Victoria’s first Treaty with First Peoples’ was debated in state parliament last week. The Treaty introduces some Victorian Aboriginal words you may not have heard before — here’s how to say them and what they mean.
Victoria’s proposed Treaty with Aboriginal people will bring about quite a few changes.which passed the lower house of state parliament last week, gives Aboriginal language names to some of the key new initiatives set out in the agreement.
Before Europeans arrived in the area now known as Victoria, Aboriginal people spoke more than 40 different languages. But “many of those words lie hidden now, known in memory more than on the tongue”, the draft Treaty agreement says. colonial violence, dispossession and government policies that broke up families, like assimilation and the Stolen GenerationsIn her work at an Aboriginal-run early learning centre, Bubup Wilam, Gunditjmara/Gunnai woman Aunty Lisa Thorpe said she sees first hand the impact language has on children. She said language connects children to culture and creates a sense of pride, so it makes sense for Aboriginal languages to be written into the Treaty.It aims to create a “renewed relationship” between Victorian First Peoples’ and the state to improve practical outcomes for Aboriginal people in areas like housing, health and education.The area of Gunaikurnai country recognised under Victoria’s Aboriginal heritage law includes large area of the state’s eastern coastline, taking in towns like Morwell, Sale and stretching up to the High Country areas around Dargo and Licola.is the name for a new Aboriginal-led body established through Treaty made up of three key organisations: an elected Aboriginal group , a truth-telling and healing commission and an accountability organisation. In his speech to Victoria’s Parliament earlier this week, co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly Reuben Berg explained the name was a reference to the Aboriginal tradition of making spears for practical and ceremonial purposes. “The tip is Gellung Warl, the wood of the spear is our community, the binding is Treaty, the line of sight and the throw are our self-determination,” he said.Gellung WarlThe Assembly was established in 2019 and its 33 members are elected by Victorian Aboriginal people from across the state.So far, the Assembly has been involved in the design of Victoria’s Treaty process and most recently it represented Aboriginal Victorians in statewide treaty negotiations.The Treaty-backed Assembly will be able to ask questions of ministers and make decisions on some specific matters that impact Aboriginal people. language, from an area of north-west Victoria which takes in Swan Hill and parts of the Murray River. Its members will be appointed by Gellung Warl, and while it won’t be able to compel government witnesses like the previous Yoorrook inquiry could, the government does have to engage with it in “good faith.”will be a new First Peoples-led accountability body — one English translation is ‘Outcomes and Justice Commission’. While this map created by the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages is a few years old, it shows the Wadi Wadi language group, in north-west Victoria.It will be able to hold hearings, conduct inquiries and ask questions to make sure current day government programs are serving First Nations people.Like Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna, its members will be appointed by Gellung Warl but it will not have the power to compel information or answers, but the government has to engage with it in good faith.The First Peoples’ Assembly said it consulted with “Traditional Owner Groups, Members, Elders, and knowledge holders for specific advice on the use of language names in the Statewide Treaty”. But there remain differences of opinion within parts of Victoria’s Aboriginal community about the proposed Treaty and the use of some of the language names in it.Members of Victoria’s First Peoples’ Assembly were invited into state Parliament this week ahead of debate on the Statewide Treaty Bill.GLaWAC is the Aboriginal organisation that typically represents traditional owners and native title holders in the area now known as Gippsland. But there is a group of elders from the same region — identified as the Kurnai — who take a view of the Aboriginal history of the area which is different to the one currently recognised under Victorian law. Members of this group told the ABC they do not support the proposed Treaty, do not feel represented by GLaWAC and were not consulted on the use of the name Gellung Warl.”To use our language to name a political body that the Kurnai people do not support is not only inappropriate it is harmful,” she wrote in a letter to the Premier. In a statement, GLAWAC said it acknowledges individuals hold different perspectives but it represents “a collective Gunaikurnai voice” and the decision to grant use of its language was “undertaken with care, respect and oversight” from elders.The precise details of the proposed Treaty agreement still need to be passed by parliament before it can be formally signed., it is expected to pass and be signed before the end of the year with the continued support of Labor and the Greens. Aunty Lisa Thorpe said Treaty was the way forward, though acknowledged change takes time and there was plenty more work to do.Indigenous Australians
Victoria Treaty Aboriginal Language Gellung Warl Nginma Ngainga Wara Nyerna Yoorrook Telkuna First Peoples’ Assembly Of Victoria Treaty
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