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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-05-31 Daily Xml
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Waite Electorate

Ms HUTCHESSON (Waite) (15:16): It is Reconciliation Week, and I will start by saying Naa marni. Marni naa pudni. Kaurna Miyurna ngadlu. Kaurna yarta tampinithi. Ngaitayla. I acknowledge we are here on Kaurna Yerta land, and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and also acknowledge other Aboriginal people who may be here from other lands today. I thank my brother, or my yungandalya, Uncle Tamaru, not only for schooling me in Kaurna language but for taking the time to explain to me how he is feeling and what he feels needs to be done to walk side by side towards reconciliation.

On Sunday it was Blackwood's turn to join in the celebration of Reconciliation Week with our own Blackwood reconciliation group, one of the longest running groups in Australia, organising their annual walk. Over 500 people joined each other in the pouring rain to walk for justice, to walk for reconciliation and to walk side by side.

The walk itself is a little over 2½ kilometres, starting in the heart of Blackwood at the War Memorial. We were led on a journey by Ngangki Warra group to Colebrook Reserve. Colebrook Reserve was home to Colebrook Home in the 1960s and early 1970s until it closed in 1972. It was a home to many Aboriginal children who had been taken from their families under the government policies of the time. The reserve serves as a reminder of what happened but also as a place of reflection, education and support to survivors of the stolen generation.

Ngangki Warra are a female cultural group who aim to amplify women's voices, and they did just that. Once we arrived at Colebrook, they welcomed us to Kaurna Yerta, encouraging us all to sing with one voice and to stamp the ground together to wake the elders past, and the crowd definitely responded. The group was led by the strong words of Ashum Owen and Taylor Power, and they were supported by young Miss Layla Pilyapilya Power, an 84 year old, whose name, Pilyapilya, means butterfly. Her mum and her aunty let us know that she is definitely living up to her namesake as a social butterfly. Layla encouraged the crowd for an encore of the Niina Marni song, and it was just lovely.

After the welcome, we were all pleased to hear Coromandel Valley Primary School sing I am Australian, not just in English but in Auslan and also in Kaurna. They even had solos, and it brought tears to the eyes of many in attendance. It was so wonderful that our primary schools are taking the time to learn language, to learn about what happened and to share with our community.

The singing did not stop there, though, with local kindy kids taking to the stage to sing the Colebrook Song. The song itself was written by Eden Hills Kindergarten, Darlington kindy and Dianne Grigg, with the music composed by Jen Lush, and it tells the story of Colebrook and how we need to work together. The children sang, 'This land was home to the Colebrook children, taken from places far away. They cried for their lost families, seeking kinship ties.' It goes on to say, 'These trees remember the little children, playing games and knuckle bones. We remember their stories, honouring their voices.' This was an emotional part of the morning for me, as I looked to the big, majestic trees and wondered what they have seen in all of the time they have been there. Then as I looked down and saw children playing and singing, the sense of injustice of what happened to the Colebrook children and all stolen generation peoples could not have been any clearer.

Following the song, we actually heard from some of these stolen generation children with Uncle Graham Mckenzie and Uncle Raymond Finn sharing some of the stories of their childhood at Colebrook and their hopes for a better future. Their words were poignant and reminded us all of why we were there and why we need reconciliation.

The day concluded with speeches from our own Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs from the other place, the Hon. Kyam Maher. I thank him for coming to such an important occasion. I would like to thank my other parliamentary colleagues for coming up to show their respects also: the member for Badcoe, the member for Elder, the member for Reynell and the federal member for Boothby, Louise Miller-Frost.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the members of the Blackwood Reconciliation Group for organising another successful walk. The group continues to bring our community together to help with education and to provide a place for people to share common interests. To all of our community who came along, thank you. Regardless of the weather, it was pouring, bucketing at one point, we all came, we walked together and sang with one voice, a voice for the generations in our march for reconciliation. Ngaitalya.

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