Reconciliation Week 2022: Noongar Elder Lesley Ugle wants people to ask questions and start the conversation

As communities across Australia prepare to commemorate a shared history and understand the importance of culture for National Reconciliation Week, Noongar Elder Lesley Ugle is hoping South West residents won’t be afraid to ask questions. This year’s theme for the annual commemorative week is ‘Be Brave. Make Change.’ and aims at challenging Australians to ‘tackle the unfinished business of reconciliation’. An advocate for open discussions about culture and historical understanding, Ms Ugle said reconciliation was all about ‘yarning’ and this week was a chance for Indigenous people to start the conversation in the hopes of creating more culturally intelligent communities. “I admire Elders, that is why we pay so much respect to them, they were so brave to get up and fight for the recognition of their people,” she said. “Yes we are still fighting for that (recognition) but we have platforms now that we can actually stand on and talk to people, it’s all about the yarning and the journey.” Spanning from May 27 to June 3, a number of events will take place across the state to reflect on past events — such as the 1967 referendum and the High Court Mabo decision — but Ms Ugle said it was also a time for people to not be afraid to ask ‘back of the mind’ questions. “There might be something in the back of someone’s mind that they don’t agree with, that’s when the conversation starts, it’s about yarning, sharing culture and what family and culture mean to each of us,” she said. “People say ‘why don’t they (Indigenous people) just build a bridge and get over it’, we built those bridges many, many years ago — now it is up to the rest of Australia to walk and cross that bridge with us.”