hewasontheirradarandaccostedfrequentlyonthe
streets.Thecriminalrecordtheywerereferringto
wassomethingeveryStolenpersonhadunknowingly
acquired—theconvictionofbeingdeemed“neglected,”
meaningatagethreeUncleLarrywasbrandeda
criminal.Thispolicywasn’toverturneduntil 2018
whenhecampaignedtohaveit changedandallsuch
criminalrecordsremoved.UncleLarry’srelationship
withthelocalpolicehada hugeimplicationonhis
teenageyears,ashedescribesit:“Onceyou’rebranded
a certainway,youendupactinglikeit.”Afterseveral
yearsofmisdemeanoursandrun-inswiththelaw,Uncle
Larryremembersthemomenthedecidedtofightwith
persuasion,ratherthanhisfists.Bydefault,hehad
becomequiteknowledgeableaboutwhiteman’slaw,
andassuch,hetransitionedfrom“breakingthelaw,
tobendingthelaw.”Thisknowledgeservedhimwell
andultimatelyendedupinhisappointmentasthefirst
AboriginalworkerattheVictorianLegalServiceandthe
beginningsoftheVictorianAboriginalLegalService.It’salsoimportantformetopaymydeepestrespects
tomychildren,whoona dailybasisdisplaytheirown
smallbutmightyactsofcourage.Araulen,whois
12 years old and has always been a freedom seeker,
told me on the weekend that he would proceed with
doing an assignment of the “discovery” of Australia
by Matthew Flinders, despite the fact that he can’t
believe that schools are still persisting with imparting
such obviously incorrect facts, because “Mum,
you can’t fight every battle and I’m going to sit this
one out.” Ironically, as he puts pen to paper to write
about the discovery of Australia, he is also writing
his Acknowledgement to Country speech, whichhe will read out at a parade on Friday, beginning
with the words, “Always was, always will be.”And I’m inspired by my small girl Serema, who is three
years old in all her glory, and has the spirit of her
grandmother, the late Norma Harvey. Norma was born
on Saibai Island, when because of rising sea levels, half
of the community decided to start a new settlement
on the mainland. Sailing for over 160 kilometres
across four days without navigational charts and
guided only by the sea and the stars, they eventually
sighted the mainland and began conversations with
local Aboriginal Traditional Owners to establish the
community of Seisia. Only last year, king tides breached
a new $24.5 million sea wall on Saibai, and the threat
of climate change is a heart-wrenching, daily reality.
Norma’s spirit lives on through Serema, and every
day I feel closer to a woman I never met because
her love defies it all: rising sea levels, generations,
family politics and the emptiness of displacement.I am in a state of deep gratitude to the people who have
stood on the leading edge of expansion in this country.
Our combined story is one that is hard to accept for
many Australians, and one that has been hard to live
through. There have been times when we have stood
triumphant in the face of this adversity and times when
we have aligned with our collective anger and hatred
as a way of surviving. And throughout two centuries of
searching, the answer always is the same: that what has
been left for us from our Ancestors is intact, untouched
and unstirred by physical conditions. The strength,
wisdom and peace of our Old People is invincible.Vincent Lingiari leads a
walk-off of 200 Indigenous
workers at Wave Hill
Station, protesting
over wages and poor
working conditions.
Australia votes
overwhelmingly to delete
certain discriminatory
references to Aboriginal
and Torres Strait
Islander people in the
Constitution, a movement
led by Evelyn Scott.Neville Bonner becomes
the first Aboriginal
person to sit in
federal parliament.The High Court rules that
Australian lands were not
Terra Nullius, culminating a
three decade-long campaign
led by Koiki (Eddie) Mabo.1966 1967 1971 1992
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