We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Proud Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri woman Vanessa Morris reflects on returning home to Yorta Yorta Woka (Country) for a Day of Mourning, and community self-determined sovereignty.
From the biggest mob of cockatoos greeting us at Dawn Service to hearing stories from our Old People at the Day of Mourning protest – being on Yorta Yorta Woka during January 26 was precious and empowering, which has left me with a lot of food for thought.
As a proud Yorta Yorta woman, this year I felt a strong urge to go home and be with my mob.
On 17 December 2024, the local council made a decision to reinstate ‘Australia Day’ celebrations, reversing a decision made in September 2023 that lasted a mere 15 months.
Naturally, this unsettled community. Including my brother Neil Morris, who stood strong and within moments of the decision stating Always Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land directly to council.
Promises made, promises broken. Sadly something we know all too well and the decision sparked the need to come together and stand up for Yorta Yorta mob – past, present and future.
This year a Dawn Service in Mooroopna and a Day of Mourning peaceful protest in Shepparton were held. Both showing grassroots community-led sovereignty and self-determination in action.
Both continuing the legacies of Yorta Yorta Ancestors and activists who led the first Day of Mourning protest in 1938 and the Cummeragunja Walk Off in 1939.
The place I grew up, Mooroopna on Yorta Yorta Woka, is one of a few towns my Ancestors relocated to after the walk off from Cummeragunja mission.
When I was home in Mooroopna, me and my brother went bush and collected red gum leaves for the Dawn Service’s Smoking, all while hearing hypnotic hums of cicadas and seeing occasional sightings of kangaroos.
It felt grounding and good to be home.
January 26 started before dawn at Kaieltheban Park in Mooroopna. Setting up the fire with red gum leaves centring the beautiful space of ceremony, surrounded by several red spears and protest signs.
Kaieltheban Park is bushland situated next to the township of Mooroopna. Within it is a circular space of sand, created for practising ceremony. A place that demonstrates land back for Yorta Yorta people, where it has now held five consecutive January 26 Dawn Services.
My brother Neil, along with other community members, started the Dawn Service on Yorta Yorta Woka in 2021 and shared these reflections.
It started as a dozen peoples standing on a drizzly fresh summer’s morning, backed by a crackly secondhand portable speaker where we shared a few words and sounds in a circle of reflection and solidarity. It has since become something that feels now as much a part of this terrain as does the biyala trees that surround us filled with the djunda that sing from them as we gather..never void of sacredness..always a layer deeper into healing we move.
Dance, song, language and a Smoking were shared along with heartfelt reflections from Yorta Yorta community members.
During the service, we were blessed with the biggest mob of cockatoos singing and flying over above. I got goosebumps and personally believe they were sent by the Ancestors.
A beautiful way to commence the day, to come together to mourn, reflect and pay our respects to our Ancestors.
Later that morning we relocated to so-called Queens Gardens, where a statue of Uncle William Cooper lives. It feels ironic that a garden of such name, decorated with European trees and plants exists on Yorta Yorta Woka, but it does, and that’s where we can visit Unc.
Here we held a peaceful protest along with members of the broader community. Reflections, song, dance, art and a feed were shared.
We heard from many Yorta mob who spoke as a representative of their family group. Yorta Yorta Nation is made up of 16 family groups, with my lineage stemming from Bagot Morgan.
Uncle Bobby Nicholls, chair of Yorta Yorta Nations Aboriginal Corporation, shared a few words on the council's decision to reinstate 'Australia Day'.
Now to me, that was like a slap in the face for myself and a lot of other non-Aboriginal supporters who I see here this morning have sat down with council and worked on a Reconciliation Action Plan, and part of that was to change that date. Why would they turn around and change it back to what they wanted?
It was precious and powerful hearing from our Old People including Uncle Boydie, who continues the legacy of his grandfather, William Cooper; Aunty Pam Pederson, daughter of Uncle Douglas Nicholls and Lady Nicholls; and Uncle Colin Walker who has lived on Cummeragunja Mission since birth, nearing 90 years.
Neil also shared a few words at the peaceful protest.
We continue to be imposed upon by colonial structures everywhere we set foot, in what was placed upon our sacredness that is now surrounding all of us. It now imposes itself in ways that our Ancestors may have never imagined, but whether or not they imagined that, they did have that strength, and we have that passed down gratefully through the generations here today.
We then gathered to capture this historic moment in time with a Day of Mourning banner painted with handprints and inscribed with community names present and names of those passed.
Having the Day of Mourning event at the Uncle William Cooper statue was important and empowering.
Uncle William was a staunch and inspiring Yorta Yorta activist not only for our people, but for all First Nations people across the continent.
Along with Jack Patten and William Ferguson, they led the first national protest for Aboriginal rights across the continent – the Day of Mourning protest on 26 January 1938.
Uncle was there with us on this historic Day of Mourning. A true Yorta Yorta warrior with a legacy that continues today.
As much as January 26 brings mixed emotions, being on the motherland, I felt strong and proud of my people for driving self-determined sovereignty.
Through listening to community members, I was reminded of the importance of practising culture, listening to our Old People and the strength of Yorta Yorta that continues from our Ancestors.
We stand here to continue the legacy of our Ancestors' work, knowing that it is not a choice to continue their work, it is our role as we continue to live and be and breathe and honour that as Yorta Yorta people.
While this colonial project continues its attempts to control our people, our mob is resilient and stronger than the system thinks.
It was important for me to go back home and stand in solidarity with my mob. Forever grateful.
We are a First Nations not-for-profit that exists to centre First Nations people, Country and truth-telling. We acknowledge all First Peoples of this land and celebrate their enduring connections to Country, knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to Elders and Ancestors who watch over us and guide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
