By TOM GANNON
Employees from AGL’s Loy Yang A power station came together last Friday to unveil a collection of artworks by local Aboriginal youths on display at the station for NAIDOC Week.
In line with this year’s NAIDOC Week theme ‘Heal Country!’ the artworks were designed by members of the Latrobe Youth Space to reflect how country is inherent to identity and sustains all aspects of our lives including spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially and culturally.
More than 40 Loy Yang employees attended the event which included a Welcome to Country by Gunaikurnai elder Uncle Lloyd Hood, a smoking ceremony and the raising of the Australian, Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal flags.
Troy McDonald and Erin O Donnell
GLaWAC
For the first time in Victoria’s history, the state government has handed back water to traditional owners, giving them rights to a river system they have managed sustainably for thousands of years.
The two billion litres of water returned to the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) this month means traditional owners can now determine how and where water is used for cultural, environmental or economic purposes.
The decision recognises that water rights are crucial for Indigenous people to restore customs, protect their culture, become economically independent and heal Country.
The hand-back to Gunaikurnai people is the crucial first step in a bigger, statewide process of recognising Indigenous people’s deep connection to water. It also serves as an example to the rest of Australia, where Indigenous rights to water are grossly inadequate.