We Are Strong

To Our People, we speak to you as Elders, representatives of our communities, members of Registered Aboriginal Parties and as individuals. Take strength from your Culture and your community because worse has been experienced and survived. From these experiences, in time, we will thrive and our languages will be spoken with pride on every Victorian street.

We may be distanced from each other and, for some of Our People whose distress is at the core of their beings, from their Country and Culture; but we are linked through Spirit. We will always be linked through Spirit and, although we are hurt, we must grab that connection and hold onto it with both hands.

In January this year, we also called on you, “the broad, diverse, distressed Victorian community to work with Traditional Owners.” And we do so again today.

Our People have borne so much pain and disconnection from the people and places that we love. Yet we are still here. Still strong. We can all learn from a Culture that has lived here, in this place now called Victoria, for tens of thousands of generations.

Connect through technology, call out over the fence, wave from your windows and call your family. Maintain strong connections and help each other. We are all afraid and we are all strong.

Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council

• Rodney Carter (Chairperson)
• Sissy Pettit Havea (Deputy Chairperson)
• Geraldine Atkinson
• Jennifer Beer
• Racquel Buis-Kerr
• Bonnie Chew
• Kenny Stewart