[Report is compiled from multiple public addresses, multiple sources made over multiple publication dates]
A special NAIDOC conversation with guest Aunty Judith ‘Jacko’ Jackson and Alison Craigie-Parsons.
- Aunty Jacko, a Gunggari woman and elder, is regarded by many as the glue that binds the Aboriginal community in the City of Port Phillip. With wisdom gained from her own early struggles, she has helped make a difference to the health of many community members in Melbourne’s inner southern suburbs, earning universal respect and affection. Aunty Jacko has received a number of awards for her outstanding community work, including being inducted in the 2016 Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll.
- Alison Craigie-Parsons is a Gomeroi woman of Central New South Wales / Southern Queensland with over 20 years of experience in Indigenous health and higher education.
Where: St Kilda Library, 150 Carlisle St, St Kilda, VIC 3182
Better known as ‘Jacko’, Judy was born in Roma, Queensland to Gunggari man Edward an ex-serviceman who had served in Papua New Guinea during World War II, and Sri Lankan Indian Woman May Jackson (nee Fernando). The oldest of the 5 Jackson children, Judy had 6 older siblings from her mother’s first marriage. The conversation spanned a richly experienced lifetime, born into a Qld birth mixed-marriage, close encounters with sea-faring European men, subsequent childbirth, Stolen Wages, on the grog and being a Parkie.
Gunggari language is spoken in the Mitchell region of South-West Queensland and extends north to Morven and Mungallala, East towards Roma and South along the Maranoa River.
Stolen Wages was the policy where Aboriginals were placed as servants with landholder families, a minimum wage paid with eight-tenths withheld under the guise of forced saving. The forced savings were rarely returned to the individual. There
Parkies was the term for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders displaced, disadvantaged and dispossessed. They did not choose to live in Cleve Gardens, but arrived there often as a last resort. It was a place where aboriginals could meet and catch up with the news of relatives and friends. The park had even won official recognition as an aboriginal meeting place by being listed in the Aboriginal Historic Places Register. In 1994, Cleve Gardens toilet block's demolition saw the destruction of a modern sacred meeting place for the Koori people who gathered there. The toilet was painted with the Koori (aboriginal) flag.
Aunty Jacko described how being on the road taught her all many life lessons, quipping it made her a Roads Scholar. Arriving in Melbourne from a different mob was frequently told to go home. The Maoris and Islander expats proved to be more welcoming.
Her mother and elder brothers played influential roles at various times in removing her first born from her custody. Her first born was on his way back to Queensland, dying prematurely due to a drug overdose in his early 20s, leaving a daughter.
With health failing, Aunty Jacko decided to give up the grog and do something different.
Wominjeka community barbecues
Initially a client then a volunteer, Judy encouraged Inner South Community Health (ISCH) to adopt new approaches to reach out to the ‘parkies’.
Aunty Jacko always remembered that the St Kilda ‘parkies’ had befriended her when she first arrived in Melbourne in 1967. Many were homeless Aboriginal people who gathered daily in the public gardens near Fitzroy Street.
Taking ISCH committee meetings to the park and at Parkies’ request, offering a weekly barbecue supported by the City of Port Phillip. With Council funding, ISCH auspiced what became known as the
Wominjeka community barbecue for homeless people. Now in its 13th year the barbecue enables health workers and other service providers to meet informally with community members to tackle issues such as housing or accessing social support. Originally in the 60s, the number of ‘parkies’ has come down from 30 or 40 to just a handful. A result of a concerted team spirit and client centred approach.
Share a meal and a yarn
Judy was also instrumental in initiating fortnightly lunches at ISCH’s
Our Rainbow Place, where the local Aboriginal community get together to share a meal and a yarn. For 18 years Judy has shopped and prepared food for the lunches in her own home, promoting healthy food and encouraging community members to keep in touch with each other.
In 2009 she helped run a possum skin cloak workshop led by well-known artist Vicky Couzens for residents of the Winja Ulupna Drug and Alcohol Recovery Centre for women. The participants designed panels for the cloak while discussing ways of preventing cervical cancer. The cloak now hangs in ISCH’s foyer in St Kilda.
Judy has also participated in an ISCH documentary to help local Aboriginal people tackle smoking issues. The documentary,
Smoke Free and Deadly, was shortlisted for a 2016 VicHealth award.
With permission from Boonwurrung Elder, Caroline Briggs, Judy performs
Acknowledgements to Country at events within the City of Port Phillip when no Boonwurrung Elder is available. She is often asked to raise the Aboriginal flag at official council or agency functions. Judy is also a long-standing member of the Urban South Local Aboriginal Network.
After years of community work, Judy has also put her practical experience into formal study. At the age of 60 she gained a Certificate IV in Community Development. She looks forward to the day that the next generation of Indigenous women to step up to take the baton from her.
On behalf of Buddhist Council of Victoria’s bENGAGED and Glen Eira Interfaith Network (GEIFN), thankyou to Hosts, Organisers, Volunteers and Participants working to share, build collaborations, celebrate diversity and foster team approach to addressing today's society. Received with gratitude.
MORE:
Port Phillip Library Service (PPLS)
City of Port Phillip Council
Tel: 9209 6655
Email:
library@portphillip.vic.gov.au
Website:
https://library.portphillip.vic.gov.au/Home
