NATIONAL ABORIGINAL & TORRES STRAIT
ISLANDER ECUMENICAL COMMISSION

Continuing the Journey...

[Back to Contents]

<Previous                               Next>

RESPONSE TO THE RECONCILIATION PROCESS

Support for Reconciliation:

The Covenant between the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC) and the rest of the Uniting Church of Australia (UCA) was established in 1994 and provides a process by which reconciliation can continue to be a focus for the Uniting Church in Australia. Covenanting is an agency of the National Assembly with Peter Lewis its current National Director. Covenanting produces a variety of resources for congregations including a 'template' that can be used by congregations to make a commitment to their local Indigenous community and Congress.

True reconciliation can only be based on walking alongside Indigenous people as they seek reconnection - with the land, with their economic foundation, with their culture and within families.
Covenanting.

Many congregations have taken steps to express their commitment to covenanting - plaques recognising the traditional owners have been displayed, links have been established with local Indigenous communities and regional councils of Congress and there has been participation in Week of Prayer for Reconciliation, Sorry Day and Journey of Healing commemorations.

Special attention has been paid to promoting Covenanting with young people within the Uniting Church.

Some examples of Covenanting in Synods includes the establishment of a permanent memorial at the site of the Myall Creek Massacre in New South Wales, a Covenanting Campout in Victoria and in South Australia the implementation of the 2% Indigenous Employment Program.

Education for Reconciliation:

The Uniting Church founded, and continues to support Shalom College in Queensland, a primary and secondary school for Indigenous students.

At the 2000 National Assembly a number of resolutions were passed in relation to ministerial education, including the provision of anti-racism and cross cultural programs, the preparation of theologically based community development programs to support the ministry of Congress and support for the growth of Indigenous theology.
Some schools have implemented curriculum measures to provide Indigenous perspectives and discussions to further this are ongoing. Uniting Education held a National Youth Reconciliation Convention in 1999 which brought together 250 Indigenous and non Indigenous secondary students. A delegation from the Convention met with the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, the Governor General and the Minister assisting the Prime Minister on Reconciliation to present the Convention's submission on the Draft Document for Reconciliation. Evelyn Scott, the Chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, commented on the high quality of the submission.

Advocacy for Reconciliation:

Covenanting has taken an advocacy role in key issues of concern for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Covenanting made a submission on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Bill to the Senate Legislative Committee, to the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee Inquiry into Human Rights on mandatory sentencing and to the Parliamentary Joint Committee in Native Title on land justice and native title.

Responding to Disadvantage:

The Uniting Church of Australia - Synod of South Australia has committed to participate in the Indigenous Employment Program initiated by the Department of Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business. Under this program the Uniting Church - Synod of South Australia has committed to place and assist 175 Indigenous peoples into employment and to target a 2% level of employment for Indigenous peoples throughout the Uniting Church and its agencies in South Australia.

The Uniting Church of Australia has also committed to the proposals contained in the Draft Document for Reconciliation which Congress requested the Uniting Church to respond to. [see Vision for Reconciliation]

Negotiation:

In making decisions relating to reconciliation and Indigenous concerns there is always consultation with the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

Vision for Reconciliation:

The Uniting Church of Australia's vision for future involvement in reconciliation is based on the four strategies contained in the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's documents which Congress has requested them to progress.

1. Economic Strategy: cross cultural awareness strategy; members and finance services to support Indigenous business development; mentoring; a 2% Indigenous Employment Strategy for UCA synods; community development trained co-workers.
2. Addressing Disadvantage Strategy: encourage the development of Indigenous health and education policies in UCA hospitals and schools; employment of Indigenous liaison workers in UCA agencies; encouraging partnership programs between UCA schools and other schools that teach Indigenous students; increased advocacy in housing, law and justice and education.
3. Promoting Rights: continue to advocate on social justice and Indigenous rights.
4. Sustaining the Reconciliation Process: cultural awareness training requirement for theological training and elders preparation; ongoing covenanting commitments to the National, Synod, Presbytery and Congregational levels which include Covenanting Statements; use of Indigenous protocols and symbols; recognition of country through statements and plaques; encourage more youth exposure programs and work with Congress towards developing an Indigenous theology.

RESPONSE TO THE BRINGING THEM HOME REPORT

Acknowledgment and Apology [Recommendation 6]:

The National Assembly of the Uniting Church issued a detailed apology to the Indigenous people in 1994, including reference to the Stolen Generations. A more detailed apology was offered specifically to the Stolen Generations in 1997. Each of the State-level synods have subsequently made their own apology.

Awareness Raising [Recommendations 8 & 9]:

Resolutions have been made by the policy-making bodies of the church to ensure that education on the history and continuing effects of forcible removals is taking place. Consultations with schools and theological colleges have taken place and most schools have ensured that the area is covered in the curriculum.

Each presbytery of the Uniting Church has been provided with materials to ensure that for people within the church, who work with Indigenous people, training on the history and effects of forcible removals takes place. Church participation in Sorry Day and Journey of Healing commemorations contributes to wider church community awareness.

The Ninth Assembly has instructed the national body responsible for ministerial training to make this area a compulsory element in ministerial formation.

Counselling Services [Recommendation 40]:

Relevant church agencies have been requested to collaborate with Linkup and other relevant Aboriginal agencies to ensure that counselling services are culturally appropriate and to support Indigenous organisations delivering these services. There is variation between the states and various agencies as to the implementation of these recommendations.

Making Records Accessible [Recommendations 25, 38 & 39]:

The Uniting Church has approved the principle of transferring historical and cultural information to relevant Indigenous centres and will enter into negotiations as these centres are established.

All Uniting Church agencies have been requested to identify all relevant records and to preserve, index and store them safely. Unfortunately many of the important documents relating to the children who were removed to Croker Island between 1941 and 1965 were lost in the Darwin cyclone in 1975. The records of national agencies and agencies in New South Wales and the ACT have been included in an integrated register being compiled by the NSW Government. The Uniting Church has begun to prepare a national register of all records of agencies which became part of the Uniting Church when it was formed in 1977.

The Uniting Church recognises the right of individuals, and their families, to free access to their records as well as the need for counselling support to be available on request.

Land Holdings [Recommendation 41]:

The principal lands which involve the Uniting Church of Australia are Croker Island and Sister Kate's in Perth. Croker Island has been returned to the traditional owners and Sister Kate's is currently used primarily by an Aboriginal controlled children and family services program and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress.

Monetary Compensation [Recommendation 15]:

The Uniting Church of Australia supports the recommendations relating to monetary compensation and to the establishment of a National Compensation Fund.