 Welcome everybody. I'm honoured and pleased to start today's opening ceremony by welcoming Uncle Bill from the Warrangerie Land Council. We're grateful to Uncle Bill for taking the time to welcome to him us to his land. Yes, thank you and good afternoon. I think it's still afternoon to you all. First of all, I'd just like to thank, I don't know everyone behind today's conference and today's gathering but I'd just like to thank in general the people behind today's gathering for inviting me as a representative of the traditional custodians of this area that this city is built on, the Warrangerie people, my people, to do a welcome to country, first of all, but also to allow me to do a little bit of a ceremonial process and that's why I've got the fire over there, which I've got to keep an eye on actually so it doesn't go out. So, but just keep that in mind because to feel truly welcome to this sacred land, respect is a key aspect of it. So by showing that respect for allowing me to represent thousands and thousands and thousands of years of human occupation of this land and my community today roughly of around 300 of us, I think is the last sort of number I've come across. You know, I thank you for that. Now, because these bright lights are up here, I can't really see the people in the audience. I normally got a question for people is anyone in the room can speak multi-lingual languages, other languages apart from English, basically, and yes, and I would guess so because I guess Melbourne or Narm or Nuttum Nuttum is very world-known to be a multicultural society today and the reason I mention language is language is the basis of culture in my perspective because it's how you learn everything and it's how you teach everything. So for it to be taken away from you and in our case in 1863, about 80 k's up the river there, which I'll explain shortly, a place called Coranderk, we were not allowed to speak our language anymore or practice any of our culture so we're in the stage of reconnecting with it. I don't like to say it's lost because that makes me feel a bit deflated saying that. I like to say it's waiting for its people to reconnect. So we say Wiminjika, Govermalamangil, Bunnabu Nyalambu, Wanangedi Balaknir, and Amargagil Bill Nicholson. Wiminjika or Wamanjika is a word you might come across if you're around country here. It's getting used more and more, which is a great thing to see. It's not just a broad welcome, it's welcoming you for a purpose and the purpose I'm explaining now as a gathering here to talk about the very important social issues and healing of people. But it's also when you welcome people into your home, there's an expectation of respect of your home, your family and yourself and that's pretty much what it means. Govermalamangil is a greeting. Hi, how are you doing? I hope everyone's doing well. Balambu Nyalambu is good day to you all. Wanangedi Balak is the Wurundri peoples or community and near and Amargagil Bill Nicholson. So my dad, some people call me Bill Nicholson Jr., which is good because it makes me feel young, but dad who recently became one of our ancestors, Bill Nicholson Sr., allowed me to learn my people's story, not just my culture but my people's history when I was in the early 20s and the Wurundri community allowed me to become an elder in my mid or mid-ish 30s, I guess you could say, which was the youngest elder in over 150 years because I find that once I found my people's story, I found like I had to get out and tell people our story. You know, for any locals here, and by the way, me fire's going out, so. For any locals here, you might have heard of Wonga Park out in the eastern side of Melbourne named after esteemed headman or nutting giver, Simon Wonga, our first land rights advocate when our land was stolen. William Barrack, his predecessor, our most well-known elder of the past, I guess you could say, he fought for something different. He fought for equality or I generally called human rights. And his sister, Annie Barate, we wouldn't be here without her as in 1863, there was only 18 of us counted in the government census. So Annie's child, Wondern, or later known as the English would name us English names, Robert Wondern. My grandmother came a couple of generations after Robert and she met an Irishman named Paddy and they had 16 kids. So Nan helped bring our population back, which was very much, very much needed. And I'd say one thing I learned about, when I started learning about culture was how staunch and strong our women were. And Nan was a great example as well as her sister, Annie Winnie, who actually set up the Wurundjeri organization, which is the first traditional owner body within the state of Victoria born about, well nearly 40 years ago now. So who are we? We're the sole surviving sovereign clan of the Birarung. The English like putting their own names on country, they call it the Yarra, the Birarung or the Great River of Mist. There's a park just up the river there called Birarung Ma, basically translates to the banks of the Misty River. It is our symbol of our physical and spiritual connection to country. There is another river a little bit further to the west called the Maribyrnong. Unfortunately, the people that thrived on that landscape and cared for it for generations after generations are no longer with us. I call it the clans that fell in the forgotten frontier wars because that's something that really hasn't been taught in this country until recently. I'd like to acknowledge them because they were here, each man, woman and child that cared for that land and culturally they were my extended family. I'd also like to extend the acknowledgements into a modern context I guess. Community leaders here today and from a cultural perspective what a community leader is is someone that takes their own wants and needs secondary to the community they're leading. They actually have a listening ear to the wants and needs of their community and that's how it was done for thousands of years of this land and that's how we got through to today with strong staunch respected leaders. I'd also like to acknowledge environmental leaders here today. I know there's quite a few international guests here. Australia's the most unhealthiest has been since human occupation. For the first time ever there's more non-indigenous flora and fauna than indigenous flora and fauna on this continent and this continent is very unique with its flora and fauna and I always encourage people to let's take our personal responsibility to care for it because it's part of our law, LOLRE, that was handed down to us and we're not the majority of the population anymore so we need the non-indigenous community to understand if this is your home help us look after it and also any cultural leaders out there today. So there's a word that's been bandied around in this country for over 30 years called reconciliation and to me in language it's in language it's gindi warabag bulak which is unity in the community but I guess to me it really starts with a respectful ear listening to people's stories so any cultural leaders out there today tell your stories we want to hear it so we can bond together in respectful relationships and move forward for a more unified future. Now in our culture we've got a creator spirit named Bungal. Bungal is the great eagle of this land known now as the wedge tail eagle in our mythology he gave us the land to care for life to enjoy and the laws to live by a very sustainable culture I know for a fact I was very fortunate when I was a young fellow that I got some of our old people out of the museum and put them back into the ground and the oldest burial ever found the oldest old fellow that was ever found in what is now the state of victory was found only about 30 kilometers to the north of the place called Keylor and I guess you know that that he was dated at around 20,000 years but our story says since the beginning of time so either way we're a very sustainable culture we're a very healthy culture very knowledgeable family inclusive and responsible now that responsibility there's many aspects of it but I'll be up here for the next two hours explaining it all but the two key aspects to it is country and community it's been passed down for generations it has been forgotten in recent years I always encourage people to take that as a personal challenge to yourself for the health of country and the health of the people around you and your own health as well because I know that's a very key part of what you're this gatherings this or this conference is all about if we are a mature civilized society those those that word civilization was a word used against us back in those days we must learn from the past mistakes and never let it happen again we have to do that that's what we call basically truth telling today here in this country we need to get out and tell our story and it's not always easy especially for some of the older elders who um who who live through stolen generation policies and things like that and and those traumas have been passed down ever since the reason we do it is because we want people to understand whose land they're on and the histories and perspectives of the people of that land who are still here and as this shirt sort of says always will and always will be because we're not planning to go anywhere else but um the ceremony now I wanted to invite is all up to stage to walk through the smoke but it'll probably take the next hour or two hours so I won't do that I'm going to invite a couple of representatives of um of the conference here but just a reminder because I know there's some of the mob as we say Aboriginal community out there who deal with one of the biggest issues that this country created for us you know those traumas that relate to what's broadly called closing the gap which are based on social inequality um and one of my frustrations I guess from the past is we were excluded from being able to build self-determination through economic development of the past um that those issues are still very much uh you know real for much of the Aboriginal community that I know and I know you fellas work very hard within it and I'd like to acknowledge the works that you do so it is very relevant for Aboriginal people both mental and physical health and the health of country something we're all going to continue to work on now this ceremony is like a passport it's called tandoor and narji and it gives you access to someone else's land to conduct business now the symbolism of it we would offer you vegetation of the local area which would mean that you could use our sacred resources our plant animal and water the uh the cooking pot I've got up here because the traditional ones take a bit long to make and I don't like setting them on fire uh we call them tar nucks they come off the big famous old Australian gum tree called the red gum or be all we say in language these burls that grow off them and cut them we cut them off and hollow them out as wooden bowls we'd sip water and offer it to you as a trust respect and safety symbol and fire so that when the English came here they imposed things on this land one of them was a season called autumn which doesn't resonate to this land because our trees do not drop their leaves autumn in a traditional seasonal context is traditional fire practice time when the English came up none of none of giland karaya which is now called port Phillip Bay that big bay just over there and they noted gentlemen's estates English park lands wide open spaces this land was a giant park managed expertly with the main tool of fire now fire is a physical cleanser of this landscape in our language we have a belief I think it's a basic human question actually is what happens when you pass away the local beliefs here are when you're born we call you buh buh which is baby one of my favorite language words I love buh buh yin yin myrndah is boy girl man woman is cool and bug look but when you pass away we don't speak of you as a physical existence your existence is spoken in a spiritual terminology we call more so the smoking ceremony is a is a spiritual symbolism of cleansing both more bulk which is spirit of people and more big which is the spirit of the land itself so I would like to say like I said at the start I don't feel like I have to welcome everyone to country unless people are respectful of country culture and and the people itself and I felt that from the start when I walked in here so I like to say we mean you can't why don't you be welcome we're injury country to you's all I'm going to invite a couple of representatives up here now to walk through the smoke and I'm going to play the clapsticks just to let the ancestors know we're here in respect so thank you you need to take shoes off if you want to welcome our speakers up on the stage now you could join me in thanking uncle bill