Voting open for Victoria’s treaty assembly

Voting is open for eligible Victorian Aboriginals to elect their representatives for the First Peoples’ Assembly, which will work towards a treaty.
More than 2000 Victorian Aboriginals, of the 30,000 eligible, have already enrolled for the non-compulsory vote for the 73 leaders nominated as candidates to the assembly.
Voting runs for a five-week period untilOctober 20.
Treaty Advancement Commissioner Jill Gallagher said it was the first-time Aboriginals have ever been able to vote for such an assembly.
“This is groundbreaking. This is something that your great-, great-grandchildren are going to talk about. This is something if we are successful will right those wrongs that were committed on our communities in the past,” she said.
“We cannot underestimate that power the assembly will give to that negotiating. For the first time, we have an elected voice in Victoria.”

THE family of an Aboriginal woman who died after hitting her head in a Victorian police cell wants the world to watch the distressing footage. 

Tanya Day painfully cracked her head against a Victorian police cell wall in harrowing CCTV footage her family wants the world to see. She died 17 days later.

Paramedics who tended to the Aboriginal woman hours later say they would have treated her differently if police hadn’t misled them about the extent of her injuries.

Coroner Caitlin English last Friday released CCTV footage of Ms Day falling five times in a Castlemaine police cell after she was arrested for being drunk on a train on December 5, 2017.

The 55-year-old later died from a brain haemorrhage, caused by the most significant blow.

Ms Day’s eldest daughter Belinda Day said the footage was “unbearably painful” to watch.

COLES Alice Springs recently unveiled artwork by leading local artist Janet Golder Kngwarreye as part of the company’s commitment to working with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people to reflect the communities it serves.

Janet Golder Kngwarreye’s said her painting My Country conveys knowledge of the land that is essential to the survival of traditional owners in Central Australia.

“There is always plenty of bush tucker and animals to hunt, but if you do not know the dreamings or Tjukurpa you will not know where to find the water or food,” she said.

The artwork shows plants such as the bush yam, which has been a staple food for the Aboriginal people in Central Australia and of which she is one of the custodians within her community. The piece also features the yam leaf, oranges and tomatoes, rock holes, water soaks, as well as sacred women’s ceremonies.

Now in its 29th year, one of the nation’s most anticipated Aboriginal art and cultural events, Desert Mob 2019, has opened at the Araluen Cultural Precinct in Alice Springs and runs until October 20.

And, digital labelling technology is being trialled to authenticate artworks by Indigenous artists.

The trial, funded with $150,000 provided by the Australian Government to Desart, the peak body for Australia’s central desert Indigenous art centres, was officially launched by Commonwealth Arts Minister Paul Fletcher at the Desert Mob opening event.

The technology aims to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and designers – and to help fight the problem of inauthentic art and products, which all too often see both artists and buyers ripped off.

Mr Fletcher said the trial is using scannable QR codes (quick response codes, mobile phone readable bar codes that store information) to test how best to give buyers confidence that the products that they are purchasing have been made and sourced ethically.

THIS must be Jillibalu Riley’s biggest break yet. For such a young fella he’s already broken his 

ankle, his shoulder, and probably many hearts, and now after all the tumbles and turns, has landed a lucrative position as a performer with Circus Oz’ latest creation, Aurora.

A resilient Ku Ku Mularidji man, Mr Riley grew up exploring Cairns and Kuranda, and his roots go back to the Mantaka Aboriginal community and Mona Mona Mission. 

“The best part about growing up was that Dad would send me to stay with my Aunties for the school holidays up in Cairns,” Riley said.

“Every afternoon my cousins and I would head down to the river – and that’s where I would practice my acrobatics. We would practise by jumping off the bridge and doing flips into the water.”

Riley said that he always looked to his cousins for inspiration, and that’s where he learned a lot of what he can do acrobatically.

TURA New Music will take a little bit of the Kimberley eastwards in November and December.

The Kimberley Echoes concert features The Narlis (Nar-lees), a collaboration between high profile First Nation artists and some of the country’s finest instrumentalists.

The Narlis includes Mark Atkins (didgeridoo virtuoso and singer), Stephen Pigram (ukulele and vocals), violinist Erkki Veltheim, guitarist Stephen Magnusson, cellist Tristen Parr, percussionist Joe Talia and flautist Tos Mahoney (who is also Tura’s founder and artistic director).

Kimberley Echoes is a powerful cross-cultural celebration of Kimberley country and its people.