While the national debate over celebrating Australia Day on January 26 rages on, one town in WA’s Wheatbelt will celebrate three days of Indigenous culture and storytelling over the long weekend.
Key points:
- Ballardong First will run over three days starting on January 26
- It’s based on the national campaign for Australia day We’re all part of the story
- It’s a collaboration between a local Aboriginal corporation, York Shire and The York Festival
Australia Day activities in York, about 100 kilometres north of Perth, will begin with a traditional community breakfast, Welcome to Country and a united raising of the Australian and Aboriginal flags, as well as citizen of the year awards.
That evening, the Ballardong First festival will be launched with an on-country cultural performance, talks and arts workshops.
Ballardong is the Noongar language representing Indigenous people to the north-east of Perth.
It is a joint project between the Bilya Gogulyar Boodja (BGB) Aboriginal Corporation, The York Festival and the Shire of York.
BGB chairman Dennis Kickett said many Aboriginal people did celebrate Australia Day while others wanted the date changed.
“We need to move forward on that, it’s about moving forward together,” he said.
“It’s about a reconciliation, that’s where we are coming from and hopefully, by educating people and showing people that we can work in collaboration on the same day.
“We understand what happened on that day.
“We are saying to our local community, you need to acknowledge what happened for us to move forward, and we move forward together rather than isolating ourselves.”
The national campaign for Australia Day this year is around the theme “we’re all part of the story”.
“We are a community and we need to be working as a community,” Mr Kickett said.
“Because we’re part of community, same as the non-Aboriginal people, we’re not going anywhere, you’re not getting anywhere.
“So it’s just about working together and hopefully we will have better outcomes in the future.”
Bringing the community together
Shire President Kevin Trent said the Shire of York proposed an event as part of its newly minted reconciliation action plan, and BGB together with The York Festival developed the program.
“Obviously, it’s being held on Australia Day when [many] Aboriginals across Australia believe it was an invasion day,” he said.
“The shire is hosting a barbecue in the morning and flag raising and then we’ll be naturalising two new people to become Australians.
“So it’s not in opposition … but it’s allowing them to have this function to acknowledge what’s gone on.”
Cr Trent said it was important the shire maintained a leadership role in the process of reconciliation.
“We’re working towards this reconciliation, we have a committee whose objective is to bring the community together rather than divide the community,” he said.
“We acknowledge that the Aboriginal people were here well before we came along.”
Mr Kickett said he hoped Ballardong First would become an annual event.
“We can maybe like plant the seed in York by doing this Ballardong First,” he said.