson asked everyone to close their eyes and image the type of Australia they would like to see in the future.

“Is that future one where we are still sitting here having these discussions? Or is it one where we are all together, as we are today?” he said.

“Have we challenged the past? Acknowledged the past?”

Referring to the theme of the week, Mr Williamson said courage comes in many forms.

“It comes from Nerrida and Aunty Dot standing up and talking about their stories. It comes from people standing up at rallies or the simple act of saying hello to someone from a different culture or different background to yourself,” he said.

“Courage also comes from turning around and challenging racism and stereotypes.

“Everyone’s got the courage to challenge. Everyone’s got the ability to work together. We need to recognise the truth, have the conversations and acknowledge the past.”

Mr Williamson said the future lies with the adults and importantly what is shared with our kids.

“Reconciliation isn’t just an Aboriginal thing, or a non-Aboriginal thing. It’s an Australian thing. And it’s something that we all need to do together, otherwise we will never realise what great country we’ve got here.”

Mr Mullett said it was a privilege to be a part of BWPS’s reconciliation assembly.

“I’m proud to see such enthusiasm, such commitment, shown by this particular school and this community,” he said.

“Education is so important and it’s amazing to see so much effort being put into incorporating Aboriginal culture into the school curriculum.

“People of our generation, we never had this privilege.

“We are a new generation from our old people, so we bring their knowledge, their wisdom into today’ s society, sharing stories, knowledge, so future generations have an awareness and understanding about who we are as a people and where we come from, which is so important.

“Together we can build a nation of shared history, but we must also build our communities through reconciliation such as events like today.”

Gunai/Monero Ngarigo community member, Aunty Dr Doris Paton, was the morning’s guest speaker, joined by senior Koorie students who were a big part of her presentation. Student, Lyzell Gadd, began the presentation telling the Dreamtime Story of Creation, Borun and Tuk, the pelican and musk duck.

Aunty Doris comes from a family of educators. She was a Koorie educator at BWPS and went on to become a teacher. BWPS principal, Doug Vickers, now considers her an “expert in residence” at BWPS.

“I wanted to be a teacher so I could teach not only our own children but also non-Aboriginal children and non-Aboriginal people about our people, our history, our culture, our knowledge and the stories that we share,” she said.

“Gunaikurnai clans Brayakaulung, Brabralung, Brataualung, Krauatungalung and Tatungalung have lived for thousands of years on this land of Gippsland. They have survived despite colonisation, sickness, massacres and dispossessions.

“Most people know about the Europeans coming to Australia, but not many know about what happened in Gippsland.

“There were a lot of massacres, and you might feel a bit uncomfortable, but it is in the past, and the past is important to all of us.”

Aunty Doris spoke of mission life across Victoria, with many Gippsland families coming from the two Gippsland missions, those considered half-caste forced to leave, and when other missions closed in 1908 Aboriginal people were forcibly concentrated onto the Lake Tyers mission.

“Many families lived on the fringes of towns in make shift homes and bark huts. Our families became seasonal workers and timber mill workers,” Aunty Doris said.

“On the 27th of May, 1967, Australians made an important decision – 90 per cent said yes to including Aboriginal people in the census and to allow the Commonwealth Government to make rules for Aboriginal people. This is a significant turning point in our shared history.”

Aunty Doris also spoke of Sorry Day, May 26, which recognises that many Aboriginal children were removed from their families by the government. Many children in Gippsland over many decades were taken away from their families and country. Affected families would never see their children again.

Telling this story, Aunty Doris played an audiovisual of Archie Roach performing the song Took the Children Away.

Student, Declan Cooper, explained the colours of the Aboriginal flag, which was first flown in 1971, and the significance of each – black represents all Aboriginal people, yellow the Sun and giver of life, and red for the earth and the spiritual connection Aboriginal people have with it.

“The Aboriginal flag is really important because it represents unity and identity and also represents Aboriginal peoples’ fight for their lands,” Declan said.

On October 22, 2010, the Gunaikurnai were recognised by the Federal Court of Australia as the Traditional Owners under Native Title of 1.33 million hectares of land in Gippsland.

“As part of the settlement agreement, Gunaikurnai have joint management of 10 parks across Gippsland,” Aunty Doris said.

Highlighting the sharing of traditions between generations, Aunty Doris shared a video made by her late father, who shared the tradition of handcrafting a canoe with his grandson, titled Boorun’ s Canoe.

School principal, Doug Vickers, said the BWPS Reconciliation Day has been a big day on the school’s calendar for many years, starting out on the school’s deck, before its Nova Hall was built, and joined by students from other schools in the years since.

“It was about our third or fourth year and I talked about the chooks we had at school,” he said.

“We had five yellow and one black one. And the yellow ones wouldn’t go near the black one. I highlighted that story to explain to people that surely we are smarter, and better, than chooks.

“I think everyday since at this school, and in the community, we’re displaying that we’re better than the chooks.”

Guests received as they arrived at this year’s assembly wristbands with the words ‘Real history helps us work together’.

“That’s why we’re here today, tomorrow, and the next day, and every day after,” Mr Vickers said.

“Real history is telling it how it is. It’s not just a list of artifacts, not just a list of dates. It’s what we’re doing every day and it’s about education.

“And it’s not just about learning some information for NAPLAN. We’re here to help people develop as whole people and to ensure they can make the community a better place.

“The old school curriculum was and is flawed, and if schools are still scared to come out and tell real history it will continue to be flawed.”

Mr Vickers said education departments were “sterile”, educating with dates and statistics.

He said it should be about “walking with people, living with people, understanding the real history and knowing the history of East Gippsland is real here. It’s not just stuff that’s miles away somewhere else”.

Mr Vickers said he was inspired by the attendance of others at BWPS’s Reconciliation Day assembly.

“We want to be together,” he said.

“When we accept, learn and acknowledge real history we can all move forward in an understanding, compassionate and supportive way.

“If we continue to walk down this path, not only Australia will be better, it will be better for all us Bairnsdalians too.”

PICTURED: Bairnsdale West Primary School principal, Doug Vickers, and teacher, Paul West, were proud to once again present a Reconciliation Day assembly to the community.