More than 250 people attended a community celebration at BRHS to celebrate NAIDOC Week and the special relationship between our team and East Gippsland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
BRHS used the occasion to celebrate its 40-year tradition of specialised care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People and to announce that BRHS will develop a new Reconciliation Action Plan within the next 12 months to cement our commitment to tangible change.
Many BRHS staff members wore NAIDOC Week t-shirts or colours inspired by NAIDOC Week or Aboriginal designs to support reconciliation as community members, many of them Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, joined us in the Day Street campus gardens on Tuesday, 5 July. The event included:
- a flag raising by Aboriginal students Nariah, Whitney and Hannah
- a Welcome to Country from Colin Hood
- a smoking ceremony conducted by Rod Harrison and JJ
- speeches from CEO Robyn Hayles, Aboriginal Health Unit team leader Ash Munro and GEGAC CEO Shellee Strickland
- the launch of a new, Aboriginal-themed colouring book designed by Koori children that kids visiting the hospital can use to keep amused, and
- an afternoon tea begun with a cake cutting by Helen Morgan, Jessie George and Wilma Hood.
BRHS CEO Robyn Hales told the gathering that BRHS follows the NAIDOC Week 2022 theme – Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! – to push for systemic change, Close the Gap and support First Nations communities.
The Reconciliation Action Plan will continue BRHS’ commitment to change and reconciliation, she said.
“It is 40 years since the first Koori Liaison Officer, Auntie Helen Morgan, commenced work at BRHS. Since then, we’ve been fortunate to have had some amazing First Nations working with us and providing support for community receiving care at BRHS,” she said.
“There is a genuine commitment by all of us to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! and support and secure institutional, structural, collaborative and co-operative reforms. Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! with us to amplify our voices and narrow the gap between aspiration and reality, good intention and outcome.”
