David Whitcombe – HSIE Teacher / Outreach Coordinator

Last Sunday, several Emanuel staff members joined over 200 people at a very special event at Emanuel Synagogue. Guest speaker Thomas Mayor was in conversation with Rabbi Jeffrey Kamins on the topic of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Thomas was a humble yet forceful advocate for the Uluru Statement which was adopted almost two years ago. Thomas informed us about the lead up to the Uluru Statement then read it out in full which ended with an emotional standing ovation. He displayed the original statement on canvas and explained the significance of the painting and the 250 signatures that surround the statement. Thomas then patiently and respectfully answered questions for over 30 minutes to ensure we all understood the statement. A video of the event will soon be available on the Emanuel Synagogue website.

We urge you to read the whole statement at https://www.1voiceuluru.org/ which is only one page. Here is an extract, “Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown. How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?”

The statement ends with the words, “In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.” 

Rabbi Kamins committed to spreading the Uluru Statement from the Heart and made mention of the Emanuel staff in the room. He said we have a special duty to spread the truth about what happened to Aboriginal people, and explain to others the aim of the statement which is to establish a Voice for Aboriginal people, a representative body to sit alongside Parliament to have a say in laws that impact their lives before they are passed (not as a 3^rd chamber with veto power). There is also a call for a Makarrata Commission (a Truth and Reconciliation commission) to let the Truth be told.

As this movement builds please educate yourself and others about what these 250 Aboriginal elders and leaders called for in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. When this finally comes to a referendum we owe it to the First Australians to finally do right by them and give them their Voice, a Treaty and a chance for the whole Truth to be known.

Voice. Treaty. Truth.