Source: Radio New Zealand
An Aboriginal group say being present at Waitangi is about strengthening ties between Indigenous nations. Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
A group of Aboriginal manuhiri (visitors) say they have travelled across the Tasman to stand alongside Māori at Waitangi, drawing on shared experiences as Indigenous peoples navigating the impacts of government policy on culture, language and land.
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The rōpū arrived in Aotearoa mid-week and took part in a WugulOra – a morning ceremony – at the Upper Treaty Grounds at dawn. They say being present at Waitangi is about solidarity, learning, and strengthening ties between Indigenous nations.
Gumbaynggirr woman Ellie Buchanan attended the dawn ceremony with her young daughter, Raya.
“We’re here to show support for our Māori whānau. To show solidarity,” Buchanan told RNZ.
“Toitū Te Tiriti.”
She said Indigenous communities in Australia closely watched what happened in Aotearoa, particularly in relation to language revitalisation and the protection of cultural rights.
“We look towards our Māori whānau in terms of being staunch on their culture and staunch on their language,” she said.
“If that changes, it has a significant impact on us as well as Indigenous people all around the world.”
Ellie Buchanan (Gumbaynggirr woman) says indigenous peoples have the closest relationship to their countries so it’s important to maintain ties between them. Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Buchanan said relationships between Indigenous nations were grounded in a shared responsibility to the whenua (land) and to future generations.
“It’s absolutely important,” she said.
“Indigenous people have the strongest relationship to our country and to our earth. If we want to be able to sustain that, we need to be looking towards our First Nations’ people and to our Indigenous people.”
She described similarities between Gumbaynggirr and Māori values, particularly around caring for children, elders and land.
“[It is] very important to fill our bellies and love our babies and look after our old people and our country and sing our song and tell our story,” she said.
“It’s beautiful to connect and continue to connect.”
Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Buchanan also spoke about the political climate in Australia, saying it has been a difficult period for many Aboriginal people.
“A little while ago we had a referendum to get our own treaty, which was turned down,” she said.
“Unfortunately what that has opened up is more opportunity for racism and more opportunity for our people to be spoken down and denigrated.”
Despite that, she said her community continued to focus on strengthening its own foundations.
The group she is travelling with is connected to the Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, which she said translated to “a place of freedom for our Gumbaynggirr people”.
“We see that as an opportunity to say, we’re not dealing with that. You fellas do your own business, and we’re going to stand up for what’s right for our community and be staunch and be Gumbaynggirr every day.”
Troy Robinson (Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Dunghutti) travelled to Aotearoa to stand in solidarity with Māori and take home key learnings on language revitalisation. Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Troy Robinson, a Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Dunghutti man from the mid-north coast of New South Wales, was also part of the delegation. He said gatherings like Waitangi were important opportunities for Indigenous peoples to reconnect across borders.
“I think it’s very important that we have these gatherings and coming together of different nations, different cultures,” Robinson said. “We say different cultures, but in actual fact we’re actually quite similar in everything we do.”
Robinson said witnessing te ao Māori in action – particularly the strength of te reo Māori and tikanga – had been a key reason for making the haerenga (journey).
“Coming here to Aotearoa and seeing just the significance with language and the people, the strength and the resilience that they’ve built here, that’s why we come here,” he said.
Robinson is involved in establishing a bilingual school on Gumbaynggirr country, which now caters for children from kindergarten to Year 9. He said visiting Māori immersion and bilingual education settings here in Aotearoa was very valuable.
“Showing our children how important language is, the response to being together and being as one and looking after one another and sharing – that’s so important for our people.”
Leaders of the Aboriginal delegation say it was important to bring rangatahi (young people) to Aotearoa so they could see the strength that comes from embracing their culture. Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Robinson said the dawn ceremony his group performed at the Upper Treaty Grounds was a long-held cultural practice.
“Morning ceremonies and sunrise ceremonies were very frequent in a lot of cultures, and ours, it’s very, very frequent,” he said.
“Setting the mind, the body and the spirit free in peacefulness and solidarity – it’s something that our people have done since time immemorial.”
Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
He said bringing rangatahi (young people) on the trip was a key focus, with around 15 to 20 of them travelling to Aotearoa.
“They’ll go back and be humble enough to share,” he said.
“Strength and resilience and love, caring, sharing – it’s already in their blood. They need to just move
forward and lead the way.”
Robinson said being at Waitangi was part of a much longer story of exchange between Indigenous peoples across oceans.
“The passing of knowledge, the passing and sharing of country, our people were at one with country,” he said. “Building that with others, that’s what our people did and have done since a long time ago.”
Both Buchanan and Robinson said their presence at Waitangi was about standing beside Māori as fellow Indigenous peoples.
“We’re here to show our solidarity,” Buchanan said.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand