Find out what is happening at ACC and in the neighbourhood.
“connecting our community”
We were very excited to see that the State Government election commitment of $100,000 to support all the programs we run here at ACC, as announced by our local member Kat Theophanous, was in the budget this week! Hooray.
We always have a long wishlist of projects and programs that are just awaiting funding … and so we’re thrilled that we’ll be able to get cracking with them. Thanks Kat.
It’s National Volunteer Week, and the Yarra Neighbourhood House Network held a lovely shared event at Fitzroy Learning Network on Saturday to thank a range of volunteers across our network and enable them to come together and meet each other. Even in our own house, sometimes our volunteers don’t cross paths, so it is lovely to have an occasion to catch up.
We were thrilled that 10 volunteers from ACC could come along, from our committee members to knitters and jam makers to people who help each week to run our AAA Arts program and gardening group etc. etc. We really couldn’t run all the things we do without wonderful support from people like Shirley who runs line dancing, Phil who offers computer support, Sarah who sets up the toy library, all the people who put their hand up to coordinate the book clubs, ukulele, choir etc, And then there are the cooks and crafters and makers … people who help out at our events, and our lovely committee. Also the wonderful partners at the Alphington Bowls Club, who help out regularly with our AAA Bowls program and the CWA ladies who are cooking our morning teas for us … The list goes on (and I hope I haven’t missed you in this quick summary).
Here is a lovely photo of Clare at the event! And some of the great food …
These photos were taken by Tony who runs Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre, but Kalimna took lots of photos too, so I will share them next week.
Have you seen Bim and Tig? They are our new little friends out the front - retired salt and pepper shakers from Queensland who are living in a bird cage and like to eat bottle tops and plastic. Your kids might like to stop past and say hello next time they are passing by! They love a natter.
Lee is always full of fun ideas - and our latest playstation out the front uses recycled materials and is particularly creative and wacky!
We have been contacted by Kew High School to spread the word about considering being a host family to students from overseas.
Hi Leanne here.
As the Voice referundum approaches there are a lot of references to the beautifully crafted Uluru Statement from the Heart which is the formal document that calls for a First Nations Voice to be recognised in our Constitution. Have you read it? If not you can just keep reading below! If you have, it’s worth reading again I reckon.
Or you can listen and watch the YouTube video of Professor Megan Davis reading it here, which is perhaps even more powerful.
We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:
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?
With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.
Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.
These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.
We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.
We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.
Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.
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.
If you are interested in finding out more about the history behind the Statement and process for how it came into being you can click here.
