Declaration on the Uluru Statement from the Heart

We, the Board of Bubup Womindjeka Family and Children’s Centre gather today on the land of the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation to humbly declare our full support for the Uluru Statement From The Heart.  

We support the constitutional recognition of our First Nations peoples as the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent lands.  

We support the call for constitutional enshrinement of a First Nations Voice. 

We accept its generous invitation to Makarrata, the establishment of a truth-telling commission about our shared history that will enable us all to walk together on a healing journey towards reconciliation. 

We support the Uluru Statement From The Heart because for over 60,000 years, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first peoples to possess and care for this land under their laws and customs, speaking in 363 languages. But only in the last 235 years have they been denied a voice and a say in matters which affected them. This is not right. 

We believe our First Nations people must finally be handed back the power and freedom to shape and make decisions that affect their communities, their culture and their country. Only then will we be able to create a culturally safe environment where their children, and indeed all our children, can truly flourish and thrive in an equitable environment of belonging, safety and respect. 

We encourage you to learn how and why the Uluru Statement From The Heart came to be. Reflect on the concerns and aspirations of others, including those expressed by our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters. Lead respectful conversations within your own families, networks and communities, be they at work, at home, or at play. Listen with an open heart to all perspectives, ask questions, do your own research, and use your voice at this fundamental time in our National story. 

We invite every member of  the Bubup Womindjeka community to walk with us towards a better Australia; a lasting, fair and truthful relationship with our First Nations people based on justice and self-determination.