Inspired for Change
When I was asked to join the Recognise team on the Journey to Recognition, it was an opportunity that I immediately jumped at.
Recognition is something that I am extremely passionate about and I believe it will go a long way to healing the past and inspiring a better future.
Where else in the world is there a group of people that only make up approximately 3% of the population, yet comprise over 99.5% of the nations history? Furthermore, this history, these cultural practices, languages and traditions are still being taught and practiced to this day.
I was fortunate to be on the Journey leg from Kalgoorlie to Perth, a significant leg to me as I still have a lot of family along the way, and this region is where I grew up.
One of the best times that I had was going back to one of my old Primary Schools, Kondinin Primary. Here I got to speak to the students about this goal of recognition for our nation and explained what needed to be done in order for us to achieve this goal.
At first I was a little bit unsure about whether the kids would understand what I was talking about, but after a couple minutes of me explaining it I could see that it resonated with them. These young children understood the simplicity of recognising the the first peoples in our Constitution, and the importance of truly including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as equals.
The best part of the Journey for me was knowing my family and people along the way supported the movement and what I am doing. This support really inspired me to keep doing what I am doing, and to continue campaigning for Recognise.
Dylan Collard, Co-Founder and Director at I Am The Other and Journey participant.