By Chris Martin
SYDNEY — Campaigns to recognise and celebrate contemporary indigenous history have gained new impetus with the launch of the National Aboriginal History and Heritage Council (NAHHC).
The NAHHC was established at a forum held here on July 9-10 which brought together 140 community leaders and activists, representatives from government and non-government bodies, students and academics from around the country.
Opening the forum, elder and activist Chicka Dixon (a participant in the historic tent embassy protests of the early 1970s) stressed the importance of independent Aboriginal input to secure a true history for Australia. He said, "We need Aboriginal history, devised by Aboriginal people, to tell the full story. Our best weapon will be international embarrassment".
The forum stems from the work of the Aboriginal History Committee, a Sydney-based group which is campaigning for the preservation of the Elizabeth Street site of the 1938 "Day of Mourning" protest. This protest has been recognised as a formative event in the movement for Aboriginal civil and human rights. Calling it an "embryonic assertion of land rights", the NSW government's own commission of inquiry recommended the full and unconditional preservation of the site.
Despite this finding, the minister for planning and urban affairs, Craig Knowles, has given every indication that he will allow development on the site, which will destroy the building's heritage value. Knowles kept the commission's report unpublished for a full year until the Aboriginal History Committee obtained its release under freedom of information legislation.
To highlight the government's inaction, the group has declared an "Aboriginal permanent conservation order" on the building, calling on "all those concerned with a just reconciliation between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples of this nation to observe this order".
June Barker and Pauline Gordon, descendants of the Day of Mourning protesters, were among the keynote speakers at the forum. Both gave moving testimonies of their own experiences growing up on the notorious Aboriginal missions of northern NSW.
Barker explained that mission managers strove to deny inmates their culture, threatening those who spoke in traditional languages with starvation. Commenting on these great losses, Barker stressed the importance of acting now to preserve and promote Aboriginal history and heritage. "We don't want to lose any more of our culture", she said.
Other speakers took up a diverse range of issues surrounding Aboriginal history and heritage matters, with keynote speakers delivering papers on intellectual property rights, community action, education and policy concerns.
In declaring the formation of the NAHHC, the conference elected an Aboriginal leadership for the group, including community leader Jenny Munro as inaugural chairperson. The new leadership will provide national coordination and support for actions such as the Day of Mourning site campaign.