National Reconciliation Week – a time to ‘Learn. Share. Grow’

In recognition of National Sorry Day on 26 May and National Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June), Council, in collaboration with local Indigenous and Wurundjeri Elders hosted an event at the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place on Friday 1 June.

A Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony was held, followed by performances by award-winning singer-songwriter Kutcha Edwards along with members of Yeng-Gali Mullum Mullum (formerly the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place Choir) and students from Ringwood Secondary College. 

Deputy Mayor of Maroondah, Cr Mike Symon, along with fellow councillors and members of the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, formally raised the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander flags outside Council’s Braeside offices on Monday to mark the start of National Reconciliation Week. 

Cr Symon said the week provided an opportunity to celebrate and strengthen the reconciliation process. 

“Maroondah’s Indigenous heritage is something the community can be proud of. We have strong links to the Wurundjeri Tribe, with many of our places and spaces named in honour of their history,” Cr Symon said. 

“Through various initiatives and practices, we as a Council remain committed to the important process of reconciliation and desire to build strong partnerships with the local Indigenous community. 

“Reconciliation involves justice, recognition, and healing. It’s about helping all Australians move forward with a better understanding of the past and how the past affects the lives of Indigenous people today,” he said. 

The events also help celebrate Council’s progress in implementing its very first Reconciliation Action Plan, which is currently being reviewed for endorsement by Reconciliation Australia and is to be launched later this year. 

Kutcha Edwards, a proud Mutti-Mutti man, has performed in Maroondah for National Sorry Day over the past six years and has a deep connection to the local Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place (MMIGP) community. 

One of Australia’s most respected and inspiring Aboriginal singer-songwriters, his music echoes themes of hope resilience, redemption and joy. 

Following an event for National Sorry Day in 2016, Kutcha suggested a songwriting project as a way of building on the conversations he had had with students from Ringwood Secondary College attending the event. 

The project was realised earlier this year thanks to funding from the Victorian Government’s Creative Suburbs program, which aims to engage marginalised and disadvantaged people through projects involving leading artists.

Since March, Kutcha has been involved in songwriting workshops with the students, as well as with MMIGP community including Elders, members of Yeng Gali Mullum Mullum and the MMIGP hip hop group, during which Kutcha also collaborated with Indigenous composer Daen Sansbury-Smith to develop a rap. 

For Kutcha, it was a chance to draw out the ideas of the participants to create songs and raps that were meaningful to them. 

And while rap is an unfamiliar genre to Kutcha, he acknowledges it has a way of “speaking to our kids”.  

It’s through the experience of songwriting and music that Kutcha aims to help those who are somewhat lost to find themselves and gain hope for the future, in particular Indigenous youth. 

“It’s not about the kids writing songs, it’s not about them learning to perform as such, it’s about them finding their identity and about them looking in the mirror and not being frightened of who they see, and knowing who they are and who they’re connected to,” Kutcha explains. 

“What I’m about and what this is about is finding connection.” 

Kutcha has been prolifically combining activism and songwriting for almost three decades. 

A leading voice of the Stolen Generations, Kutcha explains, “music is not what I do; it is who I am”. 

In the great Aboriginal tradition, Kutcha tells his incredible life’s journey through his songs and stories – some humorous, others heart rending. 

“My songs may be contemporary but they are more than 40,000 years old. They come through me from my ancestors and my people, and they tell our stories,” he says. 

A proud recipient of the 2001 NAIDOC Indigenous Person of the Year award, Kutcha continues to play a vital role in what he feels is his responsibility to educate all Australians on the plight of forced removal of Indigenous children from their parents, families, and communities. 

“It’s about creating awareness as to what has transpired, not only in my life, but for many others of the Stolen Generations,” he says. 

As one of the Stolen Generations, he, along with five of his siblings, was removed from his family when he was 18 months old and institutionalised for nearly 13 years. It was only after years of separation that he was reunited with his mother and three younger siblings. 

“I was fortunate to have grown up with five other family members, but there are people still looking for their connection.” 

The rap created by the MMIGP hip hop group is being remastered and will be released as a music video on YouTube in the lead-up to the final part of the project – a gig later this year at The Backyard, an amazing courtyard off Civic Lane, Ringwood, filled with murals by women artists, including a mural of MMIGP women. 

Every year, Council acknowledges the importance of Reconciliation Week with a range of free events and activities. The week is an opportunity to: 

The theme for 2018 National Reconciliation Week was ‘Don’t Keep History a Mystery: Learn. Share. Grow’. 

This year, NRW invites Australians to ‘Learn, Share, Grow’ by exploring their past, learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and cultures, and developing a deeper understanding of our national story.