Grafton community focks to NAIDOC Elders Day

BY TIM HOWARD

The Grafton community can take a bow for putting big smiles on the faces of local indigenous Elders during the NAIDOC Elders Day Family Fun Day at McKittrick Park, South Grafton.

One of the organisers Tracey Duroux, said Elders had been laughing and smiling all day as they saw around 500 indigenous and nonindigenous people turn out for a day to celebrate culture and also let their hair down.

She said the her organisation, Bulgarr Ngaru and Gurehlgam had been joined by service providers for the Clarence indigenous community for the day.

“The idea was each organisation would put on some sort of activity for people to enjoy,” she said.

“We wanted people to see there was something else behind the serious side of the work they do.”

Ms Duroux said many local businesses had also donated to the event, which was also vital to the day’s success.

She said Gumbaynggirr Elder Auntie Helen Kennedy had given an outstanding Welcome to Country to open the event.

Service providers also reported some outstanding results.

A spokesperson for Serco, which runs the Clarence Correctional Centre near South Grafton, said its stall had been swamped by people seeking information – and some of the 500 specially baked cookies they brought with them.

She said the centre ran indigenous cultural programs and was also a big employer of indigenous people as well as supporting indigenous organisations in the region.

“People swarmed through our stall,” she said. “We had brought all these cookies with us and barely had any left.

“But just as important, they nearly cleaned us out of the information brochures about the services we offer.”

Event organisers estimated more than 500 people came through the McKittrick Park gates last Thursday for the day.

“It’s such a great thing to see,” Ms Duroux said. “People from the whole community enjoying a beautiful day together.

“It reminds us of just what’s possible for our community to achieve.”

How two differing cultures make peace

Title: The Joy Luck Club

Author: Amy TanParmar

Publisher: Penguin Random House

Price: $20.35

By Samantha Elley

My son presented me with this book for mother’s day believing it would be something I’d be interested in reading. He wasn’t wrong.

In 1949 four Chinese women who have made America their home meet on a weekly basis to play mah-jong and swap stories of their lives from the home country.

It is a chance for them to fnd normality in a culture that is very different to the one they came from. Now, as mothers of daughters, they also need to navigate this strange Western culture for their children.

It is a challenge, as their daughters are American in thought and action and the ways and philosophies of the old country don’t stick.

The daughters don’t understand the ‘old thinking’ of their mothers, but as

DON’T FORGET US! say Bungawalbyn, Woodburn and Coraki residents

BY KATE COXALL

The Resilient Homes Program, which was created to provide assistance to home owners to restore and food protect their homes and lives from future events has rejected over 5000 of the applicants out of just over 6000 in total, resulting in a rally which last weekend saw the Clarence electorate, Woodburn, Coraki, Bungawalbin, Broadwater, Wardell and surrounding rural townships came out in force, back days in the same week, the buck now stopping with the Northern Rivers Reconstruction Authority. The Resilient Homes Program, which was created to provide assistance to home owners to restore and food protect their homes and communities were the hardest hit, with some residents being stranded for over 3 weeks with no access in or out, some stranded for 6 in the worst hit areas of Bungawalbyn, and no one other than their own community, coming to provide life

Local MP’s Janelle Saffn (State for Lismore) and Richie Williamson (State for Clarence) as well as Mayor they grow up and realise the value of their wisdom, the young women at times need to re-evaluate who they are and what they have been taught. The battle of relationships where misunderstandings and accumulated pain have mounted over time are expressed through the words of three of the mothers and the four daughters, each from their own perspective.

This novel was the frst for Amy Tan back in 1989 and was a huge success with a flm made in 1993. In this recent edition I received as a gift, Tan has added a preface to explain the surprise she received at the success of her frst book.

“I told my husband that my novel would be on bookstore shelves for about six weeks and then disappear into the shredder.”

Thirty four years later, it is still in publication, been translated into many different languages and as mentioned before, made into a flm. And it is a worthy read.

You can buy The Joy Luck Club at any good bookstore or at booktopia. com.au to the bridge where National media had flmed them stranded, in the foods, nearly 18 months ago.

$750 million dollars of promised food recovery funds seemingly disappeared the week prior, and over 5000 residents affected by foods were called by Service NSW staff to say “you are ineligible” as the NRRC also released new food zone maps excluding the 2022 data and itself dissolved within lives from future events has rejected over 5000 of the applicants out of just over 6000 in total, resulting in a rally which last weekend saw the Clarence electorate, Woodburn, Coraki, Bungawalbin, Broadwater, Wardell and surrounding rural townships came out in force, back to the bridge where National media had flmed them stranded, in the foods, nearly 18 months ago. Arguably, these saving medical and supply runs of food and water. This community says it is still feeling forgotten, as many homes, being classed as rural, have been made automatically ineligible, while some others, where water reached the ceiling fans, due to the new mapping, deemed ‘safe’.

With over 300 people attending the rally, standing across the span of the Woodburn Bridge, it was very well attended.

Robert Mustow.

In an address to the crowd MP Richie Williamson said “This is a humanitarian crisis we are dealing with, the Premier agreed. We need to do better- the Government, the politicians-everyone in the decisionmaking chain needs of the Coraki community recalled “how even in the second major 2022 food, there was only 2 SES on that day, despite all warnings and extra support sent from around the State, we were forgotten, and the community who had been helping us with supplies, people who live among us who had also lost everything, they were the ones who came, with emergency medical supplies, food and assistance for those trapped again.” Lyndall Murray from the Hands and Hearts Project, a project which has come together to do what the Government simply hasn’t, and that is to restore 100 to do better.”

Whilst MP Janelle Saffn said “You say you feel forgotten. I have not forgotten you. It was an inland tsunami. Despite not representing Woodburn, you are in my heart!”

Both MP’s and the Mayor were supportive of the Tranch 2 funding proposed, and had recently attended Sydney, speaking to Parliament as a group, about the needs of the community.

One member homes, with their small team of 16 volunteers, said “The Hands and Hearts Project is doing what the Government won’t. The NRRC decision broke my heart.”

This time, the community is coming together to say “We countDon’t Forget us!” and has formed a petition, asking for all who care about them to sign it. The petition can be found here: www. dontforgetus.com. au