Vol. No. Vol. 2818No. 7 27
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TAKING STOCK: Balmoral’s Glenelg Regional Merino Field Day saw 71 of the 95 rams offered sold, for an average of $2362 and a top price of $8000. Awards were given to Glenera North for the best group of sale rams, Glenpaen for champion long wool sale ram, and Stud Park South for champion short wool sale ram. Field day president Warren Russell said the event offered wool growers and sheep breeders the opportunity to see what animals were available locally, while enjoying a day out. Sarah Harvey and Holly Wittig are pictured at the event on Monday. For more pictures and stories, see The Weekly Advertiser’s next edition of AgLife, on August 27. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Reconciliation talks B
BY LAUREN HENRY
roadening people’s understanding of reconciliation and Indigenous-related issues will be the focus of a community-led event at Natimuk next week.
A Community Conversation on Reconciliation will be on Tuesday, from 6pm to 8pm, at the NC2 building, at 62 Main Street, Natimuk. The event is a response to a community-identified need for a respectful space to deepen its understanding of reconciliation. It comes after community unrest following the release of Parks Victoria’s Dyurrite Cultural Landscape Management Plan. The plan proposes to close more rock climbing routes at Mount Ara-
piles in an effort to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage sites. Uncle Charles Pakana, founder and editor of Victorian Aboriginal News, and Professor Andrew Gunstone, cochair Reconciliation Victoria, will be guest speakers at the event. Mr Gunstone, also executive director of the National Centre for Reconciliation, Truth, and Justice, and Mr Pakana have spoken at many community events throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria. “The aim of the event is to engage the local community in discussing reconciliation and a range of related areas, such as truth-telling, allyship, community engagement, education, and self-determination,” Mr Gunstone said. He said he hoped people in attend-
ance would learn, discuss, reflect, and engage in respectful dialogues on reconciliation. Shared, Not Shut campaign manager, Climbing Victoria board member and Natimuk resident Melissa Edwards said while access to Mount Arapiles was a catalyst for the community discussions, the event came about from a community need for proactive moves towards understanding and learning about reconciliation. “The event is not, at all, about the issues of the mount. That’s not expertise of Uncle Charles or Andrew Gunstone. They’re not from this region or involved in that process at all,” she said. “But more broadly speaking, we’ll be discussing reconciliation, how to be an ally, people may want to ask
questions about Indigenous rights and about land rights – those broader themes absolutely may be discussed.” Ms Edwards said it was the community’s first opportunity to sit down with each other and understand what reconciliation meant. She said Barengi Gadjin Land Council, BGLC, representatives had also been invited to the event. “There’s definitely a tension in town at the moment – we can fully acknowledge that’s happening,” Ms Edwards said. “That tension, I very personally feel like is manifested from poor governance and poor processes delivered by our government and by Parks Victoria. “I wouldn’t say that prior to this, there was any tension at all. “If anything, there was a connection
that was very evident between the local Indigenous community and the local community at Natimuk. “It’s a real shame to see that poor process has manifested an issue, and part of this event – coming from the community – is our proactive steps towards trying to look after ourselves because we’ve asked the government, we’ve asked the minister and we’ve asked Parks Victoria to deliver a reconciliation-led process and to consider how their poor governance has led to this point, and they haven’t done anything to respond to that.” Ms Edwards said reconciliation discussions were particularly important as the State Government worked towards Treaty with Indigenous people in Victoria. Continued page 3
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