Aboriginalboriginal Way www.nativetitlesa.org Issue 77, Summer 2020 A publication of South Australian Native Title Services Above: Baker Boy performs to a large crowd at the opening of Tarnanthi 2019. Read full article on page 14. Photo: NatPhoto: Rogers. South Australia’s true history on show A new exhibition close to the of Aboriginal culture. And as we started “Kaurna have had a strong influence the The document was signed by King William site of South Australia’s original having discussions with Kaurna about entire way through. And you’ll see that their in 1836 to establish the state according proclamation tells Aboriginal what we might put in here, the theme of words are also on the wall. So this is by to British law and outlines various people’s stories about the state’s truth telling came to the forefront of what no means my voice or the City of Holdfast aspects of its management. foundations alongside those of we were doing” she said. Bay’s voice. It’s our voice” she said. “There is a section in the Letters Patent, European settlers. “We realised that instead of telling one Ms Simpson said that the new exhibition it’s a paragraph that says that ‘Provided Tiati Wangkanthi Kumangka – Truth side of the story or the other side of the offers a valuable opportunity for people always Aboriginal people in South Australia Telling Together was launched at the story, we could actually do that together. to learn about the the reality of South have a right to occupy and use the land’. Bay Discovery Centre in the Glenelg So we saw an opportunity to bring the Australia’s origins. “Basically it’s a paragraph that says that Town Hall on Monday 9 December. narrative together and give people a strong understanding of South Australia’s “It’s about education and learning the when we settled, Europeans were meant The exhibit traces settler history in true history.” true history of their state. Hopefully from to consider the rights of Aboriginal people parallel with the historical experiences there we can begin to move forward” and their rights to occupy their land. So of Aboriginal people to create a In bringing those narratives together, Ms Simpson said. it acknowledged that Aboriginal people compelling and comprehensive view Ms Garnaut worked in partnership with were living in South Australia at the time.” “Whether people’s feelings about South of our state’s early years. Kaurna elders. Australia’s true history are positive or This document and the recognition it “I primarily worked with senior Kaurna, According to Local History Coordinator negative, it still needs to be discussed.” gave Aboriginal people was forgotten for Elder Lynette Crocker. Lynette has for a for the City of Holdfast Bay Julia Garnaut, many years in the face of ‘terra nullius’ very long time been tied into particularly For Ms Garnaut, nothing tells the truth the display grew out of a recognition of a a belief that the country was not owned topics around the Letters Patent and about the state’s formation more gap in the story being told by the museum. or legally occupied prior to settlement advocating for change. So Lynette and clearly than the Letters Patent, a crucial according to Ms Garnaut. “The museum we felt really lacked a I primarily wrote this together and then founding legal document that was on space where we were telling the story Merle Simpson also came in” she said. display at the Gallery on opening day. Continued on page 2 Inside: Aboriginal stories a success on screen 6 Stolen generations survivors lunch 8 A new home for Kura Yerlo community hub 10 Ngarrindjeri pipi business underway 13 South Australia’s true history on show Continued from page 1 Australia’s first Governor John Hindmarsh meeting with Kaurna leaders in what is And they’re reminded again during the on arriving in the new colony in 1836 now known as the Parklands” he said. campaign for Pitjantjatjara land rights in “We all had this understanding that is also on display at the exhibition. the 1970s. Australia was terra nullius when we “I’ve known that painting for a very long settled, when Cook arrived. But the The exhibition also features a striking time but it eventually struck me. There “So as I said at the outset, foundation history books and the facts will show animation of a Kaurna emu dreaming was an event that had all the hallmarks stories are important, and I hope this you that that is not true. So this story – Nganu and Tjilbruke: a tale of of a treaty ceremony, the sort of thing exhibition helps reset the record” Mr exhibition works to tell you what we think two heroes, which was produced by that’s characteristic of the sort of treaty Foster said. we know, and then what is also there Monash University in partnership with ceremonies in North America. For 200 Re-establishing a place for Kaurna and hidden in the history books” she said. Uncle Lewis O’Brien and other Kaurna years prior to this, leading members of Aboriginal culture in this key location community members. The video provides the Aboriginal communities would meet The story of the state’s origins is a significant glimpse of Kaurna culture with British representatives. Gifts would has been an important achievement illustrated with a wide range of historical prior to the arrival of the British. be exchanged. Both sides would make and can be a source of pride, according materials, many of which have been held speeches and negotiations would take to Ms Crocker. The works of historian Rober Foster in storage by the Council. place. These could be secure peace and feature in the exhbition and he spoke “This has been about giving a platform to friendship, or they could be negotiations “The City of Holdfast Bay has quite a at the opening event. Aboriginal people to explore the stories large collection of works, which date about war” Mr Foster explained. of the past but also their aspirations for He told those assembled that the to around European settlement, 1836” However while early meetings between the future.” materials held in the archive reveal an said Ms Garnaut. Kaurna people and the British resembled early commitment to respect between Ms Garnaut hopes that the exhibition treaty discussions seen around the world “We worked with Kaurna to choose a European and Kaurna peoples. will influence visitors to reconsider their during colonial times, these meetings range of those paintings that are now on established ideas about the state’s history. “Upstairs in the exhibition you’ll see were different he said. display, including some by John Michael a painting by Martha Berkeley and it “As we were working through the Skipper, a well known artist from the “This ceremony in 1838 had all those captures a ceremony in 1838. The exhibition, one of the strongest points colonial period” she said. features, except the last: negotiation. ceremony is sometimes referred to as we realised is that you can’t just tell It was all form without substance. The first copy of the Proclamation, the ‘Gawler’s Feast’. It shows the newly-arrived people something, can assume that statement read out on behalf of South Governor Gawler with his white feather “Those early settlers didn’t act upon the they are going to believe what you’re undertakings that were given. saying. People will always walk away from history with their own perceptions “These promises were not forgotten in and their own understandings of what later debates in the state” Mr Foster said. they’ve read or the main themes “People with good will, at least, they’ve grasped onto. remember them so at key moments “We realised that truth can mean throughout our history, South Australian a different thing to different people. leaders would be reminded of them. And so I guess with this exhibition, in “For instance, in 1921 when efforts were some ways what we’re saying is these made to establish the North-West Reserve, are the facts, make up your mind. what’s now Pitjantjatjara Lands, the What do you think? What is your truth governments were reminded of these things. and how is that shaped for you?” “In the mid 1960s, when Don Dunstan Tiati Wangkanthi Kumangka – Truth navigated the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act Telling Together is on at the Bay through Parliament, he quoted chapter Discovery Centre in the Glenelg and verse from these documents. Town Hall on Moseley Square. Above, left to right from top: Stephen Patterson MP, Aunty Lynette Crocker, Holdfast Bay Mayor Amanda Wilson and Kaurna man and shield maker Corey Turner with the original Letters Patent document; Lawyer Shaun Berg speaks at the launch; The Bay Discovery Centre is at the Glenelg Town Hall at Mosely Square; Historian Robert Foster; Tiati exhibtion; Julia Garnaut and Jack Buckskin; Tiati exhibition. 2 Aboriginal Way, Summer 2020 Rally for Walker Parliament House in Adelaide was led by Latoya Rule, whose brother was covered in red hand prints Wayne Fella Morrison died at the hands of as hundreds of protesters gathered guards at Yatala Labour Prison in 2016. in support of the Yuendumu Earlier that day, Senior Walpiri man Ned community and to call for justice Jampijinpa Hargraves told The Wire for Walpiri teenager Kumanjayi national current affairs program how Walker. The prints mirrored those Yuendumu community members were placed on the police station in feeling following the death. Yuendumu and Alice Springs by his family and community in “Yesterday we had a funeral, at around protest of his killing by police.