From The Flats to Munarra: Shepparton celebrates NAIDOC Week

By Khadija Hadjab

Jul 15, 2024

Back, Cr Ben Ladson, Deputy Mayor Sam Spinks, Cr Anthony Brophy and Greater Shepparton City Council chief executive Fiona Le Gassick. Front, GV Libraries chief executive Felicity Macchion, Elder Aunty Rochelle Patten, Cr Greg James, guest speaker Paul Briggs and GV Libraries Aboriginal library assistant Julie Best. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Celebrated annually across Australia in the first week of July (Sunday to Sunday), NAIDOC Week represents an opportunity for all Australians to recognise the oldest living culture on Earth, its history and its traditions.

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Shepparton Library organised a morning tea for the occasion on July 12. Cr Greg James hosted the event and Paul Briggs was the guest speaker.

Both delivered powerful speeches that led the audience to reflect on determining events that shaped and continue to shape the country’s history, such as the mass movement to The Flats and the outcome of the Voice referendum.

Paul Briggs reflects on his journey. Photo by Rechelle Zammit

Mr Briggs shared a presentation retracing the journey that led him to create the Rumbalara Football and Netball Club and his work as deputy chair of the Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence.

The centre is an Aboriginal-led, pioneering state-of-the-art learning centre in Shepparton that is set to revolutionise education. It is Australia’s first Indigenous-led pathway tertiary education campus with Aboriginal values and Indigenous knowledge systems focusing on sports science, engineering, allied health services, renewables, trades, early childhood, community services, nursing, agriculture, cybersecurity, cultural identity and entrepreneurship.

Adjacent to Shepparton Sports Precinct, Munarra Centre for Regional Excellence will officially open on August 7.

Cr James reflected on the First Nations community’s journey from The Flats to building a multimillion-dollar project. He acknowledged how far we had collectively come while also acknowledging the work still needed.

“We are the legacies of our resistance,” he said.

“We have the resistance in our blood.

“It is in our DNA.

“We won’t take this and lay down.

“We will continue what our forefathers have done.

“We have an obligation to our children and children’s children to keep fighting.

“Be Blak, loud and proud.

“It’s about us being in control of our destiny.”