{"id":354817,"date":"2024-11-11T15:46:38","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T05:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=354817"},"modified":"2024-11-11T19:55:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-11T09:55:42","slug":"cherbourg-goes-it-alone-on-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2024\/11\/11\/cherbourg-goes-it-alone-on-truth\/","title":{"rendered":"Cherbourg Goes It Alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Wakka Wakka Elder Eric Law AM will chair the Cherbourg Truth-Telling session<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

November 11, 2024<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council is pressing ahead with its own “go-it-alone” Truth-Telling session next Monday (November 18).<\/p>\n

The date had originally been set aside for a hearing of the State Government’s Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry until it was shut down by the incoming State Government after the recent election.<\/p>\n

The Truth-Telling session will be held at The Ration Shed Museum from 9:30am to 11:30am.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It will be chaired by Wakka Wakka Elder Eric Law AM and will include talks by a number of Cherbourg Elders.<\/p>\n

Their stories will be recorded and held at the Museum.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment doesn\u2019t dictate our truth and doesn\u2019t dictate our Elders\u2019 experience,\u201d Cherbourg Mayor Bruce Simpson told The Guardian newspaper.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so we\u2019re forging ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

The independent, Indigenous-led Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry was established by the former State Government to allow First Nations residents to share their histories directly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was praised by Mayor Simpson when it was officially launched in September.<\/p>\n

“The inquiry is timely because Cherbourg has a unique story to share,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur community embraces this inquiry as we know this opportunity will place our truth to Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Members from the Inquiry team visited Cherbourg of several occasions in the lead-up to the planned November hearing.<\/p>\n

Inquiry chair Joshua Creamer received formal communication on November 4 from the new government that the Truth-Telling and Healing Inquiry would cease and the Path to Treaty Act 2023 repealed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The barrister – a Waanyi and Kalkadoon man – said it was a lost opportunity for Queensland.<\/p>\n

“It’ll be a lost opportunity for our generation. And I want people to know that this is the last generation of people who grew up under the protection Acts,\u201d Mr Creamer said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat legislation facilitated the removal of people from their families, separated them out into different communities across Queensland – this is the last generation living to share that evidence and when they’re gone that direct evidence will be lost.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese stories, that experience, that evidence isn’t going to be around for much longer. People are literally dying before they have the opportunity to share their story.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquiry released its first report into its progress so far on October 25, the day before the State Election.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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