How my perspective as a non-Indigenous person was profoundly changed
Yoorrook was the first formal truth-telling inquiry into injustices against First Peoples in Victoria.
Led by four First Peoples Commissioners and a non-Indigenous Commissioner, it changed Victoria for the better and will continue to do so.
Governments around Australia should learn from their experience and embrace truth-telling.
Yoorrook engaged with more than 9000 First Peoples, received more than 1300 submissions, held public hearings with hundreds of witnesses and reached millions via media, social media, events and more.
Its reports lay bare the historic and ongoing injustice caused by colonisation, told from First Peoples' perspectives. They also offer a clear path forward, grounded in truth, justice and First Peoples' leadership.
As a non-Indigenous person, I was privileged to work for two years as Yoorrook's CEO.
The experience profoundly changed my perspective and understanding.
This is the power of truth-telling.
Yoorrook dealt with deep injustice. I saw trauma handed down over generations and understandable anger. I also saw immense pride in Aboriginal culture, and despite all the harm, an incredible willingness to share it.
Yoorrook reinforced the importance of culture. First Peoples in Victoria who survived the waves of colonial violence and disease were typically forced from their country, onto missions or the fringes of white society.
Culture and language were suppressed. Children with European blood were removed from their families and communities and told that Aboriginality was bad.
This is why it's so painful when First Peoples have their identity questioned by non-Indigenous people. It's also why work to strengthen culture and rebuild languages is so important.
Research like the landmark Mayi Kuwayu Study confirms that when First Peoples are strong in culture and identity, they are strong in health and wellbeing.
I saw so much strength and excellence. There was incredible advocacy and resistance and tenacious and effective leadership. I saw deep environmental knowledge and care for country as well as creative and sporting brilliance.
I saw entrepreneurship and business excellence, huge family and community networks and a deep enduring respect for elders and ancestors.
There is so much that non-Indigenous society can learn from.
Yoorrook helped me to better understand that country is everything for First Peoples.
As Gomeroi woman Nikkie Moodie told Yoorrook: "We speak for Country. We are Country. We are the land, we act as land and for land."
Back in law school, I looked at Eddie Koiki Mabo's case as a bold decision by the High Court. After Yoorrook, I see it as the very least the court could do to recognise what was obvious for the previous two centuries - that it always was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
I now look at the decision through the prism of the Charles Perkins quote when he said: "We live off the crumbs that fall off the white Australian tables and are told to be grateful."
In many ways, native title is what's left over after everyone else has had their feed.
Importantly, the Mabo decision gave non-Indigenous Australia something valuable; a way to begin healing, in an incremental way, the deep sore of racism and injustice that infects our national conscience.
The High Court judges recognised this saying the "nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is an acknowledgment of, and retreat from, those past injustices."
The judges were talking about the way colonial law facilitated the taking of First Peoples' land.
The same reasoning applies to sovereignty. For thousands of generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations exercised sovereignty over defined areas of country. The injustice of Britain's self-declared sovereignty over their lands has never been addressed.
Treaties offer the chance to do this and create a different story for future generations. One where First Peoples have power over the issues that affect their lives.
READ MORE:
Where First Peoples families have access to quality education, healthcare and housing. Where First Peoples communities are prosperous, where country is healthy and where culture and language are thriving.
Victoria's elected First Peoples Assembly is currently negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government. Local traditional owner treaties will follow.
Yoorrook's recommendations, from self-determination to education and land rights, provide the grounding for transformation through treaties.
Truth-telling is an essential step on the journey to justice and healing.
Yoorrook is an invitation to non-Indigenous people to learn and walk together.
In the words of Yoorrook's final report, "It's time to let in the light ... so that we might look to the future with clear eyes."
On Tuesday, the Yoorrook Justice Commission's remarkable four-year journey ended with the publication of its final reports and public record.
Yoorrook was the first formal truth-telling inquiry into injustices against First Peoples in Victoria.
Led by four First Peoples Commissioners and a non-Indigenous Commissioner, it changed Victoria for the better and will continue to do so.
Governments around Australia should learn from their experience and embrace truth-telling.
Yoorrook engaged with more than 9000 First Peoples, received more than 1300 submissions, held public hearings with hundreds of witnesses and reached millions via media, social media, events and more.
Its reports lay bare the historic and ongoing injustice caused by colonisation, told from First Peoples' perspectives. They also offer a clear path forward, grounded in truth, justice and First Peoples' leadership.
As a non-Indigenous person, I was privileged to work for two years as Yoorrook's CEO.
The experience profoundly changed my perspective and understanding.
This is the power of truth-telling.
Yoorrook dealt with deep injustice. I saw trauma handed down over generations and understandable anger. I also saw immense pride in Aboriginal culture, and despite all the harm, an incredible willingness to share it.
Yoorrook reinforced the importance of culture. First Peoples in Victoria who survived the waves of colonial violence and disease were typically forced from their country, onto missions or the fringes of white society.
Culture and language were suppressed. Children with European blood were removed from their families and communities and told that Aboriginality was bad.
This is why it's so painful when First Peoples have their identity questioned by non-Indigenous people. It's also why work to strengthen culture and rebuild languages is so important.
Research like the landmark Mayi Kuwayu Study confirms that when First Peoples are strong in culture and identity, they are strong in health and wellbeing.
I saw so much strength and excellence. There was incredible advocacy and resistance and tenacious and effective leadership. I saw deep environmental knowledge and care for country as well as creative and sporting brilliance.
I saw entrepreneurship and business excellence, huge family and community networks and a deep enduring respect for elders and ancestors.
There is so much that non-Indigenous society can learn from.
Yoorrook helped me to better understand that country is everything for First Peoples.
As Gomeroi woman Nikkie Moodie told Yoorrook: "We speak for Country. We are Country. We are the land, we act as land and for land."
Back in law school, I looked at Eddie Koiki Mabo's case as a bold decision by the High Court. After Yoorrook, I see it as the very least the court could do to recognise what was obvious for the previous two centuries - that it always was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
I now look at the decision through the prism of the Charles Perkins quote when he said: "We live off the crumbs that fall off the white Australian tables and are told to be grateful."
In many ways, native title is what's left over after everyone else has had their feed.
Importantly, the Mabo decision gave non-Indigenous Australia something valuable; a way to begin healing, in an incremental way, the deep sore of racism and injustice that infects our national conscience.
The High Court judges recognised this saying the "nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is an acknowledgment of, and retreat from, those past injustices."
The judges were talking about the way colonial law facilitated the taking of First Peoples' land.
The same reasoning applies to sovereignty. For thousands of generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations exercised sovereignty over defined areas of country. The injustice of Britain's self-declared sovereignty over their lands has never been addressed.
Treaties offer the chance to do this and create a different story for future generations. One where First Peoples have power over the issues that affect their lives.
READ MORE:
Where First Peoples families have access to quality education, healthcare and housing. Where First Peoples communities are prosperous, where country is healthy and where culture and language are thriving.
Victoria's elected First Peoples Assembly is currently negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government. Local traditional owner treaties will follow.
Yoorrook's recommendations, from self-determination to education and land rights, provide the grounding for transformation through treaties.
Truth-telling is an essential step on the journey to justice and healing.
Yoorrook is an invitation to non-Indigenous people to learn and walk together.
In the words of Yoorrook's final report, "It's time to let in the light ... so that we might look to the future with clear eyes."
On Tuesday, the Yoorrook Justice Commission's remarkable four-year journey ended with the publication of its final reports and public record.
Yoorrook was the first formal truth-telling inquiry into injustices against First Peoples in Victoria.
Led by four First Peoples Commissioners and a non-Indigenous Commissioner, it changed Victoria for the better and will continue to do so.
Governments around Australia should learn from their experience and embrace truth-telling.
Yoorrook engaged with more than 9000 First Peoples, received more than 1300 submissions, held public hearings with hundreds of witnesses and reached millions via media, social media, events and more.
Its reports lay bare the historic and ongoing injustice caused by colonisation, told from First Peoples' perspectives. They also offer a clear path forward, grounded in truth, justice and First Peoples' leadership.
As a non-Indigenous person, I was privileged to work for two years as Yoorrook's CEO.
The experience profoundly changed my perspective and understanding.
This is the power of truth-telling.
Yoorrook dealt with deep injustice. I saw trauma handed down over generations and understandable anger. I also saw immense pride in Aboriginal culture, and despite all the harm, an incredible willingness to share it.
Yoorrook reinforced the importance of culture. First Peoples in Victoria who survived the waves of colonial violence and disease were typically forced from their country, onto missions or the fringes of white society.
Culture and language were suppressed. Children with European blood were removed from their families and communities and told that Aboriginality was bad.
This is why it's so painful when First Peoples have their identity questioned by non-Indigenous people. It's also why work to strengthen culture and rebuild languages is so important.
Research like the landmark Mayi Kuwayu Study confirms that when First Peoples are strong in culture and identity, they are strong in health and wellbeing.
I saw so much strength and excellence. There was incredible advocacy and resistance and tenacious and effective leadership. I saw deep environmental knowledge and care for country as well as creative and sporting brilliance.
I saw entrepreneurship and business excellence, huge family and community networks and a deep enduring respect for elders and ancestors.
There is so much that non-Indigenous society can learn from.
Yoorrook helped me to better understand that country is everything for First Peoples.
As Gomeroi woman Nikkie Moodie told Yoorrook: "We speak for Country. We are Country. We are the land, we act as land and for land."
Back in law school, I looked at Eddie Koiki Mabo's case as a bold decision by the High Court. After Yoorrook, I see it as the very least the court could do to recognise what was obvious for the previous two centuries - that it always was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
I now look at the decision through the prism of the Charles Perkins quote when he said: "We live off the crumbs that fall off the white Australian tables and are told to be grateful."
In many ways, native title is what's left over after everyone else has had their feed.
Importantly, the Mabo decision gave non-Indigenous Australia something valuable; a way to begin healing, in an incremental way, the deep sore of racism and injustice that infects our national conscience.
The High Court judges recognised this saying the "nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is an acknowledgment of, and retreat from, those past injustices."
The judges were talking about the way colonial law facilitated the taking of First Peoples' land.
The same reasoning applies to sovereignty. For thousands of generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations exercised sovereignty over defined areas of country. The injustice of Britain's self-declared sovereignty over their lands has never been addressed.
Treaties offer the chance to do this and create a different story for future generations. One where First Peoples have power over the issues that affect their lives.
READ MORE:
Where First Peoples families have access to quality education, healthcare and housing. Where First Peoples communities are prosperous, where country is healthy and where culture and language are thriving.
Victoria's elected First Peoples Assembly is currently negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government. Local traditional owner treaties will follow.
Yoorrook's recommendations, from self-determination to education and land rights, provide the grounding for transformation through treaties.
Truth-telling is an essential step on the journey to justice and healing.
Yoorrook is an invitation to non-Indigenous people to learn and walk together.
In the words of Yoorrook's final report, "It's time to let in the light ... so that we might look to the future with clear eyes."
On Tuesday, the Yoorrook Justice Commission's remarkable four-year journey ended with the publication of its final reports and public record.
Yoorrook was the first formal truth-telling inquiry into injustices against First Peoples in Victoria.
Led by four First Peoples Commissioners and a non-Indigenous Commissioner, it changed Victoria for the better and will continue to do so.
Governments around Australia should learn from their experience and embrace truth-telling.
Yoorrook engaged with more than 9000 First Peoples, received more than 1300 submissions, held public hearings with hundreds of witnesses and reached millions via media, social media, events and more.
Its reports lay bare the historic and ongoing injustice caused by colonisation, told from First Peoples' perspectives. They also offer a clear path forward, grounded in truth, justice and First Peoples' leadership.
As a non-Indigenous person, I was privileged to work for two years as Yoorrook's CEO.
The experience profoundly changed my perspective and understanding.
This is the power of truth-telling.
Yoorrook dealt with deep injustice. I saw trauma handed down over generations and understandable anger. I also saw immense pride in Aboriginal culture, and despite all the harm, an incredible willingness to share it.
Yoorrook reinforced the importance of culture. First Peoples in Victoria who survived the waves of colonial violence and disease were typically forced from their country, onto missions or the fringes of white society.
Culture and language were suppressed. Children with European blood were removed from their families and communities and told that Aboriginality was bad.
This is why it's so painful when First Peoples have their identity questioned by non-Indigenous people. It's also why work to strengthen culture and rebuild languages is so important.
Research like the landmark Mayi Kuwayu Study confirms that when First Peoples are strong in culture and identity, they are strong in health and wellbeing.
I saw so much strength and excellence. There was incredible advocacy and resistance and tenacious and effective leadership. I saw deep environmental knowledge and care for country as well as creative and sporting brilliance.
I saw entrepreneurship and business excellence, huge family and community networks and a deep enduring respect for elders and ancestors.
There is so much that non-Indigenous society can learn from.
Yoorrook helped me to better understand that country is everything for First Peoples.
As Gomeroi woman Nikkie Moodie told Yoorrook: "We speak for Country. We are Country. We are the land, we act as land and for land."
Back in law school, I looked at Eddie Koiki Mabo's case as a bold decision by the High Court. After Yoorrook, I see it as the very least the court could do to recognise what was obvious for the previous two centuries - that it always was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
I now look at the decision through the prism of the Charles Perkins quote when he said: "We live off the crumbs that fall off the white Australian tables and are told to be grateful."
In many ways, native title is what's left over after everyone else has had their feed.
Importantly, the Mabo decision gave non-Indigenous Australia something valuable; a way to begin healing, in an incremental way, the deep sore of racism and injustice that infects our national conscience.
The High Court judges recognised this saying the "nation as a whole must remain diminished unless and until there is an acknowledgment of, and retreat from, those past injustices."
The judges were talking about the way colonial law facilitated the taking of First Peoples' land.
The same reasoning applies to sovereignty. For thousands of generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations exercised sovereignty over defined areas of country. The injustice of Britain's self-declared sovereignty over their lands has never been addressed.
Treaties offer the chance to do this and create a different story for future generations. One where First Peoples have power over the issues that affect their lives.
READ MORE:
Where First Peoples families have access to quality education, healthcare and housing. Where First Peoples communities are prosperous, where country is healthy and where culture and language are thriving.
Victoria's elected First Peoples Assembly is currently negotiating a statewide treaty with the Allan government. Local traditional owner treaties will follow.
Yoorrook's recommendations, from self-determination to education and land rights, provide the grounding for transformation through treaties.
Truth-telling is an essential step on the journey to justice and healing.
Yoorrook is an invitation to non-Indigenous people to learn and walk together.
In the words of Yoorrook's final report, "It's time to let in the light ... so that we might look to the future with clear eyes."
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ABC News
34 minutes ago
- ABC News
Victoria's Yoorrook Justice Commission a 'blueprint' for the rest of Australia, First Nations leaders say
In 1834, life for people living in what's now known as Victoria was about to drastically change. Within 17 years, a new British colony had been founded and those who had lived there for millennia were dwindling in numbers. It was not from natural sickness or old age "but by the quiet, bureaucratic sanctioning of violence. A poisoned meal, a raid at dawn, a report filed away whose careful phrasing obfuscated the reality". In those 17 years from the arrival of the Henty brothers, Aboriginal people from Gunditjmara and Kulin lands dropped from a population of 15,000 to just 2,000 people. For those whose ancestors were killed, this is a history well known. More than 170 years later, it has never been forgotten. These were the findings released on Tuesday from Australia's first formal truth-telling commission, the Yoorrook Justice Commission, which investigated Victoria's colonial roots and the impact they continue to have on First Nations people today. The commission's 'Truth be Told' report documented the massacres and frontier violence that occurred and the government policies that forced Aboriginal peoples onto missions and reserves where traditional practices were banned. It examined the legislation that allowed children to be forcibly removed from their families and their culture. The report called it a "genocide". But it also highlighted the resistance of Aboriginal people: "They held on to one another, to their languages, to Country. In a time when the world around them insisted on their disappearance, survival became the ultimate resistance." For Senator Lidia Thorpe, reading those words was validating and one step closer to justice. "As long as I've been alive my uncle Robbie Thorpe has taken on many politicians for genocide against our people," the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman said. "I think it's a bit of healing, acknowledgement and justice that my uncle and others have been fighting for all of their lives." In the years that followed — the founding of what we now know as Victoria — government action ramped up. "The colony's preoccupation shifted from Aboriginal land to Aboriginal blood," the report stated. "Once the land had been fenced, surveyed and renamed, attention turned inwards to the bodies and lineages of those who remained." In 1886, the Aborigines Protection Act (Vic) was imposed "as a mechanism for the disappearance of Aboriginal people under the ongoing pretence of a regime of 'protection'". "The colony had decided that First Peoples would need to be made to vanish." Yorta Yorta man Ian Hamm was separated from his family when he was three weeks old under these government policies and gave testimony to the commission. "It can only be classed as the deliberate actions of trying to completely destabilise the presence of a people from the place they have always been," he told ABC Radio Melbourne. "Not just destabilise them but effectively proactively wipe them out." He said there is a 'maturity' in acknowledging genocide. "It tells me what I already knew. It's written in a single word that everybody understood but nobody would utter those words. Now it's written down." CEO of Reconciliation Australia Karen Mundine said now the findings were laid bare, many will be watching to see if the Victorian government will "do things differently" and continue to "show leadership" as the first state embarking on truth-telling and treaty-making in the country. "I think there is power in words," she said. "When we know history, when we understand the injustices that happened and existed, it's really for us to do something with that knowledge. "The reports are not done as a kind of exercise in report writing, but they're actually done with care and consideration to see better outcomes for First Nations peoples." The Yoorrook Justice Commission released 100 recommendations as part of its final report. Among them is a call for the First Peoples Assembly — a democratically elected body of First Nations people tasked with treaty-making with the state government — to be made permanent and their powers extended to shared decision-making. On Monday, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen expressed her support for treaty making. However, the opposition stated if it wins power at next year's election, it will not support a new role for the First Peoples' Assembly or a treaty. But Ian Hamm remains confident a treaty will be established. "We can't allow this opportunity to slip, what would that say about us as Victorians, about us as a people, all of us who are resident in this state that we had the opportunity to grasp this moment in time and history, we're going to throw this opportunity under the bus?" "That would reflect poorly on us as people. How could we look ourselves in the mirror with any pride, with any respect for who we are?" Indigenous writer and former Yes campaign leader and Thomas Mayo wants to see all Australians support Victoria in the next stage of treaty negotiations. "There will be concerted efforts from the creators of culture wars that try and keep Indigenous people down in this country and often for their own political ambitions," he said. Mr Mayo wants the public to 'fight against the disinformation' that plagued the Voice Referendum. "The truth-telling report is important because it's there in black and white. It's been a very extensive process, there's been a lot of emotional labour put into it," he said. "Undoubtedly the result is something that is truthful, that people can rely on." States and territories have taken varying approaches and are at different stages of truth-telling and treaty processes across the country. South Australia has established a legislated Voice to Parliament. New South Wales is expected to begin treaty conversations in the coming months. Last year Queensland's Crisafulli government scrapped the state's Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry, and earlier this year the NT government did the same with its treaty process, which had been underway for seven years. Senator Lidia Thorpe said she hoped the outcomes of the Yoorrook commission would set a road map for other states to follow. "Those recommendations are not only a pathway to treaty, they're a pathway to peace for Aboriginal people in this country, and ways the government can close the gap they continually talk about," she said. "That's why we need federal leadership in this space, so that there's a mandate and a template for the rest of the states and territories to get on board. Don't be left behind." Karen Mundine said she hoped the commission's findings will demonstrate the importance of truth-telling. "As some of our older people begin to age and pass, there's an urgency to record those stories right across the country," she said. "While some formal processes may be winding back, we urge governments and other jurisdictions to think carefully about that.
Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The hot-take flying monkeys are circling again. It's time they got out of the way
When the time finally came to decide, expanding marriage to include same-sex couples was the easiest big thing Australia has ever done. There was a lot of angst and soul-searching and politicking to reach that point and of course, not everyone agreed, but for many, it came down to a simple consideration. Nearly all of us have gay people in our lives, whether they are family, friends, neighbours or work colleagues. We want them to be happy. If enabling them to marry the person they love would do this, who were we to block the aisle? It was a transaction that cost us nothing and offered something to people we care about. Five years after the Marriage Law Postal Survey was carried in all states and territories we voted again, this time at a referendum. The question put to us was whether 'to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice'. As with gay marriage, we weren't being asked to give something up. Rather, we were being asked to recognise something incontrovertible – that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were here long before whitefellas arrived – and to go give them something at no cost to us; the right to have their say when the government is making decisions that affect them. Nearly two years on from that vote, there are plenty of reasons proffered for why the referendum failed. I suspect part of the story is the lesson of the gay marriage survey. Most of us don't have Aboriginal people as our friends or neighbours. We don't work with them. There was an absence of empathy from us towards the people we were asked to help. Given what we know about differences in life expectancy, rates of preventable disease and suicide, education levels, lifetime earnings, homelessness and exposure to child protection, family violence, and criminal justice systems between white and black Australia, this speaks to a shameful indifference. There is a harder view of this, put to me by Aboriginal people who have thought about and lived this stuff in a way whitefellas can't. Their explanation, both for the result of the 2023 referendum and decisions taken over the two and a half centuries that preceded it, is that at some level, we hate them.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
The hot-take flying monkeys are circling again. It's time they got out of the way
When the time finally came to decide, expanding marriage to include same-sex couples was the easiest big thing Australia has ever done. There was a lot of angst and soul-searching and politicking to reach that point and of course, not everyone agreed, but for many, it came down to a simple consideration. Nearly all of us have gay people in our lives, whether they are family, friends, neighbours or work colleagues. We want them to be happy. If enabling them to marry the person they love would do this, who were we to block the aisle? It was a transaction that cost us nothing and offered something to people we care about. Five years after the Marriage Law Postal Survey was carried in all states and territories we voted again, this time at a referendum. The question put to us was whether 'to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice'. As with gay marriage, we weren't being asked to give something up. Rather, we were being asked to recognise something incontrovertible – that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were here long before whitefellas arrived – and to go give them something at no cost to us; the right to have their say when the government is making decisions that affect them. Nearly two years on from that vote, there are plenty of reasons proffered for why the referendum failed. I suspect part of the story is the lesson of the gay marriage survey. Most of us don't have Aboriginal people as our friends or neighbours. We don't work with them. There was an absence of empathy from us towards the people we were asked to help. Given what we know about differences in life expectancy, rates of preventable disease and suicide, education levels, lifetime earnings, homelessness and exposure to child protection, family violence, and criminal justice systems between white and black Australia, this speaks to a shameful indifference. There is a harder view of this, put to me by Aboriginal people who have thought about and lived this stuff in a way whitefellas can't. Their explanation, both for the result of the 2023 referendum and decisions taken over the two and a half centuries that preceded it, is that at some level, we hate them.
