MORNINGTON Peninsula residents are being urged to join Reconciliation Week activities to learn about the shared history with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples “and explore how you can take meaningful actions to help achieve reconciliation in Australia”.
Reconciliation Week started on Monday 27 May. “Whatever your background or upbringing, we all have a responsibility to learn about Australia’s history and to acknowledge and value the past, present, and continuing contributions of our First Nations peoples – the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth,” the mayor Cr Simon Brooks said.
“Mornington Peninsula Shire Council has an important role to play in promoting and celebrating Aboriginal cultural heritage. The growing recognition of the past, how community lived with country and how they were displaced is important.
“It is vital that we learn from this and heal with our Indigenous community, starting with a celebration of resilience and strength and embracing the amazing knowledge and wisdom of our First Nations people, which is so relevant in today’s challenging materialistic world.”
Activities for the week listed in a shire news release included a (booked out) guided walk followed by a yidaki (didgeridoo) led meditation at The Briars, Mount Martha; a talk about reconciliation and treaty at Flinders; and reading books recommended by the shire’s libraries.
At Hastings, the Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association said it was running Sorry Day (Sunday 26 May) and Reconciliation Week activities.
Reconciliation Week also coincides with the shire announcing Tounnin Wominjeka as the official name of the youth hub now being built at Rosebud. The shire says the name means warm welcome and was chosen after community consultation and the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (Aboriginal name for youth hub, The Times 20/2/24).
“Using traditional owner language for the naming of the Southern Peninsula Youth Hub not only honours the past and ongoing custodianship of land in the municipality by the Bunurong people, but also serves as a beacon of inclusivity and cultural connection for our young community,” Brooks said.
The adoption of traditional owner language across the peninsula will be obvious when voters go to the polls in October to elect councillors for the next four-year term. Candidates will stand in 11 single-councillor wards: Brokil, Beek Beek, Benbenjie, Briars, Coolart, Kackeraboite, Moorooduc, Nepean, Tanti, Tootgarook and Warringine (New boundaries set for shire councillors, The Times 24/4/24).
Meanwhile, the shire is set to release an updated Reconciliation Plan (RAP) later this year. The 36-page plan now available on the shire’s website is dated 2020-2022.
Reconciliation Week an ‘opportunity’ to learn
By Keith Platt
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