Archives March 2015

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." [node:read-more:link]

There has been evidence that the First peoples were on this continent 60,000 years ago, but the work of Dr Peter Kershaw's palynology (the study of fossil pollen) research suggests that the first peoples were on the continent as long ago as 80,000 years earlier than that.
When specks of prehistoric pollen and charcoal embedded in the ocean floor off the Great Barrier Reef were analyzed it was discovered an abrupt change in the fossil pollen was recorded around 140,000 years ago. [node:read-more:link]

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. [node:read-more:link]

The Peak body for Indigenous legal services was denied funding under the Indigenous advancement strategy as $680m in grants handed out. The NSW ALS had its two applications rejected by the IAS scheme, including one for its existing custody notification service, which provides 24-hour legal advice and welfare support for Aboriginal people arrested in NSW. Some organisations said they did not know if or how much of a grant they had been given, or if funding would continue beyond the next 12 months. [node:read-more:link]

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. [node:read-more:link]