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FTF Project Staff
My work has been about creating highly visible Projects that draw attention to the need for and possibility of, genuine reconciliation. It was intended that at least some of these projects would lead to smaller scale projects, linked to festivals or local cultural events that raise the profile of Reconciliation in the broader community and encourage more cultural expressions of Reconciliation.
I contend that this process makes possible an Australian community that proudly identifies with a history and culture that is one of the oldest on earth.
We are already a culture profoundly influenced by our Indigenous origins and I dream of the day that contemporary Indigenous Australians are honoured as the source of that influence.
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Clare Land - Community development (Activism)
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Fanning the Flames aims to work with the community as well as all levels of government to progress towards formal agreements and policies on Indigenous rights and an end to exclusion and discrimination.
One of the fundamental and outstanding issues of Indigenous rights in Victoria is the stagnancy of progress on land justice.
To spend two years working intensely in this area has been very enriching for me. I've been able to work with existing contacts and get to know a whole lot more contacts in terms of amazing Indigenous people trying to make a difference; and to work with non-Indigenous people of all ages and many different backgrounds. Getting to know members of ANTaR local groups has been a highlight.
Having part-time work at ANTaR also freed me up to create the Fire First radio program on 3CR (855AM) with Robbie Thorpe, which has been incredibly enriching.
Gary Lucas - Community development (Rural)
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Supported by Community Connections in Warrnambool, I have worked on the FTF project for one day a week. While non-Indigenous people have a role to play in changing the way Indigenous people were and are still treated, the change itself must be driven by what Indigenous people want.
My role as I see it is to facilitate this process of learning, networking, collaboration and moving towards building a just society. I believe it is the responsibility of non-Indigenous people to make the running on achieving genuine Reconciliation.
Highlights of my work with FFF have been the collaboration with the ‘RaTs’ of Warrnambool, the unveiling of the six section Mural painted by two Koori artists, work with Community Connections and their growing commitment to employ Koori people and my work with the local TAFE, Koori Cooperatives and the Tarerer Music Festival
Jim Barrit - Community development (Rural)
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I was employed for one per week by a local community group called ‘Re-Igniting Community in East Gippsland’ (RICEG), formed to support the ‘Torch’ production in Bairnsdale.
FtF support has been vital to the development of this group as the voice for Reconciliation in East Gippsland through reinvigorated networks links into the Indigenous community and a number of projects that can be described as one or more of these; collaborative, resourcing, initiating or sustaining.
Examples of the work include support for NAIDOC Weeks events, the VAYSAR Sports Carnival and developing appropriate words and protocols by which the Gunnai Kurnai people can be acknowledged.
This work has reinforced relationships between all the Indigenous
and non-Indigenous people involved and offered the wider community
a contact point by which to get involved in Reconciliation.
Jan McCalman - Community development (Rural)
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FtF followed the Torch to Swan Hill and Murray Mallee Training Company welcomed the opportunity to host the project.
FtF funding was used to supplement the work of the agency focusing specifically on ‘Reconciliation’ defined by MMTC as building bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities through such events as the Croc Festival (2,800 people attended over 2 days) and running the ‘Night of Respect and Reconciliation’.
Work also continued with the Local Shire to establish a protocol of recognising the “original custodians of this land and waters” and in addition when the local Aboriginal cooperative was de-funded, the MMTC offered considerable support and resourcing for Aboriginal people in their attempts to get reorganised.
The FtF project in Swan Hill was prematurely drawn to a close in the difficult aftermath of this event and because the worker left the area.
Paul Miller - Website and database development
The
FTF project gave me a wonderful opportunity to use my skills in
Information Technology in support of a cause that is important to
me, that of furthering human rights in general and in particular
the rights of Australia's Aboriginal People.
I have seen my work at ANTaR as being an enabler of the work that volunteers and project workers in particular are engaged in - to give an online face to much of the good work done, as well as a key area of promotion of the range of activities that ANTaR is engaged in state-wide.
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