TAC News Bulletin May 2014

Transcription

1 TAC News Bulletin May 2014

2 40th Anniversary Celebrations Can you believe it? 40 years!!! A day of remembering and celebrating. In early December last year, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) celebrated our 40-year anniversary! The event was held at the newly renovated Risdon Cove Pyramids and showcased some of the TAC s biggest achievements. The celebration kicked off with a Welcome to Country by Jake & Luke West (pictured) and was followed by speeches from the CEO, State Secretary, President, community members and many more, who shared their stories and memories from the last 40 years. With great tucker and a welcoming environment, it was a great day had by all who attended. Reflecting on the past gives us the opportunity to stop and take a good look at the journey we have taken. To rest in the arms of those that have gone before so that we can look forward to what serves us well in the future. It was so wonderful to see so many faces and hear so many stories during the day spent at Risdon Cove. Clyde and Denise sharing of their memories of the Centre in Launceston was not only informative but downright hilarious. Talk about can tell a good yarn. Going down the road to make a phone call at the phone box and having one room so that when the legal field officer needed to interview people everybody else had to go outside. Go to our web site to see some video - Luke West and Jake West giving a Welcome to Country Edwina Shaw reading poetry Denise Gardner and Clyde Mansell Eddie Thomas CEO, Heather Sculthorpe President, Dave Warrener

3 Community members and supporters at the 40th anniversary celebrations Lungtalanana A hot fire on lungtalanana in February 14 has burnt a large percentage of the island. Thankfully no one was injured, and due to the hard work of the caretakers, land management crew and fire service only some minor damage was caused to infrastructure. The fire will have a very big effect on the landscape due to the large area and intense heat of the fire. The island was evacuated during the fire, while some staff remained to put out spot fires and grass fires around the homestead. Ambrose s crew, who were there doing maintenance on the airstrip and completing annual weed control, are now focusing on helping Ricky and Anita with the mess that the fire has left behind. Although the fire was devastating the Land and Heritage unit decided to take advantage of the cleared land to take a closer look at the landscape and undertake a heritage assessment. Colin Hughes, Caleb Pedder and Nathan Maynard spent several days on lungtalanana identifying areas where the old people travelled. This information then enables us to better care for this amazing Country.

4 putalina festival 2014 The New Year kicked off with sun, fun and beautiful music at the annual putalina Festival. This year headline acts were Archie Roach, Jodi Haines & Jude Reid, Dewayne Everettsmith, Kartanya Maynard, and Denni Proctor, supported by dozens of locals from around the state. Putalina is a culturally, historically and spiritually important place. The festival is held around January 16 each year, commemorating the re- occupation of putalina. This year marked the 30th year of the festival and people travelled from all over the state to catch up with one another and enjoy the day. pakutina kanaplila pakutina kanaplila, the Horse dance and song, is an old dance our ancestors made about something that really happened to them after white people came to Tasmania in the 1800s. It s about a black man being chased by a white man on a red horse. The white man had a long whip and a dog. The black man s name was Tarnebunner. He ran faster than the horses and escaped into the bush. Another white man saw our people perform this dance a few times, and in 1830 he wrote it down and drew a picture of it. Our people used a leafy branch for the whip, and sang a song with the dance; the dog was the only one who didn t sing. Us kids in the kanaplila ripana Group have learnt to dance this dance just as our old people did, and we wrote our own songs to go with it. And at the start of the dance we use the Springtime Song sung by Fanny Cochrane Smith in 1899, because we thought we heard the rhythm of horses galloping in it. Some of the old people who danced this dance in the 1800s may have spent their last days here at putalina. In their honour, and to honour Fanny Cochrane Smith, and all our ancestors, we children of today are very proud to present to our people for the first time in nearly 200 years - pakutina kanaplila.

5 Tina Burgess Goodwin Dewayne Everettsmith, Denni Proctor Natika Hughes Jim Everett, Archie Roach, Jillian Mundy State Secretary, Ruth Langford Karlie and Jess Kaninna and Tyler Phil Beeton, Tony Burgess, Murray Mansell

6 Brendan Maynard and Laura Tatnell Matilda Warrener Matilda and Furley Gardner Invasion Day Change the Day About 200 people attended the rally on Parliament House lawns to commemorate Invasion Day and to call end to celebrating the invasion of one race by another. Speakers included Nala Mansell, Jim Everett, Bob Brown, Greg Barnes, Ricky Maynard, and sister s Natika Hughes and Brooke Bourke. Michael Mansell A video about changing the day has been made by Aboriginal film maker Adam Thompson, Stop the Hurting, Start the Healing. You can see this deeply moving video by searching YouTube for Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. You will also find some other great videos put up by the TAC.

7 Wytarna, Tahlia, Rosetta Di Spotswood, Phil Beeton, and Caroline Spotswood Ricky Maynard and Cohen Burgess Brian and Maisie Summers Nala Mansell-McKenna Jim Everett Di, Delia, Caroline, Lynne President, Dave Warrener

8 Laurie Lowery Generation Cup 2013 Christine Maynard catching the netball Di Spotswood catching the ball Auskick Best and Fairest winners: Netball Under 30: Zara Plumbridge Over 30: Ruth Langford Football: Under 30: Brian Leslie Over 30: Ray Thomas Facepainting Michael and Clyde Mansell Sports Hall of Fame inductees Zara Plumbridge and Ruth Langford Football Softball team

9 Preminghana The annual preminghana camp was continued on by the TAC this year over the Invasion Day long weekend. Around 90 people from all over the state attended. There were lots of workshops focussing on cultural and contemporary crafts, and the beach competitions were very popular with some fantastic and unique sandcastle designs being showcased. We took a trip to the Cape Grim massacre site on Woolnorth and people had the chance to walk down to the very spot, which evoked an emotional response for some. Around 30 Aborigines were massacred here in We plan to run the preminghana camp as an annual event over a long weekend and next year it will run longer than the two nights experienced this year. TAC Muttonbird surveys To help us understand the health of the muttonbird population we have done a lot of research into the best way to survey the birds. A TAC survey plan has been made that involves surveying Big Dog, Chappell and Babel every year in December to see how many holes are occupied by birds. This way we can compare our information to that taken by scientists in the past (like Irynej Skira) and to other islands in the area that have similar surveys done by the state government. This season (Dec 13) on Babel and Big Dog, an average of 57% of burrows were occupied, compared with 33% on other muttonbird islands in the region. Although our numbers are higher than other islands, the general population showed a significant drop in numbers, and the biggest drop in numbers since monitoring in the area started in We intend this to be the first of continuing and consistent annual monitoring. Next year we hope to weigh birds as part of the survey to assess the bird s health after their long journey back to the burrows.

10 Gowan Brae Bush Blitz In February, a team of 15 scientists from around Australia went to Gowan Brae to survey for plants, mammals, insects, reptiles and more. Community members joined them, camping, using butterfly nets to catch insects, and being there to see first-hand what the scientists brought back to camp. It was a good opportunity to get to know more about the amazing place that Gowan Brae is. Heritage Legislation Where to now Last December the Labor-Greens State Government tried to introduce a law that says the Government owns Aboriginal heritage. Thank you to all who wrote letters to the editor, called talkback radio, spoke to next door neighbours and send thoughts of strong spirit. We stopped the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Bill in the Legislative Council. We may have won the battle but the war is still ongoing. Our job now is to educate the Upper House and the new Liberal government, that there is still so much more work to be done on the Bill to meet the Community s aspirations. Up Coming Events Repatriation of remains from USA and Europe: mid June 2014 Preminghana planning day: 2 July in Burnie Gowan Brae planning day: 3 July in Launceston NAIDOC week: 6-13 July 2014