Thursday, 15 August 2019

 Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (10:00): To commemorate the beginning of the 2019 NAIDOC celebrations I was honoured to attend the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, which was also a celebration of the life of Bangerang elder Uncle John ‘Sandy’ Atkinson, who founded the corporation in 1994. The event included a wonderful exhibition of Aboriginal art and culture called Mala Yananinon and included some of Uncle Sandy’s art, as well as a video of Uncle Sandy speaking about his life.

The primary purpose of the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages is to address the issue of language loss, and it is dedicated to the revival and reclamation of Victorian First Peoples’ languages. The corporation focuses on retrieving, recording and researching Aboriginal languages and providing a central resource on Victorian Aboriginal languages with programs and educational tools to teach the Indigenous and wider communities about Aboriginal language.

Uncle Sandy was a giant within the Aboriginal community throughout Victoria and was a very dear friend who is sadly missed. As well as founding the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, he founded the Koorie Heritage Trust, the Bangerang keeping place in Shepparton and the Rumbalara medical cooperative. He did more to preserve Aboriginal culture than any other person in this state. Uncle Sandy dedicated his life to the betterment of Aboriginal people and was inducted into the Victorian Indigenous Honour Roll in 2012. Congratulations to the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages for hosting such a great event and honouring the achievements of a truly great Victorian.