Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Earlier this month, thousands of people gathered in Sydney Town Hall to pay tribute to Gough Whitlam. At the same time I was in Mandalong, more than 100 kilometres away, celebrating the official opening of the Yula-Punaal Aboriginal Education and Healing Centre. And I am proud to say that we were also honouring Gough Whitlam on that day. Yula-Punaal is a purpose built facility which supports the local Aboriginal community through cultural education and training. It is situated on 19 hectares of land at a point between the Awabakal and Darkinjung country at the base of the Watagan Mountains. The property is named Kywong, which means 'rain and sun'. It is a symbolically significant site for the Indigenous community. It is also a place of stories, which I am told follow the songline for Wollombi and Mount Yengo. There is also a spiritual link with ancestors. Massacres occurred there. Now it is a place of healing and a place where culture is brought back to life.

The land was purchased by the Indigenous Land Corporation in 2002. At that time, a man named Mr Victor Wright had a vision to make it a safe place for people to heal after being in custody and to provide support to prevent them going back. He would be joined on this journey by Louise Campbell-Price, Deborah Swan, Tammy Wright and Aaron Swan, who form the board of Yula-Punaal. Over the years they have succeeded in delivering culturally appropriate support programs for Aboriginal people, although I am sad to hear that funding for their alternative-to-jail program for Aboriginal women has ceased. I will support them as they seek alternative sources of funding for this. The site was officially divested to the Yula-Punaal group late last year.

In partnership with a number of Catholic high schools in the area, they shared in $6.8 million of federal funding to build a trades training centre, which is now up and running and offering pretrade courses in hospitality, horticulture and land management. Their tailored mentoring program also caters to young Aboriginal people who find themselves disengaged at school or unable to succeed in mainstream learning environments.

It was my pleasure and my honour to officially open the centre. In addition to a smoking ceremony and Aboriginal dancing, the service included an official soil exchange, a homage to Gough Whitlam's symbolic gesture to hand back the Wave Hill Station to the Gurindji people by pouring sand into the hands of Vincent Lingiari. Of course, among Gough's numerous achievements was the beginning of the Commonwealth government's recognition of Indigenous land rights, which acknowledged the fundamental injustice perpetrated against Australia's first people.

The day was a fitting way to pay tribute to the legacy of a great leader but, more importantly, an opportunity to praise and respect the work of community leaders like Victor Wright and his team at Yula-Punaal for their dedication to improving outcomes for Aboriginal people in our community. It will not be just the people of Charlton who benefit from this centre. I am sure there will be residents of Paterson, Dobell, Shortland and Newcastle who will have an opportunity to enjoy this excellent trade training centre, and I wish them the best of luck.