By Parker McKenzie
Yarra Ranges Council, Tecoma Uniting Church and Upwey Treasure Shop are providing support and funding towards a local initiative aiming to take responsible action towards reconciliation with First Nations Peoples’.
The Hills Reconciliation Action Collective was established by local non-Indigenous people inspired by Reconciliation Week 2021, the formation of Yoo-rrok justice commission in Victoria and the Uniting Church First Nations Assembly.
The funding will be used for the Walking Together project, where creative activities support and challenge participants towards developing a sensitivity and understanding of First Nations people’s Culture and Knowledges.
Walking Together Project co-ordinator Shakti McLaren said she always thought she was supportive and open to First Nation’s Peoples Culture.
“It was not until I began Indigenous Studies that I realised how racist I still was,” she said.
“I used to hold opinions that were based on what I was and wasn’t told in my younger years. It has been a revelation to realise how embedded and hidden racism still is within white Australian culture.”
The project gives participating leaders and community members the opportunity to experience and learn more about the longest continuous surviving culture in the world.
Ms McLaren said the project acknowledges the invitation from First Nations Peoples’ to “walk together”.
“Learning more about this ancient Culture has changed my life and ways of seeing the world,” she said.
“I hope this project can do the same for other non-Indigenous people in our community, and in the process contribute to our national journey towards truth, justice and reconciliation’.
Ms McLaren said she had consulted with Elders of the Wurundjeri Land Council about the project, who asked to have non-Indigenous Australians learn and understand the Culture and history of First Nations Peoples’ better.
“They want racism to end, and they want us to know what they went through and are still going through,” she said.
“They want attitudes to change; they say we do not understand enough. They specifically do not want to be judged if they don’t look Aboriginal enough.”
Future events being held by the group can be found at www.facebook.com/groups/hillsreconciliationactioncollective.
