Boorloo’s (Perth) Forrest Place was filled with protestors on Friday as the annual stance against Australia Day and inequality for Indigenous Australians took place.
In the wake of the failed referendum to establish an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, community leaders voiced their anger and frustration surrounding ongoing racism, discrimination and disadvantage faced by many First Nations people.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following report contains images and voices of people who have died.
Elder Herbert Bropho said a new date to mark Australia’s history needed to be put forward to the government and the wadjela (white) community.
‘Let’s not make the date for our mob, let’s get the wadjela community and the government to make a date for us, so we can say to them, ‘No, that’s not the date, let’s think about a better date, a date where we can all come as one and celebrate as one.” Bropho said.
“I don’t care what your flag represents, it represents a calling that doesn’t recognise us. We are not recognised in your constitution.”
“When the No vote came through, we are no longer a race of people, we are just a race of people trying to find our way home. Where is my home? I am the First Australian and I always will be the First Australian.
Bropho said he hoped a new date could be found within the next 12 months.
Another speaker said the protest was not just about Australia’s Indigenous people, but also a movement of solidarity with people of colour around the world.
“There are so many coloured people around the whole world that are experiencing genocide and ethnic cleansing, and we haven’t been experiencing that for over 200 years.”
“Our families and our old people never ceded our sovereignty, our people never stood down and bowed down to the white colonisers and invaders that landed on the shores.
“They never bowed down and said, ‘Take our land, take out language, take our culture’. That never happened, our sovereignty is never ceded.
“Our old people did not die in the massacres across the country just to bow down to the colony. Raise your voice!” the said to loud appluase from the crowd.
“We have to stand strong as who we are as Black people in the face of the colony. We see it every day, our family is terrorised by the police, our family die in the health system. Our family die in the prisons. We need to be driving the change across the whole land.
“We need the government to be looking at new ways of working. We need to rip down these fucked-up systems that have killed and oppressed our people.
“We need our young people to know that they are felt, and they are loved heard. We need to be driving this change on the ground, and we need to be standing in solidarity with all of our other coloured folks around the world who are experiencing the same genocide and ethnic cleansing.” they said.
Local Ingenious Elder Hedley Hayward called on state and federal governments to undertake a wide range of reforms to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.
“Today we are hearing a lot of grassroots truth-telling, and the truth of First Nations politics in Australia for the last 200 years, that settler colonialism is a continual process of elimination and endless oppression.
Hayward said the findings of the Royal Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in custody were as relevant today as when they were delivered decades ago and urged action and reform.
Among the actions organisers of the rally would like to see implemented is the commission’s first recommendation, that recommendations and implementations becarried out in a public way as part of a process of education and reconciliation for the whole of society.
The formation of a justice committee in each state and territory, improved and culturally appropriate mental health services in prisons, and better treatment for those experiencing addiction were highlighted.
Culturally appropriate comprehensive alcohol and drug rehabilitation centres on country were also called for. Hayward noted that addiction is the reason behind most prison sentences. Alcohol and drugs can also cause family violence and family and community issues.
“We do not have one Noongar drug rehabilitation centre, yet there is always plenty of room in prison.” the local Elder said.
Accommodation services for people leaving prison, better training of prison staff on cultural awareness, the closure of the Banksia Hill youth detention centre, and the establishment of smaller centres ‘on country’ were also called for.
The family of Perth man Wayne Ugle who died in custody while on remand at Hakea Prison in November, took to the stage to share the challenges they’ve faced in recent months.
His widow Natasha Ugle said the state government and custodial services still had many questions to answer over the incident. Ugle had a heart condition and was unable to access his medication once he was taken into custody.
“He wasn’t just a number; he wasn’t another statistic of deaths in custody. He was my partner and husband of 25 years. He was a loving father to nine children, six of them through the department of child protection.”
Natasha Ugle said her husband was a father figure to his many nieces and nephews too.
“He was a proud Noongar man, he worked FIFO, and built our six bedroom home. For years we’d sit back and watch TV and see another death in custody, and another. Never in my life did I think it would hit me so close to home.”
“I want justice for Wayne. I want people held accountable for letting him die. My husband had a right to live, and he was begging for help. His cries went unnoticed and fell on deaf ears.”
Natsha Ugle said she first heard about her husband’s passing from other community members, long before prison officials made contact, and even 12 weeks after her husband’s passing, she was yet to receive his belongings from the Department of Justice.
“There is a crisis in this state, there is death after death in custody, but the government don’t seem to care. I want real justice where the life of an Aboriginal man who has nine kids, a wife and house means something. I’m going to keep fighting until we live in a culture where Black Lives Matter.”
OUTinPerth has reached out to the organisers of the rally to identify the name of the speaker whose name we could not clearly hear on our recording of the speeches. We will update the report in due course.
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