Survival Day service up for reconciliation award

THE city’s first Survival Day Dawn Ceremony is a finalist in the state’s Helping Achieve Reconciliation Together Awards.

An initiative of Ballarat’s Koorie Engagement Action Group, the service was held at View Point on Australia Day this year from 5.30am. Indigenous leaders addressed the survival and strength of First Nations Peoples, their culture, communities and determination to secure a positive future.

KEAG member, Sissy Austin said the team was proud of their community event which generated discussion and had a larger impact than initially expected.

“It started as a conversation in a coffee shop. It was Nikki Foy’s idea, she brought it to KEAG and all of us got behind it. I remember Nikki saying, ‘if we get 10 people, I’ll be happy,’ and we had over 1000 people attend,” Ms Austin said.

“There’s been an ongoing conversation about the event and how it made people feel who attended it, so it’s been really moving. It’s been a lightbulb moment… People have come up to me and said they were there and talked about the emotions it’s triggered within them.

“Having the Dawn Ceremony has brought our emotion to the surface and non-indigenous community members are now feeling our pain for once,” she said.

KEAG is grateful to have their “hard work” acknowledged by Reconciliation Victoria, whether they win a HART Award or not.

“Being nominated, I hope other councils or communities see what we’ve done and what can be done if you get a group together,” Ms Austin said.

“The event will definitely happen again. It’s the start of quite a big change within Ballarat, and the receptiveness makes me feel proud to be here in this community. The positives outweigh the negative for once.”