Looking back, looking forward
– steps towards justice, rights, respect
6pm, Tuesday 31 October 2017
– please join us for refreshments from 5.30 pm
Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture,
15 Blackall Street, Barton
Enquiries: info@antaract.org.au
| Speakers
Tristan Ray, who was involved in organising the first Sea of Hands (https://antar.org.au/sea-hands) Shannan Dodson, communications and digital consultant, and member of the ANTaR National Committee Chris Bourke and Jennie Gordon, ACT representatives on the Uluru Position Working Group (https://www.1voiceuluru.org/) |
Sea of Hands photo from: https://www.slideshare.net/ANTaR/sea-of-hands
Twenty years ago, the first Sea of Hands was installed at Parliament House in Canberra. ANTaR started with – as indicated in the original acronym – a focus on native title and reconciliation.
Twenty years on, there have been gains and frustrations for Australia’s first peoples. There was despair around the Northern Territory intervention. There was a time of hope with the apology to the Stolen Generation in 2008. Discussion around constitutional change and recognition revealed the need for the next steps to be significant and meaningful. And so we have come to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, giving substance to the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from across Australia.
This year, the David Hunter Memorial Lecture will feature speakers who can reflect on the issues from 20 years ago that inspired the first Sea of Hands, as well as speakers who are taking the next steps through the Uluru Statement.
There will be a Sea of Hands display and the opportunity to sign a hand and show support for the continuing work. Please let us know if you would like to share stories or memorabilia relating to the first Sea of Hands.
David Hunter was one of the founding members of ANTaR, and an enormously supportive and inspiring activist on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues. In October 2000 he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and he died in December 2003. Since then, ANTaR ACT has hosted an annual memorial lecture in memory of David’s contributions to reconciliation and Indigenous rights.