Evidence Library

This Submission is provided by the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne in response to the request for information provided by the Yoorrook Justice Commission around Land Injustice Inquiries on 27 March 2024.

Emma Mayall talks about her Grandfather, who lost his connection to his heritage and for a large part of his life denied he was a First Nations man. She talks about the struggle of trying to find out more about her Dadda’s history and her own identity as a First Nations woman.

“My mother’s truth came when she met her cousins. He said your mother had a beautiful singing voice. It was the first time my Mum had met a blood relative to her Mum. I will never forget how she looked, how it changed her, how much those words meant to her. Her whole body changed in her joy of those words. I try not to think about what could have been. How it took till my Mum was in her 80’s for this to happen.”

The author decided to make this submission as they believe their early education and experiences would mirror those of many other non-Indigenous Australians. She reflects on her family history, how she was not taught about the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal people until university and how that silence now seems deafening. She highlights the lack of services for Aboriginal people in Victoria compared to the Northern Territory and hopes for future generations to respect Indigenous ways and for the Treaty process to promote unity.