It is ‘reclaiming the Noongar voice' and acknowledging truth:
Acknowledging - that less than 200 years ago Noongar people were brutally dispossessed of traditional lands and forced to the margins of society.
Acknowledging - how government policy, and decisions by those in power, have heavily impacted Noongar families across generations.
Acknowledging - the continued strength and resilience of Noongar people.
To begin Truth Telling, and then Healing – Aboriginal people need to tell their history, and non-Aboriginal people need to listen. It is part of truth, justice and healing for everyone in our community.
Image: Patrick Miles, Rodney Garlett, Uncle Ben Taylor, Robert Miles, Bernie Green on-country @ junction of Gugulja (Avon River) and Boyagerring Brook
The award winning Gnulla Karnany Waangkiny (Our Truth Telling) was a collaborative project - led by NKAC - with Shire support through their Reconciliation Action Plan, and funded by LotteryWest. Through a Noongar 'voice' GKW highlights traditional life pre colonisation and the dark history and unjust treatment of Noongar people post colonisation. View GKW installation at the Newcastle Gaol Museum. The Shire, in partnership with NKAC, is the first local government in WA to research and show case the local 'Truth Telling' as a significant permanent display in the Museum in a dedicated space.
Our Toodyay Story. An ancient land where three Noongar groups crossed paths: Yued - Ballardong - Whadjuk
Video prepared by NKAC (volunteer narration by Michael Sinclair-Jones)
Australians should not be worried about truth telling. It can be done in a respectful way that simply acknowledges the truth in our collective history. For over 45,000 years Noongar moort (families) moved across our valley - an area covered in rich fertile land and waterways. Families had dedicated and distinct areas and rights to certain waterholes. Then in the 1800’s - with the colonial attitudes of the new comers - the land grabs (in the pursuit of acreage for stock pasture and farming land) led to many violent clashes on the frontier. Clashes resulted in Noongar clans being brutally displaced from their lands through tactics of discrimination and massacre. A high level of lawlessness and intimidation by those that had taken the land was made legitimate by racist government policy of the time.
In the decade (post 1836) several hundred settlers were occupying the land along the Avon River and these newcomers showed an appalling ignorance and disregard of Noongar people and their rights to go about their thousands of vears of traditional customs. This started a period of immense despair for Noongar people and troubles and conflict began. Captain James Stirling had earlier in October 1834 authorised and participated in the infamous southern 'Pinjarra Massacre' where up to 80 Noongar were murdered. Stirling's government had begun its invasion eastward and granted Noongar land to Europeans without Noongar consent. The attractiveness of the fertile lands and access to reliable water in this Toodyay district meant there was a scramble for land. Stirling's report to the colonial office on the Pinjarra Massacre declared that he had set out to punish the whole tribe and that his intention was to instil fear in the Aborigines and break their resistance. The only way to deal with Aboriginal people, he wrote, was to 'reduce their tribe to weakness by inflicting such acts of decisive severity as will appal them as people'. The Perth Gazette reported on an uncompromising warning to the survivors that if there were any more trouble 'four times the present number of men would proceed amongst them and destroy every man, woman and child.' The complexity of Noongar culture, intricate understanding of the land and sustainable practices posed an inconvenient truth to colonisers, as it challenged a narrative of superiority. Thousands of years of Noongar wisdom and practice was dismissed by colonisers in an attempt to justify their actions. Truth telling is something we can all do. As a nation - we must come to terms with our past. Healing comes when we all understand the impacts of the past. For local WA content you can go to historian Dr Chris Owens Facebook Page - Dark West Australia
The term Frontier Wars refers to the conflict between European colonists and First Nations people. It began with the arrival of the British in 1788 and lasted into the 1930s. As the British sought to establish a colony in Australia, first nation groups resisted. This conflict resulted in Australia’s first wars and was a violent history that included organised battles and open massacres. We may never know the exact number of people who died but academics and historians have made estimations of the death toll. Research from the University of Newcastle, which identifies and records sites of frontier massacres, found at least 10,000 Indigenous people were killed in 416 massacres between 1780 and 1930. The research project's lead, historian Emeritus Professor Lyndall Ryan, said more massacres were recorded between 1860 and 1930 than between 1788 and 1860. Frontier massacres happened across Australia and increased as colonial forces moved around the country, including here in Western Australia. It's important to know that there were laws and legislation put in place to help escalate frontier violence. We are still learning more about this history, but there remains a denialist approach to Frontier Wars in our national curriculum. To learn more view The Australian Wars documentary on SBS.
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