There are a number of NAIDOC Week celebrations planned for South Sydney. The following events will be held on Monday July 7. Our Flag on the Harbour: Honour & Service, Circular Quay at Wharf 5 from 9.30am (contact larissa.minniecon@harbourcityferries.com.au). For King and Country: Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Experiences in War, State Library of NSW Metcalfe Auditorium at 10am (bookings are essential: www4.sl.nsw.gov.au/events/for_king_and_country). NAIDOC Morning Tea, MTC Australia (334-336 Illawarra Road, Marrickville), from 10am. NAIDOC in the City, Hyde Park North, at 11am (contact council@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au). NAIDOC Flag Raising, Redfern Community Centre, 9-10.30am (tel. 9288 5713). For further information on NAIDOC Week events and projects visit www.naidoc.org.au.
This issue of the SSH includes two stories of particular relevance. Bruce Wardley writes about the early days of two Aboriginal political organisations – the Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association and the Australian Aborigines’ Progressive Association – dating back to 1938 protests against government-sponsored triumphalism. A current exhibition at Carriageworks pays homage to these early days in the long struggle for Aboriginal rights (page 11).
Pat Zinn (page 6) reports a recent Mabo Day forum at The Block, hosted by Redfern Community Centre and organised by the Women’s Reconciliation Network. The event saw the launch of Exploring Perspectives, a documentary video that traces the history of colonialist and racist attitudes and laws, as well as moral and legal steps toward proper recognition of Indigenous sovereignty. The documentary makes the strong case for constitutional change.
As we complete this issue of the paper we read the following bulletin courtesy of the Aboriginal Legal Service (one of several local Indigenous organisations with a proud history of justice advocacy and service to Aboriginal communities): “Australia’s new high commissioner in London has used one of his first public speeches to back recognition of Indigenous people in the constitution. Former foreign minister Alexander Downer, urged expats to vote Yes in any upcoming referendum. ‘The first people of our country have for many years in our country been treated as second-class citizens’, the high commissioner said at Australia House. ‘We need as a country to raise their status to reflect the incredibly important role they played in the original formation of human civilisation in Australia.’ Mr Downer said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, since European settlement, ‘had what you might, politely, call a hard time’. Changing the constitution would be a unifying moment, he said.
It would be an important step towards full recognition of Aboriginal sovereignty and self-determination.
