Wominjeka fellow travellers, welcome again to FNF and thank you for traveling with me on the road to treaty and reconciliation as we explore a tiny fraction of the histories and lore of the world’s longest existing continuous cultures, that of the Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders.
Last Friday 31st October, history was made when Australia’s first treaty legislation with our Indigenous peoples was passed in the Victorian parliament. What does this mean?
Essentially the new legislation will enshrine a democratically elected body for First Peoples to Victoria’s parliament. This new entity will be called the Gellung Warl, an Aboriginal-led body, and will be consulted on laws and policies affecting Indigenous communities. Premier Jacinta Allan said the bill would be signed by the Victorian government and First Peoples’ Assembly in the coming weeks.
“Treaty gives Aboriginal communities the power to shape the policies and services that affect their lives,” she said.
One is remined that it was 40 years on the 16th October 1985 that Uluru was handed back to its original custodians, the Anangu people of the Western Desert in the Northern Territory. A group of elders greeted King Charles at Australia House in London to mark the anniversary. While both events are worthy of praise and general positive recognition, I can’t help but notice this journey is definitely one of two steps forward, one step back. A national treaty with our first peoples is still some way off but these three events in the same month of October, the handback of Uluru and the Treaty legislation in Victoria coming so close after the second anniversary of the defeated ‘Voice Referendum’ tells us that this journey is going to be a long one, and not one for the faint hearted or those easily disillusioned. We continue onward, giving support to our first peoples and accompanying them on the road to justice and equality.
Till next week Triganin – see you soon.
References:
Also read more in the Koori Mail, October 22nd 2025 edition, available in Allwood Sustainability and Aboriginal Culture Library.