By Sarah Naarden, Project Manager of IofCA’s Trustbuilding Program
‘The Cultural Residency experience has been most valuable to me. This place (Armagh) touches my spirit. I made international connections from Caux, Switzerland, with First Nations Canadians. I will always treasure this in my heart and I want to stay connected.’ Uncle Shane Charles
On 2 September, an intimate gathering of colleagues shared stories to honour Uncle Shane Charles’ significant contribution over the last two years as inaugural Cultural Resident at IofC Australia. Based at Armagh, Melbourne, Uncle Shane has brought a depth of knowledge and experience as a Wurundjeri, Boon Wurrung and Yorta Yorta man to the formation and delivery of IofCA’s Trustbuilding Program.
Through our efforts with Uncle Shane to ‘decolonize’ IofC programs and spaces, three themes have emerged:
Reframing our lens from deficit to resource
Although it is vital to meet policy targets for ‘Closing the Gap’ between Indigenous and other Australians, many people still view Aboriginal issues through a deficit lens as being ‘problems to fix’. Such negative approaches miss the point of Uncle Shane’s question: ‘When will all Australians learn to love my culture?’ Through the opportunities provided during Uncle Shane’s Cultural Residency, we unpacked First Peoples’ invitation in the Uluru Statement of the Heart to include all Australians in ‘a fuller expression of our nationhood’. We considered how best to draw on the world’s oldest living as a precious global resource, and how First People’s leadership can be empowered to help solve the ecological, social and spiritual crises of our time.
Deeper learning at significant sites
Under Uncle Shane’s guidance, we learnt the importance of teaching and learning methods that take place ‘on-country.’ During a cultural immersion event in Yorta Yorta Country, a group of us sat on the veranda at the Cummeragunga Primary school, as Uncle Shane told how that school would be interrupted by police taking children during the Stolen Generations period. Until the mid-twentieth century, Aboriginal people could only have grade 3 education—yet Cummeragunga produced some of the most influential activists, artists and musicians to inspire the nation. In Melbourne, the cultural residency at Armagh has promoted a deeper appreciation of this history by displaying items relating to Aboriginal leadership, such as artwork, flags, books and posters.
Knowledge, relational and reciprocal values
Through storytelling, Uncle Shane showed how sovereignty is a spiritual connection to Country. ‘Welcome ceremonies’ would begin with the wisdom of his grandmother in Dunghala (the Murray River) on Yorta Yorta country, who told him: ‘The river runs through my veins, its clay encases my heart.’ Turruk participants witnessed the active transfer of knowledge from Uncle Shane to his nephew, Dylan Charles. Attempting to ‘build an army of allies’, Uncle Shane encouraged all participants to share what they had learned to inspire action in their communities.
Part of Uncle Shane’s Cultural Residency was the invitation to participate in a Global Indigenous Dialogue at IofC International headquarters in Caux, Switzerland, in July 2024, led by First Nations Canadian, Lewis Cardinal, whom Uncle Shane had welcomed in Melbourne some months earlier. Another Australian attending, Mike Brown, observed: ‘It felt like the First Nations voices were ambassadors of a deeper understanding of the earth and how we should live together in global community.’
The close of the Cultural Residency at Armagh also marks a new journey for Uncle Shane, who has been appointed First Peoples’ advisor at Brimbank Council, building on his earlier position with the City of Melbourne. This new role will start on his return from Japan, where he is joining a week-long collective of international peacebuilders to ‘weave’ stories of hope around healing historical wounds, concluding in Hiroshima on 21 September, the UN International Day of Peace.
Learn more about the Trustbuilding Program here
Contact Uncle Shane for enquires about Cultural Residency at shanecharles95@yahoo.com
IofCA colleagues at Armagh – 2 September 2024