Peter Renkin

I understand the first non-Indigenous settlers were sealers & whalers. Some of these men kidnapped Bunurung/Bunwurrung women. Their descendants now live at Albany (Western Australia), on the Furneaux Group of Islands &Tasmania, & Victoria. The Port Phillip District of New South Wales was established in 1835 because pastoralists had already taken up land thereby dispossessing Indigenous clans. First Nations clans were murdered by settlers. In 1839 the Protectorate was created with George Robinson appointed Protector. The 1886 Act destroyed many family structures because the government ordered people to leave to fend for themselves. By 1919 the State’s remaining staffed Station on Crown land was at Lake Tyers, East Gippsland on Kurnai/Gunnai land. Basic human rights were denied the residents who experienced much suffering. The successful ‘Save Lake Tyers’ campaign of the 1950s/60s led the Title to the Station being granted by legislation to the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust in July 1971. The families living at Framlingham received land title to their property by the same State legislation.

My schooling in the 1940s & 1950s was grossly inadequate as it failed to detail the acts of dispossession of the First Nations prior occupants by settlers & governments & how these acts effected the life experiences of Indigenous people. That the First Peoples had their own unique culture was unknown to the dominant settler society. .

Curriculum changes directly involving Indigenous people at primary, secondary & tertiary educational levels. . A scheme to promote the employment of qualified Indigenous teachers.in kindergartens, primary & secondary schools. Employment opportunities created for representatives of local clans to become Indigenous staff of municipalities to promote Indigenous cultures, languages & histories. Development of social media to promote Indigenous cultural events, aspirations & achievements. Circulation to school & municipal libraries of the ‘Koorier Mail’ & like material.

Invite participation of the grassroots ordinary citizen so that the process is not seen as involving only Government Ministers & senior public servants/office bearers, Church hierarchies, etc. To date I doubt that the ordinary person is involved…..even aware of what has proceeded so far.

Invite participation of the grassroots ordinary citizen so that the process is not seen as involving only Government Ministers & senior public servants/office bearers, Church hierarchies, etc. To date I doubt that the ordinary person is involved…..even aware of what has proceeded so far.