Elders meet with Yoorrook

A FIRST Nations elders yarning circle took place in Bendigo on Tuesday, as Traditional Owners from across Victoria began sharing their views on the country’s first formal truth-telling process.

The process, called the Yoorrook Justice Commission, was formed with the powers of a royal commission to establish a public record of the state’s First Peoples since colonisation.

Five Bendigo elders were involved in the yarning circle and commissioner Professor Kevin Bell said he was pleased with the session.

“We had a very good meeting with five elders from various First Peoples communities in Bendigo,” he said.

“The themes to emerge are underlying racism, the destruction of culture by colonisation over a long period of time, and dispossession of land.

“The elders in this yarning circle include elders who were stolen, and they began to tell part of that story.

“Another theme was the way communities have in more recent times become more prominent, stronger and confident in themselves as Aboriginal communities. That shows loss and recovery.”

Yarning circles will take place across Victoria for five weeks as part of an informal process, with elders then invited to share their stories on the public record.

“There’s an elder who had a one-on-one session with [Commission] chair Eleanor Bourke sharing personal information about the impact of what’s happened to her and her family,” Professor Bell said.

“I don’t doubt that elder will step out of that confidential process and participate in the more public, outward facing mechanisms that will occur.”

Yoorrok’s first interim report is due for release on 30 June.