At the service: Applying the ceremonial ochre. Dancers getting ready, possum skins, clap sticks.
The morning star, Venus, was shining brightly as the night faded; the sky a beautiful orange awakening colour heralding a new day. Birds stirred, the call of the magpie hanging on the morning air.
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In Mooroopna, on Kaieltheban land, beside the waters of the Kaiela — the Goulburn River — there was that quiet time just before the world woke.
The biyala — the river red gums — standing silently, expectantly, surrounding the ceremonial circle.
It was January 26 — the day of the second Day of Mourning Wulumburra Dawn Service.
There was careful movement — movement that echoed from aeons past.
Preparation for the fire that brings people together.
Collecting the healing leaves of the biyala for the smoking ceremony that was to come.
There were people emerging, walking in quietly, reverently, understanding the significance of the day: wanting to acknowledge, to stand in solidarity, to work for a new way forward.
There was a welcome in an ancient language, an invitation to bathe in the cleansing smoke; and stories, told in dance and words.
The mourning dance — movements telling a story of profound sorrow and loss — that told of the impacts of an invasion that started in 1788.
An invasion that enveloped the hundreds of nations spread across this vast continent.
Stories that told of the pain of this day.
Stories that invited a rethinking of this day.
Writing back in 1937, William Cooper described January 26 in the following words: “… what is a memorial of the coming of the whites is a memorial of death to us”.
Day of Mourning Dawn Service: In Mooroopna, on Kaieltheban land, beside the waters of the Kaiela — the Goulburn River — there was that quiet time just before the world woke.
Day of Mourning — a term first used in 1938, 84 years ago — when William Cooper and Bill Ferguson organised the ‘Australian Aborigines Conference Sesqui-centenary Day of Mourning and Protest’ in Sydney on the 150th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet.
Day of Mourning — a term that is still relevant today.
As the didgeridoo echoed through the trees and along the Kaiela, stories in dance also told of an extraordinary resilience, a demonstration that: “we are still here”.
As the healing smoke vanished in the air, there were generous words; words of invitation to work together, to find a different way to mark this date.
A way that is respectful, truthful and can unite us all.
Justice for First Nations’ peoples is born from people hearing the truth, developing a deeper understanding of injustice, and taking action in solidarity.
And soon locally, there will be another opportunity to learn more.
The annual Apology Breakfast, to be held this year on Monday, February 14, acknowledges the impacts of the policies of governments and organisations that led to the Stolen Generations.
As Natarsha Bamblett, Indigenous leader, facilitator and the 2021 Apology Breakfast guest speaker, so clearly and powerfully reflected in her address last year: “The biggest, deepest gap that lies within this nation has been silence”.
The silence about the past.
Many are comfortable to acknowledge that Australia has the longest continuing cultures on the planet.
But part of the history of this land is the confronting truth that there was fierce resistance to the invasions of lands across the country.
There was planned genocide.
The confronting truth that government policies supported the killings, the dispossession and injustices.
That sovereignty of these lands and waters was never ceded or extinguished.
That what many of us learned in school — that it was disease that decimated the First Nations peoples — was only a small part of the real story.
Understanding the past is part of the truth-telling mentioned in the Uluru Statement from the Heart: truth-telling that also comes with great generosity — the generosity of the invitation to walk together.
It is this generosity that was also reflected in Natarsha’s words.
“I encourage you to continue to listen and to stand and to walk with us in the journey forward.”
This is why acknowledging the anniversary of the National Apology is so important — it helps shatter the silence. It is accepting the invitation to walk together.
Both the Day of Mourning Wulumburra Dawn Service and the coming Apology Breakfast offer an invitation and a local opportunity to hear the truth, to deepen understanding and to stand in solidarity as allies.
We encourage you to actively respond to these invitations.
You are invited to join the 2022 Apology Breakfast, to be held at Queen’s Gardens (corner Welsford and Nixon Sts, Shepparton) starting at 8am on Monday, February 14.
A COVID-safe plan will be in place for this outdoor event, with people required to be double-vaccinated to attend and to wear masks.
For more information about the Uluru Statement from the Heart visit https://ulurustatement.org/
