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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that this website contains the names and images of people who have passed
56
Increase awareness of Aboriginal history and culture
The Commission notes that many Aboriginal people have expressed the wish to record and make known to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people aspects of the history, traditions and contemporary culture of Aboriginal society. This wish has been reflected in the establishment of many small local community museums and culture centres. The Commission notes that many opportunities exist for projects which introduce non-Aboriginal people to Aboriginal history and culture. One illustration is the work done by the Kaurna people in South Australia to restore the Tjilbruke track; another is the Brewarrina Museum. The Commission recommends that government and appropriate heritage authorities negotiate with Aboriginal communities and organisations in order to support such Aboriginal initiatives.
The beautiful signs along the track remind us that there were many people in this landscape, living and walking along this track, long before the gold rush. And, in fact, Aboriginal People are still here, still practising our culture in a contemporary way. It’s important those stories are told, alongside those of mining, geology and Country.
Aboriginal Justice Caucus Assessment
The intent of Recommendation 56 was to support initiatives that enhance awareness and understanding of Aboriginal history, traditions, and culture with the aim of supporting Aboriginal communities and improving relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.
This assessment was written in a post-referendum Australia, whereby the weaponisation of ignorance was used against Aboriginal people with devastating effects. At the same time, the Yoorrook Justice Commission continued their efforts to record and legitimise the historical and ongoing systemic injustice perpetrated against our people in Victoria since the start of colonisation, which Aboriginal communities have always recognised. We commend the efforts of the First Peoples’s Assembly of Victoria and the Yoorrook Justice Commission to enhance awareness of Aboriginal culture and history, and support ongoing truth-telling in Victoria.
Truth-telling about Australia’s history is imperative to disrupt and redress the ongoing impacts of colonisation. The denial of truth about the destruction and massacres that occurred only further harms and divides Australia. There are significant opportunities for further work to ensure Aboriginal history is preserved and shared in Victoria to address the lack of knowledge and understanding, particularly relating to the genocide perpetrated against Aboriginal people.
There is work that's been done to talk about Aboriginal history and culture but the awareness of most Victorians is very low. Especially if we're only talking about what’s in museums and stuff like that. We need to be talking about the massacre sites that are across Victoria or the genocide that's outlined in the Yoorrook reports.
(Chris Harrison, Co-chairperson, Aboriginal Justice Caucus)
Education through schools and universities must reflect the experiences of our people, not just European settlers. Too many resources construct history based on colonial narratives and suppress the perspectives of mob. This continues today, with school and university curricula failing to adequately reflect our cultures, history and knowledge.
We recognise there have been efforts to address these failings like the development of the Aboriginal History Archive (built around Professor Gary Foley’s collection) at Victoria University, the Indigenous History of the University of Melbourne project, and Aboriginal Change Makers Resource, an online education resource for Victorian schools about Aboriginal history, culture and identity, developed by Worawa Aboriginal College and the Parliament of Victoria. However, there needs to be much greater investment in transforming the curriculum across all education sectors. As the official public record of truth-telling in Victoria, Yoorrook Truth be Told is critical to this work and provides a detailed account of the history of Victoria from the start of colonisation from our perspective.
Outside of formal education environments, there have been other organisations that have maintained public collections to increase awareness of Aboriginal histories and cultures. These include Aboriginal historical archives at the Public Record Office Victoria and the National Archives of Australia, and The Koorie Heritage Trust which is the only public collection in Victoria dedicated solely to Aboriginal art and culture, featuring artefacts, photographs, and an Oral History Program.
On a local scale, we also recognised the impact of initiatives like the Dharnya Centre.
On Yorta Yorta Country here in Shepparton and Barmah, we've got the Dharnya Centre, which has been an intricate part of education, not only for our Aboriginal young people and other Aboriginal people, but also for non-Aboriginal people. We're trying to promote that as an educational tool.
(Bobby Nicholls, Chairperson, Hume Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee (RAJAC))
Aboriginal people, communities, organisations and Traditional Owner groups are burdened by requests from non-Aboriginal people and groups to support them to learn about Aboriginal culture and history, without enough resources to meet the needs of our own communities:
I'd say two out of three calls that I field at the Gathering Place are from non-Aboriginal people wanting to know more, whether it be about their property, their organisation, or to find facts and history. But there hasn't been an investment in, not only physical gathering places, but the collection or development of resources for that. Given that we're so overrepresented in every social justice arena, in a deficit space, the human resource to build the physical resources are also not there. We're already under-resourced to deal with the weight of the Aboriginal need. But ACCOs have never been resourced to deal with supporting White Australia to figure out who and what they are.
(Ebony Hickey, Chairperson, Barwon South West RAJAC)
We acknowledge potential opportunities under Treaty and other strategies such as Yuma Yirramboi to progress the aspirations of Traditional Owner groups. Aboriginal place names and signposts at culturally significant locations are important, as is empowering mob to share their stories. We hope to see more signage and recognition of the historical significance of places like Daishes Paddock, the Flats in Mooroopna and others like them:
Daishes Paddock, it's called Kids Town today. We've asked Council in the past to give it some more cultural flavour in keeping with its significance to our Community.
(Bobby Nicholls, Chairperson, Hume RAJAC)
Overall, this recommendation remains highly relevant and is a high priority for further work.
Priority for Further Work:
High
Relevance and potential impact | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low (0-2) | Moderate (3-4) | High (5-6) | |||
Extent of action taken and evidence of outcomes | High (5-6) | ||||
Moderate (3-4) | |||||
Low (0-2) | |||||
Potential Actions for Further Work
Embed Indigenous Data Sovereignty, Indigenous Data Governance and access to records
The Victorian Government must commit funding and resources to systemic reform to facilitate, embed and ensure Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Indigenous Data Governance in relation to Aboriginal people’s records, including through treaty by funding, resourcing and supporting the establishment of a Victorian Aboriginal-controlled statewide body for Aboriginal peoples’ data, records and data governance expertise.
(Yoorrook for Transformation, Recommendation 97)
Aboriginal records and archives
The Victorian Government must:
a) Provide ongoing and sustainable funding for existing Aboriginal-controlled archives, including for operational costs;
b) Increase resources for organisations supporting Aboriginal people to access their records;
c) Prioritise the digitisation and searchability of Aboriginal peoples’ records, including working with Aboriginal people to reframe how records are described; and
d) Provide Aboriginal people with priority access to records and archives identified as relating to Aboriginal people.
(Yoorrook for Transformation, Recommendation 98)
Education reforms
Guided by Aboriginal community, the Victorian Government (or Minister for Education, as appropriate), must amend the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) to:
a) Expressly recognise Victoria’s Aboriginal people;
b) Acknowledge Aboriginal people’s rights, cultures, histories and perspectives in education;
c) Protect and prioritise Aboriginal peoples’ cultural safety and right to a culturally safe education;
d) Include an actionable right to protection of cultural rights and cultural safety in all Victorian schools;
e) Ensure the representation and perspectives of Victorian and other Aboriginal people in the school curriculum; and
f) Create an Aboriginal Education Council as a governance mechanism for oversight and accountability of Aboriginal peoples’ school education.
(Yoorrook for Transformation, Recommendation 48)
Invest in nation building for Aboriginal communities
Support nation building and self-determination for Traditional Owner groups and ACCOs. Provide funding to build nationhood strategies that can help realise communities’ social, economic and cultural aspirations.
Background
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) noted that the maintenance and revitalisation of Aboriginal culture was critical in supporting Aboriginal people who wanted their culture respected and understood. The Commission considered opening museums and culture centres would contribute to improving relations between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and play a part in restoring pride and confidence to Aboriginal people who found the oppression of the broader society difficult to bear.
Actions Taken Since Last Review
Victorian government agencies provided updates on this recommendation in 2025:
Public Record Office Victoria
Yoorrook Justice Commission
PROV provided instructions and held workshops with agencies to assist them to identify the historical records they needed from the State’s Archival Collection to respond to Notices to Produce and other requests.
PROV hosted Yoorrook Justice Commissioners and staff at the Victorian Archives Centre on several occasions, as well as responding to questions directly from the Commission. These responses were incorporated into the Commission’s reports.
Koorie Index of Names
The Koorie Index of Names database can be searched to locate references to Victorian Aboriginal people who are mentioned in some archival records that relate to Aboriginal affairs from 1839 to 1946. In 2023-24 PROV commenced a project to support increased accessibility, improve functionality and implement improvements. Completion of the redesigned platform was expected by the end of 2025.
The new database will link directly to digital copies of records, will be accessible to users remotely via a user account and free of charge. It will also enable new names to be added to the database, supported by a volunteer indexing program due to commence late in 2025.
Grant Program
PROV administered the Local History Grants Program over 20 years until 2024-25. The program supported groups with grants of up to $15,000 for community activities that preserved, recorded and shared the local, social and community history of Victoria and Victorians. Many Aboriginal community organisations received funding through the program to increase awareness of Victorian First Peoples’ history and culture and to improve access to important archival collections of material related to Victorian Aboriginal people.
Department of Transport and Planning
The DTP stated that it continues to support initiatives which increase awareness of Aboriginal people’s history and culture across its portfolio areas of responsibility.
Key initiatives since 2018 include:
- Celebration of Aboriginal culture and language through transport assets and place naming.
- Permanent installation of the Aboriginal flag above the West Gate Bridge.
- Installation of ‘Welcome to Country’ road signage in partnership with Traditional Owner groups.
- Events for DTP and portfolio staff to commemorate key dates, e.g. Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC week.
Participation in Yoorrook Justice Commission
The department actively participated in Victoria’s truth-telling process led by the Yoorrook Justice Commission. DTP contributed many historical and contemporary records, produced background papers and other written materials in response to the Commission, while three DTP Ministers and two senior officials provided written statements to the Commission, with the Surveyor-General of Victoria appearing to provide verbal evidence at public hearings. During public hearings, the Surveyor General gave evidence of the historical role of past Surveyors-General in the colonisation of Victoria and issued a formal apology. DTP’s contributions to the Commission’s truth-telling process will help increase awareness of Aboriginal history.
Department of Premier and Cabinet
DPC notes that increasing public awareness of Aboriginal history and culture is an ongoing process, and difficult to mark as complete.
The Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council has continued its statutory duty to promote public awareness and understanding of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage in Victoria, including through the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register which is a central repository for Traditional Owners to store information about cultural heritage.
Since 2018, the Victorian public’s awareness of Aboriginal culture and history has increased through the Treaty and Truth processes which started in 2016 and are ongoing. The hearings of Yoorrook Justice Commission were, for the most part, freely available to view online and its interim reports were publicly available. The Commission’s final report, Yoorrook Truth Be Told, is a valuable document for public awareness, detailing the official public record of the impact of colonisation in Victoria.
Impact
Outputs
Department of Transport and Planning
DTP noted the following key outputs in their response.
Aboriginal flag on the West Gate Bridge
During NAIDOC Week 2022, the Department of Transport, Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll MP and Minister for Treaty and First Peoples Gabrielle Williams MP announced the Aboriginal Flag will be flown on the West Gate Bridge permanently alongside the Australian Flag.
Melbourne Art Trams
Since 2021, Melbourne Art Trams has focussed on celebrating Victoria's Aboriginal heritage, with trams designed by Aboriginal artists. Each year six trams with designs by Aboriginal artists are selected to run on Melbourne’s tram network for the next 12 months.
Welcome to Country signage
Since 2009, the former VicRoads (now part of DTP) has been working with Traditional Owners to install ‘Welcome to Country’ road signage to recognise the local Traditional Owner groups. Since 2018, signs have been installed on Dja Dja Wurrung country and additional signs were installed on Yorta Yorta Country in 2022.
Echuca-Moama Bridge Project
Major Road Projects Victoria worked with Traditional Owners throughout the delivery of this project to recognise traditional connection to Country, including through the incorporation of the Dhungala Dreaming artwork by Yorta Yorta elder, Aunty Judy Atkinson as well as in the naming of the new bridges – the Murray River crossing has been named Dhungala Bridge, and the new Campaspe River crossing is called Yakoa Bridge, with Dhungala and Yakoa the respective names in Yorta Yorta language for the Murray and Campaspe rivers .
Morwell and Traralgon Stations
The upgraded Morwell and Traralgon stations have celebrated Aboriginal culture and connection through the installation of artwork by Aboriginal artists.
Aboriginal place naming
Geographic Names Victoria within DTP oversees the naming and registration of roads, features and localities in Victoria. Part of this role is to encourage the use of Aboriginal language in place naming.
Community Views
Rodney Carter
Rodney Carter, CEO, DJAARA Group
Rodney Carter spoke about the Goldfields Track Visitor Ready Interpretation Project.
The beautiful signs along the track remind us that there were many people in this landscape, living and walking along this track, long before the gold rush. And, in fact, Aboriginal People are still here, still practising our culture in a contemporary way. It’s important those stories are told, alongside those of mining, geology and Country.