this is borolo for 200 years it's been called city of perth and here on australia day stories of first nations people are drowned out by the sound of fireworks but things are changing and these buddha elders are leading that change there is a story for borlu that every person needs to know whether they're black or white or whatever it was a crime to be a black fella when i grew up exclusion zones was in perth and also just about all over wa that's when um weren't allowed out in the streets after six we used to go looking for our old pop and we'd bring him out of town before six o'clock so he wouldn't be put in jail later and i was thinking well maybe they were concerned for the welfare of the aboriginal people and they didn't want them to get the white man's germs because he brought it in from overseas but it was all racism and discrimination and oppression when the british first come here nungars were at a disadvantage from the get-go we had spears and they had guns and there's been conflict ever since these elders spent their lives fighting for truth and recognition of their sovereignty we are still waiting two hundred years to share and shake our friendship and in 2016 tensions between the city of perth and noongar mob escalated again [Music] aboriginal protesters had been camping at harrison island for more than 10 days angry about the state government's plans to shut down some remote communities paragara is a normal name for that place the police came down with horses rangers came with trucks leave us in peace they were all lined up on one side we were around the sacred fire as a medicine man my own man we always hang out pour out of the world what i'd wear i get it the backlash from this horrible event created a huge media storm for the city of perth that catalyst of change really was madaga it was those strange relationships i think it's just that tipping point where it's like there has to be a different way of doing this we can't continue to have this type of connection with each other the first thing that we had to do was apologize so the city of perth reached out to the elders it was a long time coming because of the history of the perth city council they were now looking to reconcile and to put it back in line and it's not an easy task we've been pushed from pillar to post on our land by the government of western australia we're still in pain we're still in hurt for the loss of our land the first step was getting an eldest group into the city of perth i can clearly remember the first couple of meetings that i had with the elders we were sitting on opposite sides of the table and there was a sense of wanting to trust but not sure whether they could trust me if you're going to do something that needs to be a partnership but if you say in partnership they've got to do so much and you've got to do so much what it is about is recognition and acknowledgement and aboriginal people have been here since time began the first couple of meetings i remember walking away and they were very emotional you could hear what people had experienced in the room and that went back not just about medicare but years years and years the whole colonization everything because this is where it all started around about the age of eight i was taken away and we were put on trucks and taken to wandering mission every detail of our lives was recorded my father had to get permission for him to marry my mother i remember the citizenship's rights and you weren't even let out young family around i wanted to join the navy but they asked me if i had my citizenship i said i don't need a citizenship i said you need one we thought oh yeah we can build a wrap in six months no you can't when you have that level of trauma and history it took us 18 months but that was what was needed to build mutual respect trust and build the start of a relationship [Music] for people to express themselves and be able to get that out of their system that's part of healing and listening to that and then realizing how passionate they were about making sure younger generations get to know that they went in battered for them we've already had a great idea from elisha about calling it danju together they created danju a document that committed to giving aboriginal people a real voice in decision making the first dot points acknowledge the past historical injustices i want the word historical taken out and commit to make changes to build a better future for all the connection to the city for all black white and wherever you come from yeah and especially aboriginal people from this country ensuring a real voice is given to aboriginal people that live work and have a connection to this land and a relationship with the city of perth yes do you understand the importance of this we would not be here if we didn't think we was going to get to this because we don't want to waste our time we've done this for years and years and years and guess what we've done we've changed we've changed things we'll be dead long gone but it'll be still there for our young ones at the same time that these elders were meeting with the council black lives matter rallies were marching through the streets of perth when i saw the big crowd of non-aboriginal people african-american multicultural children of all walks of life that there is hope there have been people like my dad and annie mingli who have been pushing for change since they were my age you know that was 50 years ago i don't want to be having to be 80 years old and pushing for this kind of change for my children and my children's children a couple of elders rang me just now said thank the council for the wonderful work they've done for the protest we had down here on saturday it was just a sea of people it's all walks of life tears couldn't rise when i stepped down it was really something the city of perth has really come ahead you know because i've been involved with them now for about i think it's four years before aboriginal people never got a foot in the foyer of the city of perth but now they can't wait until we go in there and you know work together with them we're going to go through streets and name streets near our names and when i'm coming into perth i want to see you now entering into wajak country we didn't have a say in all those things that were happening way back then on how they were developing perth so i think it's a good initiative to make those changes [Applause] we've been fighting for recognition and identity and it's only now that these goals are being achieved [Music] kayaking i think this is the first step it's not the end going back to where we came from my first experience was harrison island and it's ingrained in my heart what i saw and i experienced there and i think it's been something very close to my heart to make sure that that doesn't happen again to you thank you on behalf of all of us all the elders for the hard work and the persistence that you put into this we know the change is not easy we realize that we've been through this for a long time the first city council that's had some really good people here i know that just that it wasn't in the right places and we just hope that it continues that good people actually stay and take this forward i mean there's a lot more work to do and i'm sure that good people here we can do that working with the city and seeing the major steps that we're being taken just makes you feel so good and your heart starts to sing [Applause] [Music] when the australia day skyworks was cancelled in 2021 it was replaced with a truth-telling event led by the elders everest's colonisation we have suffered injustice in this land of australia black people my family my ancestors they were survivors as aboriginal people what we need to remember is we're now recognized as the longest continuous unbroken culture of any race of people on earth i learned a lot about our heritage and our culture but also about the beliefs of aboriginal australians they also told us about the stolen generation that shouldn't have happened if i was taken away from my mom i would feel sad as hard as the truth is you know it's what happened and what they had to face it's important to tell these stories because part of our shared heritage important to acknowledge them and uh part of the uh reconciliation process so it's a healing so elders their grandchildren it's all part of healing we need to know about their story because they are the true owners of the land they are survivors of today and i think we we need to honour them you know they are our warriors it's a proud moment tonight because to see what we saw tonight we come a long way and we are looking forward and we're walking together [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] i say goodbye and i'll leave the story with you is the truth nothing else but the truth you