120 Collins Street, Melbourne
03 9654 5120
office@stmichaels.org.au

First People

Giving

We acknowledge that our church gathers on the unceded land of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation. We recognise the sovereignty of Aboriginal people, who have cared for this land since creation, and pay our respects to the Wurundjeri elders past and present.

In 2009, the Uniting Church adopted a new preamble to its Constitution which reflects our remorse for past injustices and our commitment to reconciliation with Australia’s First Peoples.

“As the Uniting Church believes God guided it into union, so it believes that God is calling it to continually seek a renewal of its life as a community of First Peoples and of Second Peoples from many lands.”

At St Michael’s we seek to create opportunities for reconciliation; repenting of the ways that we benefit from past injustice, seeking to be partners in creating a nation in which Indigenous people can take their rightful place. We believe that the call to “Voice, Treaty, Truth” in the Uluru Statement from the Heart charts a way forward.

We commit to educating ourselves about The Voice and to advocating for its passage into legislation in the 2023 referendum.

In our Sunday gatherings, we begin with an Acknowledgement of Country. We mark the Sunday before 26 January as a Day of Mourning, Reconciliation Sunday and NAIDOC week.

Resources:

https://victas.uca.org.au/about-us/first-peoples/

Uluru Statement from the Heart

Uniting for the Voice – A program for the whole church

In March, Margaret Mayman & Ann Kinnear two Sunday programs ‘Uniting for the Voice ‘ for the St Michael’s congregation.
Uniting for the Voice focused on understanding the Voice as an ethical and theological issue, not a partisan political one.
These education/discussion sessions used resources from the Uniting Church and https://yes23.com.au

Click here to download and read the discussion resources

 

National Reconciliation Week 2023 – 27 May to 3 June

This year’s National Reconciliation Week from 27 May – 3 June invites all Australians to think about practical and meaningful ways we can create a more just and reconciled Australia with the theme, Be a Voice for Generations.

“Act today for a reconciled tomorrow”

National Sorry Day, 26 May

National Sorry Day recalls the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities. It is a day to acknowledge the strength of Stolen Generations survivors and to reflect on how we can all play a part in the healing process – for people and for our nation.

The Uniting Church in Australia has provided a video resource, Nungalinya College Art and Faith teacher Uncle Jo Cuttabut speaks to his artwork titled “Reconciliation”. Uncle Jo was inspired to do this artwork after former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie gave an apology for the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland on 26 May, 1999. In the absence of a national apology, Uncle Jo, through his artwork, sought spiritual intervention and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Nine years later, a National Apology was given in 2008 by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Uncle Jo was a member of the advisory group that helped form the words of the Apology and with other members of the Stolen Generation formed a Tent Parliament for when the Apology took place. Acknowledging the long road still to walk, Uncle Jo refers to the Apology as a stepping stone in the road as we heal as a nation. He has the Apology recorded on video and re-watches it like a home movie every now and then.

Download the video here

Further resources

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