Be A Voice For Generations – National Reconciliation Week 2023
What a great theme, what a great challenge: Be A Voice For Generations. In the Reconciliation Victoria May 2023 eNews, CEO Nicole Findlay writes “this year’s theme gives us a chance to reflect on reconciliation leaders who have championed change and put truth-telling at the heart of our healing and cultural learning journeys”.
Uluru Statement from the Heart: Basic Truths
It was wonderful to receive a message from Sr Denise McKay recently describing the overwhelming sense of gratitude experienced by all those who attended the historic South Australian Voice to Parliament. They witnessed the Bill pass through both Houses of Parliament, with the Governor signing the Act into law “before our eyes”. In the hopes […]
Queensland Josephites Support Uluru Statement from the Heart
The Josephites in Queensland have been on a journey for a number of months. On Tuesday 14 February, we reached an important milestone. This journey has led us to a deeper understanding of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and its significance for our Indigenous brothers and sisters. Previously, in order to show our support, […]
Concerning an Indigenous Voice to Parliament
This year, we will have a once in a generation opportunity to fundamentally change our story. Australians in 2023 are being given a chance to respond with a ‘yes’ in the referendum as to whether First Nations Peoples gain a voice in matters that overwhelmingly affect them. How can we be a true commonwealth, a […]
“We Say Sorry” – National Apology to Stolen Generations
Today (13 February) we commemorate the first-ever national apology made by a Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) to initialise in 2008 the Australian Federal Government’s rehabilitation, justice, and reconciliation agenda for Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, and the tens of thousands of Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families during Australia’s assimilation era. […]
Indigenous women defend a sacred river in Peru
To commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August), Barbara Fraser, a freelance journalist based in Lima, Peru, shares a story about how Indigenous women are defending a sacred river in Peru. Like most Kukama women in Peru’s northeastern Amazonian region, Mari Luz Canaquiri’s life centers on the Marañón River.
A Māori Way of looking at the world
To commemorate the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples (9 August), Sr Makareta Tawaroa reports from Whanganui Aotearoa New Zealand. I live in my marae (village) among my own whanau (family). I am just another member of our whanau. This is where I am most at home. We are part of the land, […]
Rejoicing in the changes we see, but longing for more
National Apology to the Stolen Generations – 13 February The shifts in attitude to our ‘National Day’ (26 January) were plain to see this year, as we watched the hugely diverse crowds in largely peaceful protest marches across the land (despite Covid) and listened to the reflections of Australians of all ages and nationalities. They […]
Indigenous People Offer Us A Deeper, More Inclusive World
“Think I might be a litte bit in love with Ruby Tui. Bringing te reo to the BBC. Best Olympic interview yet!” Black Fern Ruby Tui’s interview about their win in the women’s rugby sevens Olympic semi-final inspired this Facebook comment from a friend in England. The Black Ferns are predominantly Māori women and […]
What Did Julian Tenison Woods Say About Indigenous Australians?
When the ordained ministry of Julian Tenison Woods began in Penola in 1855 he soon saw the conditions under which the local Aboriginal people lived. What he observed raised concerns that remained with him for the rest of his life. Several times, on his various journeys, he wrote about the Aboriginal people he encountered.
NAIDOC Week 2021: Spotlight on Ministry – Sr Michele Madigan
Michele Madigan is a Sister of Saint Joseph who has been involved with Aboriginal people in South Australia for about 40 years. She has ministered in Port Adelaide, in the bush, and most recently has worked in the Murraylands, East of Adelaide for nearly 20 years. Sr Michele is also involved with the SA Reconciliation […]
NAIDOC Week 2021: The SOSJ Reconciliation Action Plan Journey
This year’s NAIDOC week theme, “Heal Country”, encourages us to take practical action to “properly work towards redressing historical injustice”. Over the last year the Sisters of Saint Joseph have taken a further step forward by developing a Reconciliation Action Plan, using Reconciliation Australia’s framework.