UCWA Blog

Tag: First Peoples

  • Sharing stories for healing: NAIDOC Week at BKI

    Beananging Kwuurt Institute (BKI), a Uniting Church WA Aboriginal community services organisation in Queens Park, Perth, held a NAIDOC Week storytelling event on Wednesday 7 July. Guests were invited to listen, learn, share, and enjoy kangaroo stew and damper together. This year’s NAIDOC theme is ‘Heal Country!’ In the 1930s, the site where BKI now […]

  • Keep our kids out of prison: Raise the Age

    Most Australians don’t realise that we put kids in prison. In a public opinion poll by the Australia Institute, 73% of Australians had no idea that children as young as ten are currently locked up in our prison system. It’s not surprising, since most people imagine kids at that age to be, well… kids. But […]

  • Remembering Stolen Generations on Sorry Day

    Sorry Day is held each year on 26 May to remember and acknowledge the Stolen Generations. Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips is a member of the Bringing Them Home Committee, supported by the Uniting Church WA. She is also the author of ‘Survivor Memorials: Remembering trauma and loss in contemporary Australia’, and worked as Media and Communications […]

  • Respect, learning and welcoming

    When the Uniting Church WA gathers, we often share in a Welcome to Country or an Acknowledgment of Country. Both are significant ways the church can acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, but there are some important differences. A Welcome to Country is only led by Traditional Custodians; whereas an Acknowledgment of Country can […]

  • Uniting Church WA calls on WA RSL to reconsider its stance

    The Moderator of the Uniting Church WA, Rev Steve Francis, has today called on the RSL of WA to reconsider its position to ban the flying of the Aboriginal flag and the performance of Welcome to Country ceremonies during ANZAC and Rememberence Day services. “This is an extremely disappointing decision by the RSL WA that […]

  • Uniting Church WA Calls for an End to Three Strikes Mandatory Sentencing

    The Uniting Church in Western Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal & Islander Christian Congress WA hold grave concern over the impacts that proposed changes to the Criminal Law Amendment (Home Burglary and Other Offences) Bill 2014 currently before the Western Australian parliament will have on young Aboriginal people. Chair of the Uniting Aboriginal & Islander […]

  • Call for a New Approach to Remote Indigenous Communities

    The Uniting Church in Australia, Western Australia and the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress WA (Congress) are deeply troubled by the planned closure of remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia. They are concerned about the ramifications this will have on individuals and communities affected and believe it displays a concerning lack of understanding about […]