Darwin-based Thomas Mayor, who has been touring the country with the canvas of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, will visit Brunswick Heads Park next to the Housie Shed, on Sunday at 10.30am.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart was a culmination of a constitutional convention held last year which brought together more than 250 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders at the foot of Uluru in Central Australia on the lands of the Aṉangu people.
The majority resolved to call for the establishment of a ‘First Nations Voice’ in the Australian Constitution and a ‘Makarrata Commission’ to supervise a process of ‘agreement-making’ and ‘truth-telling’ between governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The Uluru Statement from the Heart affirms the sovereignty, and long and continuing connection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with the land.
It also comments on the social difficulties faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the structural impediments to the real empowerment of First Nations Peoples.
Thomas Mayor said the Uluru Statement from the Heart is life changing for all who behold it.
‘When people see it they become spiritually connected,’ he said.
‘It is more than an invaluable piece of art, and it is more than a historical set of moving words; the ancient art and the powerful words combined with the signatures of those who endorsed it, represents Indigenous aspirations for a Voice that is powerful, and for Treaty and Truth Telling.
‘Being in its presence motivates people to join us on the walk, especially when they are given the opportunity to sign the additional canvases’ that have been far and wide.’
He said it was hoped that the Uluru Statement from the Heart could become the foundations of a renewed conversation with the whole Australian community about constitutional reform.
The Turnbull government rejected the statement.
ANTaR, which is an independent, national network of organisations and individuals working in support of Justice, Rights and Respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia, said the government’s rejection was an extraordinary show of bad faith from a Prime Minister.
ANTaR said the PM had guaranteed to ‘do things with, rather than do things to’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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