The story of Tarnamina Waite and Maubai Hina reveals very important aspects of Aboriginal
history but all of our histories in Melbourne and beyond.
They raided stations after stations of banning on to Kate Patterson, during this time they
did not harm women or children, their events was clearly targeted.
Capital cities often memorialise their histories in terms of triumph and celebration, but often
events in our past are far from glorious.
The hanging of these two Aboriginal men in 1842 was a macabre event and one to fill their
communities with grief.
And why is this important?
This is not just a permanent marker or an installation or a monument.
This is the visual and physical crystallisation of a political and social movement which says
the past needs to be acknowledged.
I'm very happy to be here to join with you all to celebrate the launch of Standing by
Tarnamina Waite and Maubai Hina by artists Brooke Andrew and Trent Warmer.
Throughout the past been acknowledged we will never be able to understand the present and
more importantly change the future.
This is a historic occasion.
Over the next few decades these gatherings will be replicated across this country.
We are recognising that men, women and children paid the ultimate price for resisting the
colonisation process in the most brutal way.
History is often complex and includes the multiple sets of stories and what we want
to share today is the sense of shared history and this shared history links First Nations
to non-Indigenous Australians.
This is a highly political response to what was happening at the beginning of the 21st
century in this country when this country's history was denied.
Go back to your communities, put your hand out to your Indigenous brothers and sisters,
form a commemoration committee, there are massacres on every inch of this soil, honour
those men, women and children and create a tangible monument to them.
Not for the sake of creating a tangible monument, but for the sake of kick-starting a stalled
reconciliation process which can never go forward until the past is publicly acknowledged.
So, thank you.
Thank you.
