Two Truth and Treaty consultations have been recently held from March onwards in Roma this year.
They highlighted the optimism and strength that exists for Treaty, particularly given that the town of Roma is within the external boundary of a negative Native Title determination, for the Mandandanji People. The Roma community is also collectively interested and passionate in leading the facilitation of local truth-telling initiatives and working towards being treaty ready.
Roma community members have highlighted the local differences and uniqueness that is present within the community and have emphasised the need for using local Elders to initiate local truth telling pursuits.
Since March this year, The Interim Truth and Treaty Body (ITTB) have visited 20 locations across Queensland. The purpose of these sessions was for the ITTB to gain community input into establishing a formal Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry and an independent First Nations Treaty Institute—the centrepieces of the Act.
Following the passing of the Act, the ITTB have been preparing for the establishment of the First Nations Treaty Institute and appointment of the Institute Council to support its operations.
Staged approach to Truth Telling
The ITTB has the responsibility to facilitate local truth telling as the ‘first’ phase of truth telling. Local level truth telling is community driven, and stories and truths will be specific to place and history. It will play a role in providing the ‘grounding’ needed to prepare Queenslanders—First Nations peoples and non-Indigenous—for the formal Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry.
Discussions at the Roma community consultation featured examples of local truth telling, such as the role of the Mandandanji people during the frontier wars, and the years of resistance that was fought in the local area as well as the massacres that have occurred. These are the types of stories which could be told during local truth telling initiatives and inform the formal Inquiry.
Community members expressed the need for recording stories for grandchildren and future generations, so that they can have access to this information. It was also raised as important for non-Indigenous people to have access to these stories and understand what has occurred in the local area.
“A lot of healing will need to occur—there will be a lot of traumatic stories told,” a Roma community member said.
Preparing for Treaty
The Roma community discussed what could be included in a treaty. In particular, these discussions considered local service delivery and relationship building. Community members know the problems in their community, they have the solutions.
The Roma community have identified the need to hold ongoing community meetings to discuss Truth and Treaty, and to continue to progress local truth telling and treaty readiness.
What’s next?
The ITTB will continue to engage with Queensland communities to lay the foundation for a sustained approach to truth-telling and healing.
This includes capturing community aspirations for local truth-telling. These aspirations will assist us in developing a Truth-Telling Strategy, that will provide guidance and information to support communities to initiate local truth-telling.
We have also been seeking community views on the types of support that would be needed to prepare First Nations peoples for treaty negotiations. This information will assist the First Nations Treaty Institute, which is tasked with developing a Treaty Making Framework.
