Great opportunity to ‘Keep Fires Burning’

The Bankstown Education Consultative Group adviser says it’s about keeping the fire going in your heart and not taking the results of The Voice referendum laying down.
“We have to keep the fight going to reveal our history and to show that society is still being affected by the era of the stolen generations which can be seen still happening,” she said.
“We see many families that are being split up with their kids being sent into care which is wrong; if these were families of another culture, services would be more like to work with them to overcome challenges.”
Conducting cultural talks at schools and events, Aunty Lyn said her role was to explain to the non-Indigenous what life was like before the white man arrived, where they wanted for nothing.
She explained that the hurt felt by the Indigenous was still very raw but events like Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week were a good start and an opportunity to educate.
“Most people don’t realise that NAIDOC started as a ‘day of mourning’ in 1938 in the fight for better living conditions and Aboriginal rights; we were only given the right to vote in the 1960s,” she said.
“NAIDOC Week now is a time to impart knowledge and help others become culturally aware; it’s also a day of celebration for us because we are still here and not going anywhere.”