The Committee for Perth's vision is for our capital city to be a place of rich cultural diversity, a city that is welcoming of people from various cultures and backgrounds. We want Perth to become the first capital city in Australia to truly celebrate its indigenous culture.
Celebrating Indigenous Culture
Aim: For Western Australia to acknowledge and embrace the rich history and culture of indigenous Western Australians thereby creating an important cultural pride across all Perth communities which acts as a point of differentiation to other Australian States in this area.
Purpose: To undertake consultation in order to leverage the current political and social goodwill toward indigenous culture as a point of distinctiveness for Perth and to understand the role that the Committee for Perth can play in this.
Activity: Stage 1
As a first step in bringing this vision to reality, the Committee for Perth engaged Dr Richard Walley, OAM to consult with Noongar family groups in Perth. Dr Walley is a recognised indigenous leader in WA and one of the custodians of Noongar people’s knowledge and wisdom. From May to July 2008, Dr Walley held discussions with more than 150 people, including Aboriginal people in Noongar country as well as from around WA and organisations such as the South-West Aboriginal Sea and Land Council, Tourism WA, and the Department of Industry and Resources.
Outcome: The purpose of the discussions was to present the Committee for Perth’s vision that Perth become a city that truly acknowledges, pays respect to and celebrates its indigenous culture – and to gauge the level of interest in this vision, as well as gather initial ideas and feedback. The consultation revealed an overwhelmingly positive response and Noongar people were particularly positive about the process, primarily for being included in discussions from the outset. Initial themes emerged, as follows:
• ensuring Aboriginal people are more visible in the city through presentation and events
• developing greater public attribution of Aboriginal people and culture
• having Aboriginal input into key developments in Perth
• ensuring native flora and fauna is more visible in the city
• infusing Aboriginal interpretation into museums and galleries
• implementing cultural programs and centres that are interactive and inclusive.
Specific ideas were also presented by stakeholders, which formed an initial bank of ideas to be explored further in the future stages of the project.
Activity: Stage 2
The Committee of Perth awarded a further contract to Dr Richard Walley OAM to implement the second stage of its ‘Celebrating Indigenous Culture’ project. The purpose was to build on the goodwill and initial bank of ideas generated in the first stage of consultation and develop plans for action. The ultimate aim is to create individual projects and partnerships to take each concept forward. Immediate action must be taken to harness the existing goodwill, while the long-term projects are developed through our working groups to strategically position Perth as a cultural city that celebrates indigenous culture.