Tent Embassies

Terms amended 25/10/2015, 17/9/2016

Due to the nature of the struggle unfortunately we have had detractors who in past meetings have sought to disrupt the proceedings. Most of our people undertake great effort to attend these Gatherings and everyone expects to be able to focus on the matters at hand in the limited time frame. To avoid interruptions again, we ask that you agree to these terms and conditions to ensure the gathering goes smoothly.

"We have never been given the opportunity to live in our own ways ... since occupation of our lands in 1829, we have been forced, by successive policies, to be a reactive people. Now we are trying to change to be proactive, but we need time to do that in our own way. We are in the process of re-piecing together our community with our own value system, starting here at Heirisson Island," said Bella Bropho at the Matagarup Refugee Camp on Heirisson Island, Perth, Western Australia.

The Djurin Ancient Lands are the Birthplace of the Balladong People and the Creation of the Nyoongar Nation. Here our physical, Spiritual, Cultural, and Political identity as a People and Nation was shaped. The Lands, Subsurface, Natural Resources, Waters and Airspace, was created for us to live in harmony with and care for by Maamin Nidger Yirrah our Creator. Here we first attained to Statehood, through laws and customs, which were and still are observed and practiced. Our people lived and still live in harmony with nature ...

A camp on Perth's Heirisson Island set up in response to the planned closure of remote Aboriginal communities has been granted a stay of execution, after the city extended the deadline on an order to tear it down.
The island camp, which lies just east of the city's CBD, was set up about 10 days ago.Campers had been told to remove the tents, couches, tables and chairs by 12pm Thursday, but the City of Perth has now extended that deadline to 12pm Friday.

City of Perth chief executive Gary Stevenson said on Wednesday that the group seemed to be more of a political protest on broader state and federal issues, rather than on the needs of homeless. The campers had been given until midday on Thursday to leave, but that deadline has now been extended to noon on Friday. A City spokeswoman said the deadline did not mean the council would enforce anything at that time, but that the situation would be reassessed. Two articles and an audio report from Marianne Headland McKay.

VIDEO INCLUDED - Djurin Nyoongar Swan River Treaty officially sanctioned at Matargarup (Heirisson Island) in the Swan River on 1 March 2015. Various groups of the Djurin Republic and Nyoongar Nation came together to sign the Swan River Treaty on this day. "Placing our trust in our Creator and the Stories of our Dreamings, we, the following members of the Nyoongar Nation, affix our signatures representing each of the clans to this Treaty from this day forth to be known as the Swan River Treaty."

Western Australian Premier Colin Barnett originally said that he was closing down the remote Homelands communities because of the lack of funds. Now he is saying that he is doing it because of the 'appalling mistreatment of little children'.
Following Barnett's recent complete change of story, Ben Wyatt, the WA's opposition spokesman for Aboriginal affairs has described the new story as not the actions of a Premier but the actions of a desperate, despicable man.

WA Premier Colin Barnett is looking for dirt in the poor under-resourced communities of remote Western Australia. He's peeping under every bed and under every tree searching for evidence to improve his argument to close down remote Homeland communities. The Western Australian government has done this at Lockridge in Perth's Swan Valley and then more recently at Oombulgurri in the North Eastern Kimberley. Colin Barnett has turned removals and dislocation of First Nations and Peoples to a new level.

An Indigenous protest against remote community closures in WA has been dismissed by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Peter Collier as premature. Aboriginal activists have set up camp on Perth's Heirisson Island, creating what they describe as a "refugee camp" for Aboriginal people displaced by the Government's planned closure of up to 150 communities across WA. The group has written a letter to the WA Governor, in response to the State Government's pronouncement last year that they would close up to 150 Aboriginal communities.