STORY - First Nation Voice

My artwork for this year’s 2019 NAIDOC Theme ‘Voice Treaty Truth’ is about the first nation voice of this country having a say on our rights and issues regarding our people. Our culture is thousands of years old, we should be respected and acknowledged. Surviving genocide and the effects of colonialisation, we now as a country are faced with inter-generational trauma. So as history shows, it has always been a massive fight to get to where we are today because we’ve been oppressed as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. Our ancestors have paved the way for our people and it continues for generations and generations. Trauma affects our families whether we live in remote or urban communities.

This design draws attention to Treaty, the main discussion for this NAIDOC theme. If a Treaty was established, and it meant our people had more rights, then I would support it. We are the only Commonwealth country without a Treaty with its Indigenous people. I think it’s an important step in the right direction to have such an agreement in place for both parties to move forward together. Aboriginal people have not given up their sovereignty- do the rest of Australia understand this? I think by listening to our voices, we can better understand each other, understand the trauma and begin to heal as a country. Acknowledgement is a very important part of this process. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History is not taught enough in schools, which is why I can see there’s a lot of ignorant and misconceptions about our people. Education and awareness should continue into the workplace.

The ‘U’ symbol in the design are our people coming together to discuss Treaty such as the Uluru Statement from the heart. The wavy pattern on each side is the journey we are on. The brown dots represent our people, and the white dots are the rest of the country as we move forward for a shared future.