Walking the talk with Indigenous Australia

Donna Ingram calls herself “an accidental tour guide”. A tourism course she took many years ago was the initial instigator behind the establishment of her Aboriginal history walking tour of “Redfern, Then and Now.” She jokes that the walking tour has grown legs and on a recent tour organised in partnership with Emanuel Synagogue and The Jewish Independent participants got to see why.

Over 90 minutes she not only shared some of the historic political highlights of the area that were the epicentre of Aboriginal life in Sydney, but she also addressed stereotypes around Aboriginal people and explained the many challenges they have faced, including racism and intergenerational trauma, that continue till this day.

Using many of the colourful murals and local buildings as opportunities to share more about neighbourhood artists, activists and beloved Redfern characters, Ingram interweaves her own personal story of growing up in the area within the historic times as the community. She explained how with the help of allies, the community galvanised to establish support services like the Aboriginal Medical Services, the Aboriginal Legal Services, Koori Radio station, Wyanga Aged Care services and the Black Theatre.

With a fair amount of dark humour to share some of the grim information, Donna is keen to focus on the positives, rather than the depressing statistics.  Even after the defeat of the Voice Referendum she emphasises that the local community chose to focus on the fact that 40% of the nation supported their Voice to Parliament. Noting the thinking that, “even though this door has closed another will open.”

“Following the defeat of the Voice we were looking for a way forward in improving Aboriginal-Jewish relations and understanding,” said Uri Windt, publisher of The Jewish Independent.  “We thought that offering tours like these, in partnership with Emanuel Synagogue, would be a good starting point to deepen empathy between the communities.”

Emanuel Synagogue’s Programming Director Marina Capponi echoed similar sentiments, “At Emanuel Synagogue, we believe in the power of education and community. Our collaboration with The Jewish Independent for this Redfern walking tour is a unique opportunity to learn about and honour the rich cultural heritage of First Nations people. It’s an important step towards fostering mutual respect and inclusivity,” she said.

In addition to hearing about the many challenges of discrimination that the community faces tour participants braced chilly weather to hear about the many successes happening on the ground as well. Ingram proudly pointed out that there are currently eleven Aboriginal athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics and that at the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) you can see tributes to all the former Indigenous Olympians.

The Clean Slate Without Prejudice boxing program run by the NCIE helps keep Aboriginal youth off the streets and out of jail. Jointly founded by the police and Aboriginal community leaders it changes interactions with the police, which have been traditionally hostile, and teaches the kids routine and discipline. It’s also helped contribute to a steep decrease in crime rates in the area.

While not glossing over the deep inter-generational trauma as well as internalised racism that Aboriginal communities have suffered, especially around the Stolen generation, Ingram emphasised the amazing inter-generational strength within her community. One such example was the story of Mum Shirl, who although she missed a lot of school from sickness, managed to set up a number of medical and educational support systems for the community. “She was an unconventional woman who supported the down and outs in our community,” said Ingram. In addition to supporting so many services Mum Shirl also fostered close to 60 kids. 

A small subset of the tour group met afterwards to discuss additional opportunities for connections.

“We hope that this will be just the start of a multifaceted program with many organisations and institutions learn for the Jewish community to learn and experience Australia’s First Nations stories,” said Windt.