Truth-Telling: What Is Our Role?

While truth-telling is an everyday activity for many First Nations people, non-Indigenous Australians are often unsure about what their role in truth-telling might be. 

There are many opportunities to turn goodwill into action, like the workshop I attended last weekend.

35 members of local faith communities had the opportunity to explore the truth of the shared histories of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians at a Truth from the Heart workshop. 

Parishioners from St John Bosco Catholic Parish in Engadine were wonderful hosts, providing morning tea and lunch and the use of their hall and sunny courtyard. This workshop is part of a collaborative project between Australian Catholic Mission and the Sydney Aboriginal Catholic Ministry’s Truth Telling Project.

We began the day with an Acknowledgement of Country, and a reminder of the text of the powerful Uluru Statement that highlights the importance of truth telling -  learning about our histories.  Next we learned a little about the history and connections of all the participants. I was fascinated by the number who spoke of their connection to their local bushland and their love of nature - their experience of being ‘on Country’ and their sense of closeness to our Indigenous peoples when walking through the bush.  

During a light hearted trivia game, we looked at a series of historical photos and guessed the event and the year. It was also a powerful reminder to the resilience and leadership by Indigenous people since colonisation. During this session, many of us learned, for the first time, of the deep involvement of the early Catholic Church in Australia in the setting up of the Missions. These Catholic Missions played a complex, dual role of providing humanitarian and medical relief while simultaneously acting as agents of cultural dispossession and colonial assimilation.

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The highlight of the day was selecting a character from the colonial or recent past, learning about their lives and then designing a team presentation of the character in the first person.  Included in the list  were characters such as Barangaroo, Oodgeroo Noonuccal, Charlie Perkins, Mum Shirl, and Bishop Bede Polding. There was much discussion as we tried to ‘walk in their shoes’ and bring these characters to life, learning about some aspects of their lives and activism for the first time.  

Our group discovered more about the life of Charlie Perkins. We wondered what it was like for him growing up in a town camp outside Alice Springs and then later travelling to Adelaide for his schooling and experiencing so much discrimination. Did he find solace in playing soccer and then playing professional soccer in England? He was the first Aboriginal person to attend Sydney university at the same time as organising the “Freedom Ride” to see first hand the apartheid in country towns in Western NSW. Our group considered the historical context when he worked in senior roles in the Commonwealth Public Service. What was it like butting heads with Prime Minister Bob Hawke and speaking his mind without fear or favour? 

The workshop gave us the opportunity to evaluate past events and decisions within historical contexts and gain multiple perspectives about their impacts.

Recent research conducted by Professor Heidi Norman and Dr Anne Maree Payne’s, UNSW Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group, shows truth-telling is more vital than ever on the path to recognition and reconciliation. 

Reconciliation Australia has more information about Truth-telling. And you can put your truth-telling into practice by attending SSR events.

Toni Downes