SOS BLACK AUSTRALIA

Australian Aboriginal people have been living on the mainland for more than 40,000 years, (around 35,000 years for Tasmanian Aboriginals, possibly more), making them one of the oldest indigenous cultures in the world.

Traditionally, Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders had a strong relationship with the land and had a deep sense of spirituality, kinship and community life, as well as of reverence to their ancestors. However, colonization drastically changed the lives of these people. Practicing their cultures and traditions was hindered by limited access to their sacred sites, especially when they were placed in mission compounds.

In case you haven't heard, the Australian Government has plans to not only shut down, but forcibly remove Indigenous Australian families off their community in WA. Just so we're on the same page let me run through a little bit of Aussie history with you..

The term ‘stolen generation’ refers to the implementation of the Aboriginal Child Welfare Policy from the 1930s, but most notably during the 1950s. Over this period up to 100,000 Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families in the mistaken belief that they would be better off living in a white community. The children were raised by church organisations, fostered or adopted by white parents or given to state institutions. Because they were so young when they were taken, many grew up not knowing who their parents were and were denied their heritage and culture.

The legacy of the stolen generation has had an enormous impact on the Aboriginal community. In 2007, the Australian Government formally apologized for past events as a first step in reconciliation leading to the social, economic and political inclusion of Aboriginals in Australian society.

From around the time of settlement, Australia was considered a Crown dominion; therefore, all inhabitants, including Aboriginal people, were regarded as British subjects and had the right to vote. However, under the new Commonwealth of Australia, Indigenous people were not included as citizens of Australia and could therefore not vote. It was not until a 1967 referendum that citizen rights were returned to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia gave Aboriginal land rights legal recognition with its famous Mabo decision.

The case centered on the Murray Islands in the eastern part of the Torres Strait Islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea. The Merriam people, led by Eddie Mabo, took the action in the High Court to overturn the doctrine of Terra nullius. The Court found that under Australian law, Indigenous people have native title rights to their land. The decision ruled that these rights existed before colonization and still exist under the common law.

Yet here we are in 2015 still fighting the government for land that wasn't theirs to take in the first place. Families have been torn apart and are still being town apart, many languages have deceased and still our Indigenous people of Australia are being forced from the only home they have ever known. Land that has been in their families for hundreds of thousands of years. What our Government is doing is unfair and unjust so we have been taking to the streets of Melbourne to Support our Indigenous brothers and sisters living in remote communities in WA whom are under threat of becoming homeless in their own country. Here are some photo's of me at the most receent protest..

At the protest in Melbourne 

on April 10th

The next protests will be held in every major city all over Australia on the 1st of May. I have invited my Melbourne and Brisbane based friends to their nearest rally. I'll be in Melbourne on the 1st and am very excited to egt behind this campaign once again. The last one was such a good cultural experience for my son and he too wants to be present at the next one. I know the one in Brisbane was amazing a few weeks prior to ours with them stopping to do a corroboree on every major intersection in the Brisbane CBD. Man I would have loved to have been there to see that! It shut down the city for hours but never made headlines. With thousands of people in the city protesting for basic human (and land) rights and not one newspaper reported it. How ridiculous is that? We protested on the 10th here in Melbourne and because of the numbers the media couldn't overlook us. We hit the big time on the 6pm news as our mainstream newspaper reports we were described as "Selfish Rabble" with them focusing more on the fact that we held up traffic and trams than what is really going on. So we're going to be there again and again and again until they start getting the message..

Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land!

For more info checkout the hashtag  #sosblakaustralia