What's On

When What Where Contact
Tuesday 21 May

AHO Talks to Residents of Glenrose

The AHO will be talking to Glenrose residents at Glenrose Village Community Day		 Glenrose Villiage Contact Glenrose Village
Wednesday 22 May

AHO meets with Council

AHO plans with Council Odawara Japanese School exchange to facilitate their learning on Aboriginal heritage and Culture		 North Head Not Open to the Public
Friday 24 May

AHO Walks with Mackellar Girls

AHO is taking the Aboriginal Studies class on a guided walk to teach tehm about Aboriginal Heritage and Culture		 Manly Area Not Open to the Public
Sunday 26 May

AHO Walks with North Sydney Council Bush Care

The AHO will be walking with North Sydney Bush Care members who will be learning about Aboriginal Heritage and Culture		 Narrabeen Lakes Not Open to the Public
Sunday 26 May

National Sorry Day

National Sorry Day is held on 26 May each year. It is especially significant for those Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families, communities and cultural identity to assimilate. Past government policies of forced removal remained in place until the early 1970s. The children, who were taken from their families, are known as the Stolen Generation. National Sorry Day was a key recommendation in the Bringing them home report produced from the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.
Recommendation: That the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, in consultation with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, arrange for a national `Sorry Day' to be celebrated each year to commemorate the history of forcible removals and its effects.
The report was tabled in Federal Parliament on 26 May 1997, two years after the Parliamentary Inquiry commenced, after the Committee undertook hearings in every capital city and many regional towns across Australia and received more than 770 submissions. The report was a watershed for the nation. You can purchase a Sorry Flower to mark the day from the Kimberley Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation https://kimberleystolengeneration.com.au/shop/sorry-day-flowers/
 		 National Day Check Information on the 2019 Sorry Day to find Events in your area
Sunday 26 May

National Sorry Day

Please would you allow me to have my two daughters with me here (another) one of them died and I have not seen her before she died and I would like the other two, to be with me and comfort me. Please do not disappoint me for my heart is breaking to have them with me. Please to send them up here as I cannot leave this station. Please to ask Mr Stahle to let them come. Margaret Harrison (Aboriginal resident of Ebenezer Station 1884)  		 National Day Find events in your area on the internet
Monday 27 May

AHO will be visiting Neutral Bay Primary School

The AHO will be visiting Neutral Bay Primary School to teach the students about Aboriginal Heritage & Culture		 Neutral Bay Public School Not Open to the Public
Monday 27 May

National Reconciliation Week

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) Grounded in Truth Walk Together with Courage is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The dates for NRW remain the same each year; 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively. Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-reconciliation-week/		 Nationally Open to all Australians Nationally
Monday 27 May

AHO Training for Councils

Aboriginal Sites Awareness Training for Council staff - Intermediate Level for Planners and Project Managers.		 Aboriginal Heritage Office, 29 Lawrence St Freshwater Not Open to the Public
Tuesday 28 May

AHO Takes Shore School on a Guided Walk

The AHO will be working with The Coal Loader and Sustainability Centre and will take  classes from Shore School on a guided walk to learn about Aboriginal Heritage and Culture		 Coal Loader and Sustainability Centre Not Open to the Public
Wednesday 29 May

AHO Gives a Presentation at Chatswood Chase

The Aboriginal Heritage Office will be giving a presentation on Aboriginal Heritage and Culture at Chatswood Chase for Willoughby Councils Vivid Celebrations		 Chatswood Chase Please Contact Willoughby Council
Wednesday 29 May

Volunteer Site Monitor Training

We have received some interest from people wanting to join our already amazing Volunteer team, so we are organising another Site Monitor training night. This will be held on the

Wednesday 29th of May, 2019

6:30pm

29 Lawrence Street, Freshwater

We invite everyone who is interested to come, new volunteers and old volunteers who would like a refresher or a catch up. We will run over information about what sites are in northern Sydney, what is expected of you as a volunteer, and some Work, Health & Safety instructions. Light refreshments provided.		 Aboriginal Heritage Office, 29 Lawrence Street, Freshwater Dina - Volunteer Coordinator
volunteers@aboriginalheritage.org
Thursday 30 May

AHO Joins the Children’s Voices of Reconciliation

The AHO will be Master of Ceremonies in support of the Children's Voices of Reconciliation at Lane Cove Plaza. The children are inspiring so please come and see them		 Lane Cove Plaza Contact Lane Cove Council
Wednesday 12 June

AHO Walks with Willoughby Council

The AHO will be conducting a guided walk with Willoughby Council to teach about Aboriginal Heritage and Culture		 Explosives Reserve Contact Emma Hayes Willoughby Council
Sunday 16 June

AHO Walks with Bushcare

The AHO will be conducting a guided walk for Northern Beaches Council Bushcare at Katandra Reserve		 Katandra Reserve Contact Northern Beaches Council Bushcare Officer Jill McIntyre
Tuesday 18 June

AHO Talks with Jews for Social Action

The AHO will be giving a presentation on Aboriginal Heritage and Culture for the Jews for Social Action Group		 Northern Beaches Not Open to the Public
Wednesday 19 June

AHO Speaks at Councils Big Ideas Forum

The AHO will be speaking at the Introduction of Councils Big Ideas Forum		 Glen Street Theatre Contact Northern Beaches Council
Friday 21 June

AHO Talks with Abbotsleigh School

The AHO will be presenting to Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 at Abbotsleigh School to teach the children about Aboriginal Heritage & Culture		 Abbotsleigh School Not Open to the Public
Saturday 22 June

AHO Walks with Lane Cove Council

The AHO will be Walking with Lane Cove Council Bush Care to teach participants about Aboriginal Heritage and Culture		 Lane Cove Contact Michelle Greenfield Lane Cove Council
Sunday 7 July

NAIDOC Week 2019

released by the NAIDOC Committee -  https://www.naidoc.org.au

VOICE. TREATY. TRUTH.

7 July 2019 to 14 July 2019 We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future. The Indigenous voice of this country is over 65,000 plus years old. They are the first words spoken on this continent. Languages that passed down lore, culture and knowledge for over millennia. They are precious to our nation. It’s that Indigenous voice that include know-how, practices, skills and innovations - found in a wide variety of contexts, such as agricultural, scientific, technical, ecological and medicinal fields, as well as biodiversity-related knowledge.  They are words connecting us to country, an understanding of country and of a people who are the oldest continuing culture on the planet. And with 2019 being celebrated as the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, it’s time for our knowledge to be heard through our voice. For generations, we have sought recognition of our unique place in Australian history and society today. We need to be the architects of our lives and futures. For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have looked for significant and lasting change. Voice. Treaty. Truth. were three key elements to the reforms set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. These reforms represent the unified position of First Nations Australians. However, the Uluru Statement built on generations of consultation and discussions among Indigenous people on a range of issues and grievances. Consultations about the further reforms necessary to secure and underpin our rights and to ensure they can be exercised and enjoyed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It specifically sequenced a set of reforms: first, a First Nations Voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution and second, a Makarrata Commission to supervise treaty processes and truth-telling. (Makarrata is a word from the language of the Yolngu people in Arnhem Land. The Yolngu concept of Makarrata captures the idea of two parties coming together after a struggle, healing the divisions of the past. It is about acknowledging that something has been done wrong, and it seeks to make things right.) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people want their voice to be heard. First Nations were excluded from the Constitutional convention debates of the 1800’s when the Australian Constitution came into force.  Indigenous people were excluded from the bargaining table. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always wanted an enhanced role in decision-making in Australia’s democracy. In the European settlement of Australia, there were no treaties, no formal settlements, no compacts. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people therefore did not cede sovereignty to our land. It was taken away from us. That will remain a continuing source of dispute. Our sovereignty has never been ceded – not in 1788, not in 1967, not with the Native Title Act, not with the Uluru Statement from the Heart. It coexists with the sovereignty of the Crown and should never be extinguished. Australia is one of the few liberal democracies around the world which still does not have a treaty or treaties or some other kind of formal acknowledgement or arrangement with its Indigenous minorities. A substantive treaty has always been the primary aspiration of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander movement. Critically, treaties are inseparable from Truth. Lasting and effective agreement cannot be achieved unless we have a shared, truthful understanding of the nature of the dispute, of the history, of how we got to where we stand. The true story of colonisation must be told, must be heard, must be acknowledged. But hearing this history is necessary before we can come to some true reconciliation, some genuine healing for both sides. And of course, this is not just the history of our First Peoples – it is the history of all of us, of all of Australia, and we need to own it. Then we can move forward together. Let’s work together for a shared future.		 Nation Wide https://www.naidoc.org.au
Find resources for NAIDOC Week