Dharrangdharrang | Messagestick
14 September 2024 | Shannon Smith
So, what’s been going on around the traps in the Bendigo Diocese you may be wondering when it comes to our Aboriginal Ministry.
Gone Walkabout
It’s been quite a busy year starting off with our 2025 Walkabout trip to the Northern Territory. Ken Hutton and I took a group on a 10 day adventure with visits to the Nungalinya College where we spent three half days participating in the college NICE program (Nungalinya Indigenous Cultural Experience). The subjects included Introduction to Culture, Kinship, Faith and Culture, Bush Tucker and Art and Faith. A very emotional and life-changing experience.
The program managed to take some of us to a place we have been and caused what we thought things to be, to be turned upside down. If you are ever thinking about traveling with a group who are doing the Nungalinya NICE program I highly recommend it, you will return a changed person.
One of our Walkabout’s core objectives was to experience how Aboriginal Ministry was carried out across many different Aboriginal communities. As you will be aware our own diocesan boundary holds several Aboriginal clan groups who all come with many different needs.
Sitting with Bishop Greg Anderson we learnt one of the most important things to keep in a mind when ministering out in the different communities. “Your greatest desires for the community may not be the needs or wants of the community”. Each community is very different so sitting down with the Elders and listening very carefully is important, so we don’t get it wrong.
Finishing up in Darwin our group headed off to Katherine for the Katherine Christian Convention (KCC). The KCC was the main reason for us making the trip. The KCC is an ecumenical Christian convention that is held annually with mob gathering from many communities throughout the Northern Territory. A highlight of the event was seeing up on the board ‘The Victorian Anglican Mob’ – this was us. We had the opportunity as a group along the way to learn two songs in Kriol and then perform them at the convention on the second night.
Other highlights of the trip were a trip to the Tiwi Islands, swimming in Buley Rockhole in Litchfield National Park and the Hot Springs in Katherine – even though there was a croc sighting there the week before.
Robinvale
With all that amazing insight we were able to gather from our Walkabout I have had the opportunity to venture out to further parts of our diocese. With the support of Bishop Matt and the wisdom and experienced words of Bishop Greg, I have been heading out to Robinvale each fortnight to sit at the table and share a meal with the local Elders group and listen to their needs.
Two things I have heard from our Elders is they want our young people to be grounded in culture and to be brought back to God. They ask questions of us as we do of them “what’s happened to the church? It was once a joyful place with lots of singing and happy people”. “The church doesn’t have Sunday school or anything like that for our kids anymore”. Even the younger workers who help at the Elders lunch have memories of their parents talking to them about attending Sunday School.
One of the highlights for me personally was discovering that many of the Elders in Robinvale are descendants from Warangesda Mission, the same Mission my family originated from in Darlington Point. Making connections is a very important part of our journey in connecting our song lines as we travel this very important part of Victoria and the Murray River/Milli (the traditional name of place).
How exciting it was to discover so many of the local Aboriginal Community were married or baptised at our Anglican church in Robinvale. I cannot encourage you enough to sit and listen to your Elders. Your greatest desires from the purest of places may simply not be what the people need or want.
While out in Robinvale I have also had the opportunity to enjoy coffee and lunch with congregation members of St Peter’s Robinvale. I must take this opportunity to let them know how much I have enjoyed meeting them and developing this new relationship. I am looking forward to sharing the fourth Sunday of every month with them as the Aboriginal Ministry starts to take shape in their gorgeous little town of Robinvale.
Golden Square
As a part of our Aboriginal Ministry here in Bendigo we have engaged with a local artist to design an Aboriginal painting that could be made into a glass panel to be placed in St Mark’s Golden Square. I am more than excited to say the panel is in the last stages of being fired and will soon be ready for delivery. Once the panel is secured, we will be inviting the artist to join us for the unveiling.
NATSIAC gathering
Recent I have been in Cairns with the National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Anglican Council. NATSIAC is a safe place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait clergy and lay people come together share our different ministries, good or bad. For the first time this year we invited the Metropolitan Archbishops to join our discussions.
Bishop Matt Brain joined the Gathering to give an update to NATSIAC on the newly formed Aboriginal Clergy of the Anglican Province of Victoria (ACAPV). We are looking forward to moving forward with this new pilot program across Victoria knowing that the eyes of the national church are on us, especially Bendigo as we lead the project.
Please keep in your prayers Bishop Matt and the members of our ACAPV team from Gippsland, Melbourne, Ballarat and Bendigo. Don’t be shy about putting your hand up and inviting one of our team out the have a yarn with.