CANTERBURY BANKSTOWN CONNECTING RESOURCE LAUNCHED NOV 2018 Project Implementation 2017 Arab Council Australia acknowledges the traditional country of the Dharug people on whose land our office stands. We recognise and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs and ongoing relationship with the land. Arab Council Australia also acknowledges other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander language groups in the Canterbury Bankstown Local Government Area. We acknowledge elders past, present and emerging. Sovereignty never ceded. Contents Foreword 3 The Canterbury Bankstown Story 4 About the Project 7 Project Implementation 9 Key Outcomes - One to One Consultations 10 Forums in Detail 12 Forum Outcomes & Highlights 16 Forum Feedback 19 Key Learnings 20 Appendix 1 – Selected Slides from Forums 21 Appendix 2 - Participating Organisations 24 Appendix 3 – Collaboration Tools 25 Appendix 4 – Useful Resources 28 Canterbury Bankstown Connecting P a g e | 2 © Arab Council Australia Slides from Forum 1 resulting from one to one consultations Foreword Collaboration, and its benefits, is bandied about in every industry and sector. It is not a new idea, nor a passing fad. We all know what it is and that the community is enriched by it. The question is not “what is collaboration”, but rather “how do we collaborate sustainably?” There are no magical answers or methods to successful and sustainable collaborations, nor one particular way to go about it. It is not a matter of ticking a series of boxes and arriving at an end goal. What is at the heart of any successful collaboration, is a space that facilitates communication, builds trust and deep engagement around a common purpose. In our sector, having the community at the centre of our work is our common purpose. The Canterbury Bankstown Connecting (CBC) Project was established with the aim of engaging diverse community organisations across a newly merged Local Government Area (LGA) to build sustainable collaborations. Collaborations were already underway in the Canterbury and Bankstown areas, so we did not need to go to the basics. Instead, the project capitalised on the strengths of the organisations, reinforced the sustainability of existing collaborations and broadened connections within the newly amalgamated area. Though the nature of funding is competitive, the shared values and interests of the community sector naturally lend themselves to leveraging skills, resources and impact through collaboration. Collective ownership is crucial to sustainable collaborations. Knowing this, we made the conscious decision to practice collaboration from the start and lead by stepping back. We began by engaging and consulting CEOs of some key local organisations. These one-to-one meetings informed the content and focus of the forums, and each forum that followed informed the agenda and direction of the next. CEOs also took turns to chair the forums and we alternated venues between Canterbury and Bankstown. Collective ownership was further reinforced when together we created the Canterbury Bankstown story at the first forum. Developing this story highlighted how inextricably linked the two areas are and reinforced the shared history and contribution of each organisation. While the project came to an end in 2017, a commitment to sustaining community collaborations is evident on all fronts with CEOs of participating organisations committing to meeting four times a year to advance on issues of common concern. It has been a privilege to have worked on this project together and on behalf of Arab Council Australia I would like extend warm thanks to Canterbury Bankstown Council for funding this project; Uncle Harry Allie for delivering the acknowledgement to country; Chester Hill Neighbourhood Centre, Canterbury City Community Centre and Riverwood Community Centre for their support and the CEOs of these organisations for facilitating the forums; Woodville Alliance and Ms Nada Nasser, the then General Manager of Community Initiatives, for facilitating activities in forum 1 and 2; Dr Paul Porteous, Adjunct Associate Professor at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis and Director of the Centre for Social Leadership, for facilitating the last two forums; and Zahia Charida, the project manager for her energy and dedicated work. Thanks also to all the organisations and individuals who took part in this initiative. Thank you for your commitment and openness to collaborate - with purpose - in our corner of the world. We hope you find this resource useful and we look forward to a future of ongoing partnerships and sustainable collaborations across Canterbury Bankstown and beyond. Randa Kattan CEO Arab Council Australia Canterbury Bankstown Connecting P a g e | 3 © Arab Council Australia The Canterbury Bankstown Story The Canterbury Bankstown Story, as outlined in these pages, is the collective recollection of the organisations that participated during the forum series. The story began In Forum 1 by asking participants to recall and document on a timeline chart, significant events for their organisation and the local community, dating back to the 1970s. The timeline continued to be displayed throughout the forum series as a reference and so that participants could continue to add to it. Details on how to run this story is available in the relevant appendix of this report The original inhabitants of the City of Canterbury Bankstown were the Bidjigal, Dharug and Gweagal Aboriginal people with the Dharug language group being the largest in the area. Aboriginal societies lived in the area for many of thousands of years before European colonisation and settlement. Reminders of their life, culture and relationship with the land can be found throughout the area particularly along the Georges and Cooks Rivers including rock paintings and camping sites. Among the surviving artworks is one labelled by archaeologists as a rarity in the Sydney region and is located at Undercliffe along the Cooks river. The paintings and etchings in this rock shelter are believed to be around one to five thousand years old. An incident in 1809 of local resistance to white settlement that involved the Aboriginal Elder Tedbury, a son of Pemulwy, has been commemorated on a heritage panel in Punchbowl. At the turn of the 20th Century Bankstown Council and Canterbury Council had both been established. Though separate council areas, cross-boundary unity between Bankstown and Canterbury would often occur, symbolised by the historic birth of the NRL Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs in 1935. By the 1970s, Canterbury and Bankstown became the home for an influx of new migrants arriving in Australia predominantly from Vietnam and Lebanon. With the rapidly changing demographics came the need to set up services to support and facilitate their settlement. A succession of organisations and community centres soon followed. At the start of the decade the Chester Hill Neighbourhood centre was established, as well as the founding of the Canterbury City Community Centre and Creating Links in Bankstown. The Imam Ali bin Abi Taleb Mosque in Lakemba was built and the Riverwood Community Centre was established out of the formation of the ‘Voices of Riverwood’ committee. Individual community members also played a significant role in instigating change. In the mid-70s volunteer Ulla Bartels began home tutoring for Indo-Chinese refugees in Fairfield - the humble beginnings of the Woodville Alliance (known then as Woodville Community Services). At the height of Lebanese migration in the late 1970s the first Arab secular organisation was established in 1979 known as the Arab Welfare Workers Interagency, which eventually came to be known as Arab Council Australia. Bankstown achieved city status in 1980 that was announced during a visit by Queen Elizabeth II, and the community along with local services continued to grow. The Muslim Women’s Association (MWA), the Belmore Lakemba Youth Committee and The Multicultural Network (known then as Bankstown Area Multicultural Network or BAMN) came into being and the Area Assistance Scheme (AAS) was expanded across the state, shaping much of the community work in Canterbury and Bankstown. As new migrants continued to settle in the area so too did the establishment of services to assist in their resettlement. The Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), Muslim Women Support Centre for families who are affected by violence (led by MWA) Metro Assist (known then as the Canterbury Bankstown Migrant Resource Centre), Recreation Sports & Aquatics Club and Bankstown Multicultural Youth Service all began working with the local communities. In the 1990s local, national and international events impacted and challenged both the Canterbury and Bankstown communities. The Gulf War of 1991 created division and tension amongst the local community. Services continued to be established with the Belmore Youth Resource Centre opening Canterbury Bankstown Connecting P a g e | 4 © Arab Council Australia in 1994. The Muslim Foster Care program was also introduced in this decade. Towards the end of the 90s the Bankstown City Council administration building was completely destroyed by an accidental fire and Council offices were relocated to Bankstown Civic Tower. In 1998, Arab Council Australia offered its apology to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. In 1998 young local Edward Lee was fatally stabbed in Punchbowl, closely followed with a drive by shooting of Lakemba Police station. These events resulted