Minister for Indigenous Australians
Minister Wyatt:
Craig, thank you very much. Thank you, Prime Minister, and thank you, Jude, for your welcome to country and I acknowledge your people, the Ngunnawal people, the Elders past and present and those who are emerging. And Craig and Jodie, thank you to you and AIATSIS for hosting us today.
Heather, I’m glad you’re with us because when I was roughly six I met Sir Robert and I thought he was a giant. When I had to look up, all I saw was this imposing individual, but who spoke gently. What I didn’t realise was that he had been responsible as Prime Minister for putting into place AIATSIS, which is a great initiative under the concept proposed by Billy Wentworth at the time. And I thank you and your family for that.
It’s great to join you all virtually at this event, although I would have loved to have been there. And I know that my two WA colleagues, Minister Ben Morton and Minister Nola Marino would also have enjoyed the opportunity to be there with us. But what I do appreciate is their incredible support in walking through all of the elements that were important for us to achieve today’s announcement.
In the language of my Noongar ancestors here in Perth, Kaya Wanju – Hello and welcome to this historic occasion. I really give my sincere appreciation to the Ngunnawal people of Canberra because it’s on their country that Ngurra – the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural precinct and the National Resting Place will stand.
Ngurra will be a place where our story is told through our voices and where all Australians have the opportunity to engage with the truth about the strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. It’ll be a place where we tell the whole story of Indigenous Australians. It is our whole story that our fellow Australians will be able to see and understand through the incredible trove of information and records that are kept within AIATSIS.
What it will tell is that we are desert people, rainforest people, saltwater people and freshwater people. That we live in remote places and in cities and suburbs, that we carry the world’s oldest living culture and are part of modern, multicultural Australia as well.
Through this kind of truth telling, we move forward together to build on our collective history and share the knowledge of those things that are our strength. But those points in which pain was experienced, but shows the resilience of our people in working and walking to a better future for our children and our great grandchildren.
This project is about homecoming reconciliation and healing, and within Ngurra, the diversity of our Indigenous communities will be represented. The spirits of ancestors, will find the resting place and the generations alive today and those still to come. Will find a place where their story is celebrated in the heart of our nation.
I look forward to the day when this place we’ve so long imagined, becomes a reality and we finally have what this nation needs a place of rest, respect, healing and truth.
Finally, Prime Minister, I’d like to thank you personally for supporting this important project. I know that your understanding of our issues, your engagement with our people, the yarns that you’ve had and the way in which you’ve engaged on many of the initiatives our government has worked through has been one of a genuine heart.
And I know that in my discussions with both you and Jenny, your levels of commitment to the work that we want to achieve and the outcomes that we aspire to leave for future generations, our grandchildren and great grandchildren to have a better understanding of Indigenous Australians place in the history of our nation. But also equally, the understanding of those who come from across the waters, as we build a greater nation and take our place in a global community that is powerful, that represents who we are, in essence and in spirit, but in the make-up of a great nation. Thank you.
