The struggle for identity

[Violet_Crumble]

The Aboriginal communities of northern Victoria are battling for their identity in the long shadow of brutality and neglect, says Neville Anderson

We have occupied this region since time immemorial. Our occupation of this land is something that is central to our being and inseparable from the hardship that continues to be endured by the indigenous people of the Goulburn Valley.

I am not trying to paint Aboriginal people as victims, but if we ignore our history then we are doomed to repeat it. Our history since European settlement has shaped our present generations and it will shape the next.

From our written history and from our oral tradition, we have a rich knowledge of our past. We know that the Europeans entered the Yorta Yorta nations in the 1840s and overtook the country of the Kalithavan, Walithica, Bangarang, Yalapa Yalapa, Ulupna, Kwat Kwat and Noorialum Nga Roong peoples.

Until then, we had a rich countryside and a prosperous and sustainable lifestyle and culture. We had effective and enduring methods of managing those assets available to us, of sharing our wealth between us and preparing our future generations for the joys and responsibilities that lay before them. We had an elaborate and well-tested method of maintaining law and resolving disputes.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/the-struggle-for-identity/2006/01/01/1136050341669.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2