Thousands join the Walk for Truth to confront Victoria's colonial past
Commissioner Travis Lovett walked over 500km in the Walk for Truth, a Yoorrook Justice Commission initiative to inform Victorians about colonisation's impact. The walk, from Portland to Parliament House, drew more than 12,000 participants.
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Sydney Morning Herald
13 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
A message stick, aching feet and great expectations as truth walk ends
No gift, this. It was a demand concerning what the crowd believed was long-overdue justice: the first treaty between an Australian state and the people of the First Nations. Premier Jacinta Allan was exposed to the gravity of the moment, too. A long line of traditional owners and elders presented her with a series of message sticks from their communities across the state, and they whispered to her the meaning of these hand-hewn objects and their hopes. There seemed to be a sigh around the packed Queen's Hall of parliament when Allan spoke the word 'treaty'. The work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the premier said, had brought hard truths into the light 'truths that for a long time have been silenced, have been ignored or indeed denied; truths that are not easy to hear. However, they must be reckoned with, because justice, genuine justice, begins with the telling of the truth'. When the final report of the commission was presented to parliament next month, it would not be the end of anything. Loading 'Truth marks the beginning,' she said. 'We know the important work of the commission will inform negotiations on treaty.' Lovett is deputy chair of the Yoorrook commission, which has spent the past four years gathering the personal stories of Victoria's Aboriginal community that tell a larger story: of the pain and manifold injustices experienced by Aboriginal people since colonisation began in Victoria 191 years ago. That truth was the word of the day was no surprise: Yoorrook means truth in the Wamba Wamba language of north-west Victoria, and Lovett's trek was called the Walk for Truth. More than 12,000 people joined him for various sections of it, which began on May 25 in Portland – site of the first European settlement in the state. The path wended along highways and byways, diverting regularly to sites sacred to the people of several language groups, and to sites haunted by old massacres. Rain, chilled winds and sunshine alternated, and Lovett went through seven pairs of walking shoes. The commission's chair, Wergaia/Wamba Wamba elder Professor Eleanor Bourke, said Yoorrook's work did not occur over just the past four years – its foundations had been set by the elders of the past, and many young people were now taking responsibility for the future. She said she was struck that parliament's Queen's Hall had been named in 1887 for Queen Victoria's Jubilee – celebrating her 50-year reign. Bourke said her grandmother had been born that same year. Loading 'She was born on a mission, and she grew up on a mission,' she said. And though Queen Victoria's years on the throne might have been 'victorious', there were many massacres of Australian Aboriginal people during that same period, Bourke said. But now the stories had finally been told by First Nations people themselves and recorded by the commission, 'we are in a good position to build and rebuild'.
The Age
13 hours ago
- The Age
A message stick, aching feet and great expectations as truth walk ends
No gift, this. It was a demand concerning what the crowd believed was long-overdue justice: the first treaty between an Australian state and the people of the First Nations. Premier Jacinta Allan was exposed to the gravity of the moment, too. A long line of traditional owners and elders presented her with a series of message sticks from their communities across the state, and they whispered to her the meaning of these hand-hewn objects and their hopes. There seemed to be a sigh around the packed Queen's Hall of parliament when Allan spoke the word 'treaty'. The work of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, the premier said, had brought hard truths into the light 'truths that for a long time have been silenced, have been ignored or indeed denied; truths that are not easy to hear. However, they must be reckoned with, because justice, genuine justice, begins with the telling of the truth'. When the final report of the commission was presented to parliament next month, it would not be the end of anything. Loading 'Truth marks the beginning,' she said. 'We know the important work of the commission will inform negotiations on treaty.' Lovett is deputy chair of the Yoorrook commission, which has spent the past four years gathering the personal stories of Victoria's Aboriginal community that tell a larger story: of the pain and manifold injustices experienced by Aboriginal people since colonisation began in Victoria 191 years ago. That truth was the word of the day was no surprise: Yoorrook means truth in the Wamba Wamba language of north-west Victoria, and Lovett's trek was called the Walk for Truth. More than 12,000 people joined him for various sections of it, which began on May 25 in Portland – site of the first European settlement in the state. The path wended along highways and byways, diverting regularly to sites sacred to the people of several language groups, and to sites haunted by old massacres. Rain, chilled winds and sunshine alternated, and Lovett went through seven pairs of walking shoes. The commission's chair, Wergaia/Wamba Wamba elder Professor Eleanor Bourke, said Yoorrook's work did not occur over just the past four years – its foundations had been set by the elders of the past, and many young people were now taking responsibility for the future. She said she was struck that parliament's Queen's Hall had been named in 1887 for Queen Victoria's Jubilee – celebrating her 50-year reign. Bourke said her grandmother had been born that same year. Loading 'She was born on a mission, and she grew up on a mission,' she said. And though Queen Victoria's years on the throne might have been 'victorious', there were many massacres of Australian Aboriginal people during that same period, Bourke said. But now the stories had finally been told by First Nations people themselves and recorded by the commission, 'we are in a good position to build and rebuild'.
ABC News
14 hours ago
- ABC News
Long walk for truth and Victoria's plan for treaty
Cheers erupted among the thousands of people gathered on the steps of Victoria Parliament as the Yoorrook Justice Commissioner, Travis Lovett, reached his destination after 508 kilometres and 25 days of walking. "The silence ends here, the time of not knowing, of choosing not to know, is over," Commissioner Lovett told the sea of supporters. "Truth-telling is not a ritual, it's not symbolic. It's a reckoning, it's a commitment to change. Truth-telling is treaty in motion. "The work of truth-telling, of treaty, of transformation, that belongs to us all now." Commissioner Lovett set out on the Walk for Truth on Gunditjmara land, his traditional country in Portland, where first European settlement began in Victoria. His walk is one of the final steps of the state's four-year truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission, ahead of a "new chapter" with an official report detailing the impacts of colonisation on Victoria's First Peoples. The findings will also inform Victoria's statewide treaty, currently being negotiated between First Nations people and the government — the first of its kind in the country. "In our culture, [we] listen before we talk," Commissioner Lovett told the ABC. "Before the treaty, we need to have the truth to understand what has happened to our people, and what is continually happening." The walk began with 500 people, swelling to around 3,000 in Melbourne for the final day. Conversations on the road focused on the past and the present. Participants opened their hearts during the walk. Like Stolen Generations survivor Lionel Dukasis, who met cousins for the first time during the journey, an experience that reinforced the power of family for him. "When I'm on the phone to my kids or grandkids I tell them I love them, because I never heard that and as a kid those are the words you want to hear: 'I love you,'" Mr Dukasis said. The commissioner of the country's first truth-telling body stood tall as he handed over a message stick marked with symbols, initials and markings from people along the way — one "he carried for all Victorians". "This message stick comes with expectations that the government will implement Yoorrook's recommendations," Commissioner Lovett said. It was also for the opposition, who withdrew their bipartisan support for treaty soon after Victorians delivered a majority no vote in the Voice referendum. "We are coming in here to give this to you. We as people have expectations on them too … for them to support truth-telling and treaty." Commissioner Lovett had also exchanged message sticks from Country to Country as he walked across the state to meet the Victorian premier today. "When we walk through other people's Country, we have always taken a message stick to let them know our intentions," the proud Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man said. "These message sticks are about truth, they are about expectations, they are about learning from history." The route was mapped out with guidance from local traditional owners of each town. "We began where the first wounds were struck into the earth, where footsteps came ashore not as visitors but as claimants, where the smoke of fires long burning were ignored and where our presence was declared absent," he said to the thousands who gathered on the steps of Parliament House. "A path drawn across Country, never straight, never simple. It bent with memory, with resistance, with the shape of old scars but new hope." Commissioner Lovett said he walked for his children and for other children so they could "dance in celebration". His journey was inspired by activists who stood on the steps with placards, like Wurundjeri leader William Barak who made the trek to Parliament House to fight for change. "Since 1856, parliament has made decisions that have controlled and segregated First Peoples' lives, but it's also the place where we can transform our futures, not just for First Peoples but for all Victorians," Commissioner Lovett told the ABC. It has been an almost month-long journey through torrential rain, pockets of hail, and wintry sunshine. The conversations revisited painful memories of the past but there were also moments of laughter and joy, described by some as a "transformative energy". "We're here to walk together in unity," Commissioner Lovett told hundreds of attendees in Geelong. "We're not blaming everyday Australians for what has happened to our people. "We are asking for the institutions to be accountable for the institutional harm that they've caused, and the current systems that are still informed and embedded by their colonial roots." Walkers would often hear Commissioner Lovett refer to himself as an "emu" — his strides so long and fast that attendees jested it should be a "Run for Truth" not a Walk for Truth. Lionel Dukakis, the First Nations traffic management director, was essential to the success of the walk. Wearing a hi-vis vest directing traffic, he ensured the safety of the particpants. "Walking for all those days or sitting in the truck, protecting the crowd and travel and all that is paramount. But [the highlight was] meeting cousins for the first time at 63 that I'd never met in my life," the Gunditjmara man said. At just 18 months old, Mr Dukakis was forcibly removed from his family under the power of government policies at the time. He would spend his life between institutions and a foster family. It's an experience almost too difficult to talk about. "I'd have to tell you personally it was hell on Earth for us, the way we're treated," he reflected. He has turned his adversity into success running a business and raising a big, loving family. "Being part of history is really what it is about for me and a legacy that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren will read about in years to come," he said from his truck. Lionel was one of the 9,000 First Nations people who engaged with the Yoorrook Commission. Victoria has the highest rates of Aboriginal child removal in the country, and it is one of the issues that the commissioners raised in their 46 urgent interim recommendations two years ago — to give decision-making power and resources back to First Peoples, negotiated through a treaty. The government accepted 30 recommendations to varying degrees, six in full, with a further 13 under consideration. Commissioners were "beyond disappointed at the lack of action", condemning the government's decision to toughen bail laws and backflip on a commitment to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. The Yoorrook Commission has heard from 229 witnesses, including the Victorian premier eliciting 16 government apologies, notably from the Victorian police commissioner. Another 100 recommendations will be laid out in the final report that will be tabled in parliament by the end of this month. It will be reviewed before the government's official response. "Our people as First Peoples get to write the full history of what's happened," Commissioner Lovett said. The Yoorrook Justice Commision report will bring a statewide treaty closer to reality. In Parliament House, traditional owners handed over message sticks directly to Premier Jacinta Allan. "Truth does not end today, rather truth marks a beginning," Ms Allan told politicians and First Nations leaders who had gathered. "We know the important work of the commission will inform negotiations on treaty now and into the future. "Negotiations on treaty that will ultimately lead us back to this place Naarm. "So to the members of parliament who are here today, it will come back to this place and present us with that historic transformative opportunity to create a foundation on which justice is built and on which healing can begin and where real lasting change can take route." Ngarra Murray, a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Dhudhuroa woman, is in the room negotiating with the Victorian government as the co-chair of the First People's Assembly, established with a mandate to negotiate treaty. "That call was really strong from our community, that we can't have treaty without truth," Ms Murray said. "We know that treaty is the pathway to a better future for our people … whether it's child protection, the criminal justice system, whether it is health, housing or education." Ms Murrays great-grandfather was Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls, an activist who was part of the Day of Mourning calling for rights for Aboriginal people in 1938. "We come from strong blood," she said. "It's a responsibility that we have, and it has been a lot of contributions of our old people to get us to where we are today." The government says they hope to sign a treaty ahead of the state election next year. "We're working really hard across the parliament and the political sphere to bring people on this journey with us," Ms Murray said. Victoria has embarked on a "hybrid" approach in which statewide treaties will be negotiated alongside local treaties with traditional owner groups. "The expectations are really high. It's the very first treaty and there's only so much we can achieve in the first one. That is why there will be many treaties," she said. At the local level, Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) recently became the first group to register to start treaty negotiations with the Victorian government. Gunditjmara man Reuben Berg, also co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly, explained that this treaty will be groundbreaking. "It's not intended that this first treaty will resolve all those matters, but it's going to set a framework so that we can continue to have those conversations and wherever possible, place decision making in the hands of First Peoples," he said. A key aspiration for the First Peoples' Assembly is to be an ongoing representative body for shared decision-making, such as keeping the government to account on Closing the Gap targets. "My hope [is] for a First Peoples' Assembly that can make decisions about First Peoples' business," Mr Berg told the crowd in Melbourne. He invited everyone to continue to walk with them as the end of Yoorrook drew to a close and their work continues to negotiate the first statewide treaty. "At the moment [we're] a democratically elected body of First Peoples solely focused on treaty," Mr Berg said. "We want to see that body evolve into a much stronger body that can actually talk directly to parliament." 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