Katherine became a resting point for a significant family of 14 people last week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Descended from Gurindji workers who walked off Wave Hill Station in protest of harsh working conditions in 1966, the family of siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and parents had stopped overnight in Katherine as they made their way from Darwin to the Freedom Day Festival being held in Kalkaringi and Daguragu.
Some had travelled from as far as Queensland’s Hervey Bay and Gold Coast.
Among them was ABC presenter Charlie King, who founded the No More campaign, which advocates against violence.
Family member Chris Nelson, a senior lecturer in community service at Batchelor Institute, said the family was travelling to the festival in recognition of them having “always been there”.
“We were there then, we’re still there and we’ll still be there in 100 years,” Mr Nelson said.
“It’s important that we’re there for solidarity and to reconnect with the land and with the people.
“My grandmother came from the stolen generation.”
Mr Nelson said the family’s children would be visiting the region for the first time.
“They’re Gurindji kids but they don’t know it yet,” he said.
“Because people were taken away, the next generation didn’t learn our language, we didn't learn our culture.
“We learnt how to be a white man – how to live in white society and how to hide what we are.
“Now is the time to put that forward and say we’re damn proud of it.”
Mr Nelson’s cousin Amanda Hallam, who had travelled from the Gold Coast with her husband Dean and daughters Olivia, 11, and Mia, 8, said the festival would be her family’s first visit to the region.
“This is for our family and to see where we came from,” she said.
“It’s good for our children to see where their roots lie.”
Ms Hallam said she was looking forward to being at the festival.
“I can’t wait” she said.
“Just to feel the earth – I think it will be really emotional.
“I don’t know a lot of the story, so I’m on a learning journey.”
For Mr King, the trip was a journey back to where his mother Ruby King came from. He said the family had found the place from where she was stolen in the early 1920s and taken to Darwin; and would be visiting it with “the young ones” to help them understand the story of what happened to their grandmother and great-grandmother.
