Category: Opinion

To come together, you need to respect the other one too. Respect is the biggest thing.

For me, you can only do this through listening. When you listen, you can get a better understanding of both sides. But I also think you need to turn the tables where everybody can listen to First Nations people and hear about our stories, our history, our cultures.

Reconciliation is all about coming together. We should have opportunities where we can take people out bush and share stories. It’s important when you come into a town, like Halls Creek, that you respect the locals – the people who have lived here for a long time. But also if you can engage culturally – men and women – having a yarn with the local people but also getting smoked and just have a better understanding of the people, places and culture.

Because when I think of a reconciled Australia, I think of one big mob. One big family. Coming together. We should all come together, forget about the past, move on and to think about the future for our children.

Dean Mosquito
Executive Officer, Culture and Transformation

I’ve always had trouble thinking about what reconciliation means. But when you look at this town, there’s been so many changes. It’s about community coming together. The town is moving forward. It’s a time for us to start doing something to better our people. Reconciliation could be about a person or a community needing help. But most of all, it’s “us”.

I say, it’s time for us to move forward and we can do this together in this world. You’ve got one stick, it’s easy to break. But when you’ve got a big mob of sticks, you cannot break it. This is why we need each other to work on this. 

Reconciliation is also a celebration. For people who have worked hard over these years, by getting Aboriginal people back together. You’ve got people walking around this town who don’t know about reconciliation, but it’s time we start.

From what I’ve seen, learnt, and heard over these years, I think it’s time for us to do something within this town and our communities because it’s the community that we look after. It’s the people that live here.

Dennis Chungulla
Human Rights Coordinator, Olabud Doogethu

Read more about what reconciliation means for Olabud Doogethu in the June Milibud (“Our Mob” in Kimberley Kriol) – click here.

Reconciliation for me is about getting our family, our children, back to their Country and into their culture because we have a lot of broken homes from the Stolen Generations.

Trying to find our connections on both our Mother and Father’s side and coming together as a family together and talking about history.

How can we bring our families back together? It’s like Olabud (‘All of us’). We may all be Aboriginal people, but we have different lifestyles.

When you think about reconciliation, you’ve got to go back to the Stolen Generations. A lot of people were moved away from their home, their families, and grew up differently. How can they find their family again?

For all Australians, it’s important to work together, in unity, and help each other.

In the future, I’d like to see families reunited together. We’re still searching for the answers, so in 50 years down the track, the younger generation would hopefully find those answers and have that information.

Rosemary Stretch
Director, Olabud Doogethu

Read more about what reconciliation means for Olabud Doogethu in the June Milibud (“Our Mob” in Kimberley Kriol) – click here.