[Music]
whoa old people it’s me Tom guy this
walking through this is my father Thomas
Joseph kaya a bull gurmann man a family
leader a community leader a Murray man
that means an Aboriginal child a man
from Queensland my father would walk
through the rain forests with us on our
island home and he would call out to the
unseen realm to identify his voice and
his persona because we believe that
those in the unseen realm hear us the
metaphysical is very real to us and that
when they hear our voice they would make
way and led us through their country and
our intention has always to walk through
to do no harm so it was wonderful to
hear those birds singing because as I
closed my eyes I could imagine my father
walking through the rain forest and us
following us
and he would stop at specific places and
hold his hand up and all us kids would
like shuffle up and we’d all stop
because we knew what was going to happen
he would then call out to the old people
the spirits of our ancestors the old
people that have gone back gone past or
have passed on and he would say it’s me
Tom Gaia to identify himself we’re just
walking through now when I think about
my father and the way he walked
as a leader I identify that he not only
physically led us and cared for us but
he also led us and cared for us in the
metaphysical always with our well-being
in mind and his leadership today
resonates with me because that’s the way
that I have learnt to lead and that’s
the way I see indigenous leadership
today to walk strong in the physical and
the metaphysical and to do no harm but
to lead your people who here knows about
palm islands or as heard of palm islands
can you put your hands up well there’s a
few of you so I’m just going to take you
on a little history trail and tell you a
little bit about my island which you see
up there on the screen palm island is a
discrete average lunch hour on the
community in North Queensland it’s 65
kilometers off the coast of Townsville
northeast of Townsville it’s a very
beautiful place nestled in the waters of
the Great Barrier Reef its population is
around three to four thousand people
beautiful geographically but not a
really beautiful history which I want to
talk a little bit about today Palm
Island was gazetted by the Queensland
Government in 1914 as an Aboriginal
reserve in 1918 the first people that
went to Pamela were relocated from a
place called Hull River which was
ravaged by a cyclone so they moved the
small community over there that was the
first of many people that were moved to
Palm Island by the Queensland Government
in 1918 there was the removal orders
came into place that the Queensland
Government’s enacted under ledges
nation now this legislation was called
the protection of the aboriginals and
the Prevention of the sale of opium Act
of 1897 I’ll just repeat that again
their protection of the aboriginals and
the Prevention of the sale of opium act
Aboriginal people and the prevention of
the sale of opium were inextricably
linked at that time and it still is but
that’s a story for another day
before I go on Irena recall how my
father used to call out and I want to
call out a welcome into the unseen realm
here and acknowledge the Ngunnawal
people of this country the old people
the eldest past the eldest present and
the young Ngunnawal people the leaders
of the future we have many young people
in our community who are leaders and
there are many people like me not only
on Palm Island but all around our
communities in Australia that strive and
have a desire to have strong leadership
to lead our people with integrity and
truth but to lead in partnership with
you but in the time of the act those
partnerships were not really possible
that legislation controlled Aboriginal
lives completely down to who you could
marry where you could move who you could
talk to you my community the name of
Parmalee became synonymous with fear the
name Pam Island could curb anyone’s any
original behavior on other communities
because there was such fear you see it
was surrounded by water it was a penal
colony from the time of 1918 right up
into the early 80s not many people know
that that this act was the umbrella for
many policies that control the original
lives in Queensland right up into the
light into the late 70s into the early
80s now my father and my mother and
myself we were born under that act so
that act were our parents the government
became our parents now I talked about
control and one of the the most
diabolical agents of control was to
strip us of our identity the image that
you see on the screen is a genealogy of
my father Thomas it was developed by a
visiting anthropologist in the late
1930s my father was a young boy then or
a young teenager and the anthropologist
measured his head and that indicated his
intelligence his IQ and he looked at his
skin color and that indicated whether he
was half castes quarter casks one-eighth
Cass what percentage of Aboriginal he
was and these information then informed
the way government’s interacted with us
or saw us and how we fitted into
civilisation in Australia
however my father rejected every form of
imposed identity on himself he didn’t
see himself as a quarter caste
Aboriginal man he saw himself as a merry
man a bull gurmann man a Palm Island man
and he never gave in to any form of
pseudo imposed identity I just want to
tell you in line with this identity my
experience now I said the act it went up
into the 80s and in the 90s I had a son
who’s here in the audience tonight
Daniel my son has mixed heritage
he’s very fair and if you see us out in
the audience after this you’ll notice
the difference between us but I remember
in the 90s driving in Melbourne where
his father’s family lived and all of a
sudden I was ripped with this fear I had
a fear that somebody’s gonna take my
child away from me because of his skin
color
I’ve had many comments when he was a
baby people asked him me is it really
your baby and I would say yes he’s my
baby
but he’s white and you’re not but he was
my baby and that just sort of
demonstrates the legacy that these
policies have left and they still
resonate with us today with many in
community many are walking that journey
of healing and sometimes it comes out in
a different way in their behavior in
community but there is a history behind
that behavior
but now palm island has become United
over 46 tribes were sent there under
forced removal but now that’s our home
there I am fifth generation born on Palm
Island we are now the Baldwin people
which means many tribes one people the
old people that came there were sent
there carried with them a vision for the
future because they knew they weren’t
going to go back to their traditional
country and they passed that vision on
to us there are many old people in
Australia our history makers our
indigenous leaders who have I liken it
to a river an underground surging water
that’s been building and building and
these old people their voices and their
deeds have been a part of this river and
they will continue on people like true
bonini like Fanny Cochran Smith like
Vincent Yin Ling re
like William Cooper William Barak like
Charles Perkins like Tom and Betty Gaia
my parents and there are many more in
our communities leaders community
leaders whose intellectual prowess was
played out into the dust of our
communities and left their footprints
for us to follow
and I believe those leaders they knew
that we couldn’t go back to pre seven
1788 we had to move forward they had the
momentum they carried that within their
spirit and they passed it on to us we
couldn’t be passive recipients on what
was given to us we had to be active in
building our future my father always
said education was the key education was
the key for us
they made relationships with
non-indigenous people they made friends
and allies who stood beside them as they
walked forward this image that you see
before you is my creation I’m not a
great artist but that’s the map of my
community Palm Island and that’s a
jutting out of one of the land and I’ve
made it into a foot because that’s how I
see us is stepping out stepping out and
into the future
many of us are wanting to step out but
sometimes we hear the voices of
negativity in social media on Facebook
in the media sometimes those voices come
from this very place of representation
Parliament House in Canberra they
distract us from the bigger picture of
building of building a future together
we need to build together this is our
nation this is our nation both you and I
your people have come here and made this
your home my people have always been
here it’s been our home but now we are
like this our stories are inter woven
now your story became my story on that
first landing and when that flag was
raised you became part of my story over
the generations and my people became
part of your story so I believe that to
walk forward as a nation we need to
respect each other’s story understand
each other this is a wonderful country
with a great future with the richness of
both indigenous and non-indigenous
people and others who have come to know
this country as your home I’d like to
you and why choo choo think to stop
think and reflect on how you see us how
you can learn to see us but from this
time how differently you might see us
and I hold out my hand in invitation to
you all as a leader as an indigenous
woman to walk with me
to listen to my story to see how it
blends with your story I started this
talk with the voice of my father I’m
gonna finish it with my voice because we
are here the water is rising friends we
are here we are not going to go away we
are not going to die out like this
policies thought we would we are here to
build and to build with you dare to
allow us to lead our people the way that
we can whoa Australia I am my father’s
daughter Lenore Karen Gaia and I am here
the First Nations people are here always
was and always will be
you are here we are all here walk with
us walk with us as we build momentum to
lead our people to lead our community
walk with us as we make Australia rich
[Applause]
whoa old people it’s me Tom guy this
walking through this is my father Thomas
Joseph kaya a bull gurmann man a family
leader a community leader a Murray man
that means an Aboriginal child a man
from Queensland my father would walk
through the rain forests with us on our
island home and he would call out to the
unseen realm to identify his voice and
his persona because we believe that
those in the unseen realm hear us the
metaphysical is very real to us and that
when they hear our voice they would make
way and led us through their country and
our intention has always to walk through
to do no harm so it was wonderful to
hear those birds singing because as I
closed my eyes I could imagine my father
walking through the rain forest and us
following us
and he would stop at specific places and
hold his hand up and all us kids would
like shuffle up and we’d all stop
because we knew what was going to happen
he would then call out to the old people
the spirits of our ancestors the old
people that have gone back gone past or
have passed on and he would say it’s me
Tom Gaia to identify himself we’re just
walking through now when I think about
my father and the way he walked
as a leader I identify that he not only
physically led us and cared for us but
he also led us and cared for us in the
metaphysical always with our well-being
in mind and his leadership today
resonates with me because that’s the way
that I have learnt to lead and that’s
the way I see indigenous leadership
today to walk strong in the physical and
the metaphysical and to do no harm but
to lead your people who here knows about
palm islands or as heard of palm islands
can you put your hands up well there’s a
few of you so I’m just going to take you
on a little history trail and tell you a
little bit about my island which you see
up there on the screen palm island is a
discrete average lunch hour on the
community in North Queensland it’s 65
kilometers off the coast of Townsville
northeast of Townsville it’s a very
beautiful place nestled in the waters of
the Great Barrier Reef its population is
around three to four thousand people
beautiful geographically but not a
really beautiful history which I want to
talk a little bit about today Palm
Island was gazetted by the Queensland
Government in 1914 as an Aboriginal
reserve in 1918 the first people that
went to Pamela were relocated from a
place called Hull River which was
ravaged by a cyclone so they moved the
small community over there that was the
first of many people that were moved to
Palm Island by the Queensland Government
in 1918 there was the removal orders
came into place that the Queensland
Government’s enacted under ledges
nation now this legislation was called
the protection of the aboriginals and
the Prevention of the sale of opium Act
of 1897 I’ll just repeat that again
their protection of the aboriginals and
the Prevention of the sale of opium act
Aboriginal people and the prevention of
the sale of opium were inextricably
linked at that time and it still is but
that’s a story for another day
before I go on Irena recall how my
father used to call out and I want to
call out a welcome into the unseen realm
here and acknowledge the Ngunnawal
people of this country the old people
the eldest past the eldest present and
the young Ngunnawal people the leaders
of the future we have many young people
in our community who are leaders and
there are many people like me not only
on Palm Island but all around our
communities in Australia that strive and
have a desire to have strong leadership
to lead our people with integrity and
truth but to lead in partnership with
you but in the time of the act those
partnerships were not really possible
that legislation controlled Aboriginal
lives completely down to who you could
marry where you could move who you could
talk to you my community the name of
Parmalee became synonymous with fear the
name Pam Island could curb anyone’s any
original behavior on other communities
because there was such fear you see it
was surrounded by water it was a penal
colony from the time of 1918 right up
into the early 80s not many people know
that that this act was the umbrella for
many policies that control the original
lives in Queensland right up into the
light into the late 70s into the early
80s now my father and my mother and
myself we were born under that act so
that act were our parents the government
became our parents now I talked about
control and one of the the most
diabolical agents of control was to
strip us of our identity the image that
you see on the screen is a genealogy of
my father Thomas it was developed by a
visiting anthropologist in the late
1930s my father was a young boy then or
a young teenager and the anthropologist
measured his head and that indicated his
intelligence his IQ and he looked at his
skin color and that indicated whether he
was half castes quarter casks one-eighth
Cass what percentage of Aboriginal he
was and these information then informed
the way government’s interacted with us
or saw us and how we fitted into
civilisation in Australia
however my father rejected every form of
imposed identity on himself he didn’t
see himself as a quarter caste
Aboriginal man he saw himself as a merry
man a bull gurmann man a Palm Island man
and he never gave in to any form of
pseudo imposed identity I just want to
tell you in line with this identity my
experience now I said the act it went up
into the 80s and in the 90s I had a son
who’s here in the audience tonight
Daniel my son has mixed heritage
he’s very fair and if you see us out in
the audience after this you’ll notice
the difference between us but I remember
in the 90s driving in Melbourne where
his father’s family lived and all of a
sudden I was ripped with this fear I had
a fear that somebody’s gonna take my
child away from me because of his skin
color
I’ve had many comments when he was a
baby people asked him me is it really
your baby and I would say yes he’s my
baby
but he’s white and you’re not but he was
my baby and that just sort of
demonstrates the legacy that these
policies have left and they still
resonate with us today with many in
community many are walking that journey
of healing and sometimes it comes out in
a different way in their behavior in
community but there is a history behind
that behavior
but now palm island has become United
over 46 tribes were sent there under
forced removal but now that’s our home
there I am fifth generation born on Palm
Island we are now the Baldwin people
which means many tribes one people the
old people that came there were sent
there carried with them a vision for the
future because they knew they weren’t
going to go back to their traditional
country and they passed that vision on
to us there are many old people in
Australia our history makers our
indigenous leaders who have I liken it
to a river an underground surging water
that’s been building and building and
these old people their voices and their
deeds have been a part of this river and
they will continue on people like true
bonini like Fanny Cochran Smith like
Vincent Yin Ling re
like William Cooper William Barak like
Charles Perkins like Tom and Betty Gaia
my parents and there are many more in
our communities leaders community
leaders whose intellectual prowess was
played out into the dust of our
communities and left their footprints
for us to follow
and I believe those leaders they knew
that we couldn’t go back to pre seven
1788 we had to move forward they had the
momentum they carried that within their
spirit and they passed it on to us we
couldn’t be passive recipients on what
was given to us we had to be active in
building our future my father always
said education was the key education was
the key for us
they made relationships with
non-indigenous people they made friends
and allies who stood beside them as they
walked forward this image that you see
before you is my creation I’m not a
great artist but that’s the map of my
community Palm Island and that’s a
jutting out of one of the land and I’ve
made it into a foot because that’s how I
see us is stepping out stepping out and
into the future
many of us are wanting to step out but
sometimes we hear the voices of
negativity in social media on Facebook
in the media sometimes those voices come
from this very place of representation
Parliament House in Canberra they
distract us from the bigger picture of
building of building a future together
we need to build together this is our
nation this is our nation both you and I
your people have come here and made this
your home my people have always been
here it’s been our home but now we are
like this our stories are inter woven
now your story became my story on that
first landing and when that flag was
raised you became part of my story over
the generations and my people became
part of your story so I believe that to
walk forward as a nation we need to
respect each other’s story understand
each other this is a wonderful country
with a great future with the richness of
both indigenous and non-indigenous
people and others who have come to know
this country as your home I’d like to
you and why choo choo think to stop
think and reflect on how you see us how
you can learn to see us but from this
time how differently you might see us
and I hold out my hand in invitation to
you all as a leader as an indigenous
woman to walk with me
to listen to my story to see how it
blends with your story I started this
talk with the voice of my father I’m
gonna finish it with my voice because we
are here the water is rising friends we
are here we are not going to go away we
are not going to die out like this
policies thought we would we are here to
build and to build with you dare to
allow us to lead our people the way that
we can whoa Australia I am my father’s
daughter Lenore Karen Gaia and I am here
the First Nations people are here always
was and always will be
you are here we are all here walk with
us walk with us as we build momentum to
lead our people to lead our community
walk with us as we make Australia rich
[Applause]
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