Aboriginal voices and history

We’re honoured to have Col Lyons and Stan Grant returning to St Albans this year, lending their voices to the festival and celebrating the rich indigenous history of both the local area and Australia more broadly. Join us on the the bed of the Macdonald River on Saturday morning, as Col performs a traditional Welcome to Country smoking ceremony and remembers the legacy of the original Darkinjung peoples of the valley. Last year’s ceremony was profoundly moving, a concrete example of the deeply important acknowledgement of Country. The following morning Wiradjuri man and award-winning journalist Stan Grant, who delivered the festival opening address last year, will be discussing his Quarterly Essay ‘The Australian Dream’. In this latest publication, Stan argues that we should be looking to the emerging indigenous middle-class for ways to free those still suffering from poverty and disadvantage, and asks whether we are seeing the slow appearance of a broader Australian dream with a place for all…

Other sessions that deal with Aboriginal history are:

Aboriginal history
Paul Irish: Hidden in Plain View
Mark Tedeschi: Myall Creek
Gil Jones: Conspiracy of Silence