Open Letter in Support of Yorta Yorta Nations and the Dharnya Centre : Melbourne Indymedia

OPEN LETTER TO MINISTER OF ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS
GAVIN JENNINGS
FROM THE CROSS CAMPUS INDIGENOUS SOLIDARITY NETWORK

To Minister Jennings,

Background to CCISN
The Cross Campus Indigenous Solidarity Network (CCISN) is a network of students from various Victorian university campuses formed in 2004. The aims of the network are to create awareness of and support for historical and ongoing Indigenous struggles for justice. The basic philosophy of CCISN revolves around the idea that racism is a problem, which exists in the white community and it must be the white community that responds to and fixes this problem. One of the ways this can be done is by finding creative ways to inspire people to stand up for Indigenous justice.

CCISN Supports Yorta Yorta Nations’ Call for the Victorian Government to financially support the Dharnya Centre
We write to respond to your recent statement in parliament about the Yorta Yorta Nations and the closure of the Dharnya Centre. We believe that ongoing government financial support for the Dharnya Centre is an imperative of justice. This is particularly the case because the Yorta Yorta people, who despite being joint managers of the Dharnya Centre, are consistently relegated to the margins in power relations on their country.

We do not believe that this is a matter of “Cultural heritage interpretation”, nor will we “be in a much better position pending the outcome of the VEAC [Victorian Environment Assessment Council] inquiry about the nature of the tenure of that land”.

The Centre’s closure can be put down to one reason, and one reason alone: the failure of the Victorian Government to live up to its responsibilities in maintaining this space. This responsibility must involve respecting Yorta Yorta as joint managers of the Dharnya Centre and their role as decision makers.

We are comforted by your openness to the findings of VEAC report to be tabled later in this year. In particular, we support your commitment to “working constructively and collaboratively with the Yorta Yorta nation”. However, VEAC, “cultural heritage”, and “land tenure” have little to do with how and why the Dharnya Centre got into the position that it is now.

What is required is a substantial financial and political commitment from the Victorian Government to:
- Provide the Dharnya Centre with a upfront injection of funding to allow for its restoration so that it becomes functional again;
- Commit to providing an on-going funding from the Victorian government to support the continued maintenance of the Centre;
- Ensure continued political support to the Yorta Yorta Nations that they manage and control the Centre; and
- Uphold a political commitment to respect to decisions made by the Yorta Yorta Nations regarding the operation and maintainence of the Centre

CCISN Involvement with the Dharnya Centre
CCISN has had significant involvement with the Dharnya Centre to date. In 2005 we organised a camp in which over 100 students from around Victoria attended a weekend of workshops, music and discussions around Indigenous justice, focusing specifically on Yorta Yorta struggles. Following this in 2006, we helped coordinate the Yorta Yorta Survival Weekend, which showcased Yorta Yorta and Indigenous talent, and continued the tradition established by Uncle William Cooper in the 1930s. Likewise CCISN students have attended and encouraged attendance at Dr. Wayne Atkinson’s end of semester Cultural Camps at the Dharnya Centre.

Since our inception in 2004, CCISN has been involved in various capacities with Yorta Yorta Nations in their struggle for justice. CCISN students have been involved academically in writing Honours, Masters and PhD theses on Yorta Yorta struggles for justice, and undergraduate students have taken Melbourne University’s Yorta Yorta On Country Learning courses. So too CCISN students have been involved in, attended and volunteered at events held by Yorta Yorta Nations and the Barmah-Millewa Collective. These have included the Dharnya Conference, Friends of the Earth conference, Murray-Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations meetings, Barmah Beats, amongst others.

The facilities provided by the Dharnya Centre have been invaluable to these projects.

Educational Benefits of the Dharnya Centre
The Dharnya Centre offers a very specific kind of learning which as University students goes well beyond the academy. The Dharnya Centre makes the learning about history, colonialism and the forest personal. In our experience, people walk away from Dharnya feeling personally involved and inspired.

The Dharnya Centre: Playing a Crucial Role in Justice and Self-determination
CCISN believes that whilst the educational benefit the Dharnya Centre offers non-Indigenous Australians are significant, this should only ever be a small consideration in the scheme of things. What is of more critical importance is the potential that the Dharnya Centre offers for genuine cultural and economic self-determination for the Yorta Yorta people. Dr. Wayne Atkinson wrote recently:
“By closing Dharnya it will have a direct effect on the continuity of Yorta Yorta connections with the ancestral lands. Like the diversity of groups that use the Centre the Yorta Yorta rely on its existence to hold their regular community and family gatherings, to reaffirm their kinship relations, to teach the younger generations about their heritage, and to maintain their connections with country. One can’t help wondering whether or not the decision was politically motivated, and designed to sever the important link that the Center plays in Yorta Yorta life.”
It is undeniable that the Dharnya Centre has played and should continue to play a crucial role in sustaining Yorta Yorta cultural identity. Moreover, as a resource, it has the potential to allow Yorta Yorta to gain further economic self-determination.

Furthering cultural and economic self-determination of Indigenous people who have so violently affected by continued colonisation must remain the fundamental principle and central consideration of justice.

Throughout its history the Victorian Government has consistently failed to offer even the most mediocre forms of justice to Yorta Yorta people.

We ask the Victorian Government to stop looking for excuses and end the long tradition of failing in its responsibility to Yorta Yorta people and the Dharnya Centre.

Cross Campus Indigenous Solidarity Network
May 2007

Contact:
Liam Neame
Email: liam.neame@arts.monash.edu.au
Address:
Indigenous Justice Projects Office ,
Monash Student Association,
Monash University,
Wellington Road,
Clayton 3800