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I grew up in a multi language speaking household, but unfortunately for myself, I was a passive listener of Pertame and not an active speaker. Even now as an adult I shake my head in disbelief at the ignorance of my younger self for not speaking Pertame to my grandmother who spoke Pertame fluently as well as other languages. But learning from my mistakes as an adult now, I have made my realisation of learning and teaching Pertame a reality by being an apprentice with the Master and Apprentice Project (MAP).

As we bump-in the 2022 Mardi Gras exhibition, Deadly/Solid/Staunch, on a hot summer’s day in early February we don’t have many of the pieces yet. What we do have creates the skeleton of the exhibition including beautiful textile pieces by Boomalli senior artist Uncle Jeffrey Samuels and a handful of other pieces by emerging artists such as Nola Taylor.

Always and Again is a poem written by queer Goorie writer, Brooke Scobie.

Co-Chairs of the Close the Gap Campaign, June Oscar AO and Karl Briscoe provide insight into importance of Indigenous led solutions.

When I get frustrated or upset over something you think is no big deal, or if you think I am overreacting, remember – this isn’t…

Social media has allowed community to tell their stories their way, but non-mob must recognise cultural growth and adaption as well as tradition

First Nations LGBTQI+ people and communities have a long history of contributing to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) festival, particularly as parade participants.

Indigenous maternal and neonatal outcomes are disappointing, given that Australia prides itself on the delivery of safe clinical maternity care. Indigenous women are disproportionality disadvantaged when it comes to culturally safe maternity care, and often experience racism when accessing mainstream services, which forms distrust and disengagement in mainstream maternity services.

In Australia, the earliest form of child protection began within weeks of the first white settlements being established (Gandevia 178). The earliest institution established to remove children from families was set up less than a decade after colonisation, The Norfolk Island Orphan School opened in 1795 and was the precursor to institutional child removal within Australia.

Indigenous disruption of cruel government policies could further the cause of self-determination and might even help save the planet

In many ways, Nan is like a real-life superhero torn from the pages of a Marvel or D.C comic. She was taking care of me and my health issues, she was raising my siblings, making sure we were always fed (her homemade damper a delight), keeping that red roof over our heads, driving us to school to receive an education. That same love has been shared with her grandchildren, children, and many nephews and nieces throughout a near full century of living.

The celebration and assertion of our identities as queer mob has always unsettled and challenged colonial sentiments; that complex sexualities are incompatible with Aboriginality. Resilience and reclamation runs in the blood of our mob, queer Blakfullas have always been at the frontier of resistance.

Nationalism is defined as an ideology or movement of intense devotion and loyalty to one nation-state by prioritising that nation’s interests over others. Nationalism is not inherently good or bad. It depends entirely on how it is used and what message is portrayed.

Don’t be a dumb dawg and have a piss up on aus day, its old, its boring, its racist, it just sux.

Mililma May, Larrakia/Tiwi woman and co-founder of Uprising of the People writes about rest as resistance during a global pandemic and rise of white supremacists anti-vax groups.

This January 26th I challenge you to forego the usual beers and bbq, and instead start a new trend. 

We are still here, we have survived. I am a bookworm at heart, and keep track of all the books I read, I know when I was at an Invasion Day march on Gadigal Country two years ago, I was reading Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe at the time. Carrying it around in my backpack, next to my water bottle and my phone, switched off. Why would I need my phone when everything I need to feel connected to my people is right here?

Fifty years on, Canberra’s Tent Embassy is proudly adorned with symbols of an everlasting culture