On the morning of Thursday January 26 the Kirrip Aboriginal Corporation hosted a Survival Day breakfast for a day of remembrance and mourning.
From 9.30am around 50 attendees met at Kirrip for a smoking ceremony, speeches and food, and spent the rest of the morning being together and sharing stories. Elders undertook the raising of the Aboriginal flag, Uncle Henry Hill and Aunty Alex Osborne, which Kirrip chief Executive Peter Webster said symbolised that “[Australia] is aboriginal land, it always was and always will be, and that the lands were never ceded.”
“It puts the stamp up there to remind people that we are here, and we’re here to stay,” he said.
Mr Webster said the speeches discussed the selection of the term Survival Day as being something that invites people to learn about what Aboriginal people have gone through and why people may have a problem with celebrating January 26.
“We are the oldest living culture, which is something I like to talk about because I think everyone in Australia, whether you’re first nations people or not, this heritage belongs to everybody,” he said.
“To be living here as a non-aboriginal person and know that you’re living on the land with a culture that is the oldest in the world still living, everybody should be proud of it.”
Kirrip youth coordinator Emma James said it was “really good to see a lot of Mob come together” on the day.
“It’s not the greatest circumstance, but, I think it’s good that we’re all mourning together on a day like today,” she said.
“For me January 26 means a day of mourning for my ancestors who couldn’t be here, that didn’t make it through all the genocide and everything else that happened. So for me it’s to come and pay respect to my ancestors that gave me my life and my culture and everything.”
Kirrip board member Jaqui Watkins said the day was about “getting together with community and really honouring our ancestors and elders who have shaped this world.”
