‘Never forget who you are. Never forget where you come from. That will lead us to where we are going.’
These are the words that Ugarapul woman Cassandra Tratt’s Elders told her, that she also wants her five children to remember.
Ms Tratt said reconciliation means different things to different people.
“We are on this journey together and we need non-Indigenous people to walk side by side with us. First and foremost, in order to truly have reconciliation, we need to acknowledge the past and share our truth.”
This year’s Reconciliation Week theme is Grounded in Truth: Walk together with Courage.
Reconciliation is ultimately about relationships and like all effective relationships the one between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians must be grounded in truth.
Truth telling is not about engendering guilt or shame in non-Indigenous Australians but about addressing past injustices and serving as an “end-point to a history of wrong doing”, allowing healing and for relationships to start anew.
For Ms Tratt a big part of moving forward requires acknowledging the past.
“We need to acknowledge the history of Australia’s First Nation people, because if we can’t learn from the past, how do we begin to heal?” Ms Tratt said.
Ms Tratt is the Coordinator of the Indigenous Hospital Liaison Service at West Moreton Health.
The service aims to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members feel culturally safe and aims to improve health outcomes.
“We are fortunate here at West Moreton Health as the Executive Leadership Team and Board are committed to Closing the Gap” Ms Tratt said.
Staff across the West Moreton Health Service whose outstanding demonstration of how collaboration leads us to a path of caring better together and achieve our Closing the Gap targets.
Ms Tratt is inspired by her Elders and Community every day.
“My Grandmother says ‘no matter what we are going through it is nothing compared to what our ancestors had to endure’.
“So, I draw strength from that and find the courage to keep moving forward.”
