This NAIDOC Week, people from across the region are invited to attend a 12-kilometre guided NAIDOC Week Walk for Reconciliation from Mt Franklin to Clarke’s Pool in Franklinford. This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is ‘Because of her we can’.
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The theme is a celebration of the invaluable contributions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have made and continue to make to their communities, their families, our rich history and our nation.
Hepburn Shire’s Franklinford is a place of significance for Indigenous Australians as it was once where the Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate Station, including a Church and school, stood after being built by Edward Stone Parker in 1841.
The walk, titled Ellen’s Walk, is being held in memory of Ellen, a Dja Dja Wurrung woman who was born at the Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate in 1849. Ellen was the daughter of Yerrebulluk (Dicky) and Brebie (Eliza) and attended the Aboriginal school, where she was taught to read, write and do needlework.
In 1863, when Ellen was 14, Queen Victoria married the Prince of Wales. To congratulate her, Ellen sent the Queen two letters and a crocheted collar. The Queen replied to Ellen, thanking her but also asking her to inform her people that she was worried for their welfare.
Queen Victoria’s concern was warranted; 25 years of contact with white settlers had already resulted in the deaths of large numbers of Indigenous people across central Victoria.
Ellen was eventually forcibly removed from the protectorate, along with six other Aboriginal children and five adults, including her mother, when it closed. They were re-located to a new reserve at Coranderrk, near what is presently known as Healesville, in April of 1864. Ellen passed away at the age of 25 in 1874, following the deaths of her three children from tuberculosis.
Barry Golding, who sits on the committee for Hepburn Shire’s Reconciliation Action Plan, said Ellen’s short life is illustrative of the tumultuous changes that were forced upon the Dja Dja Wurrung in the three decades following their first contact with Major Mitchell in 1836.
It is one of the many initiatives being undertaken as part of the shire’s Reconciliation Action Plan, which aims to create reconciliation.
“This and other RAP activities aim to lead to a better understanding of and reconciliation between the Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal Nation and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who now live in and beyond the footprint of the current Hepburn Shire,” said Mr Golding.
During the walk, participants will learn more about what occurred on the land while also acknowledging Dja Dja Wurrung descendants.
“While this walk concentrates on many confronting things that happened locally... it acknowledges and celebrates that around 2,500 Dja Dja Wurrung descendants have survived and are also keen to share and learn about our shared history,” he said.
Ellen’s Walk is being presented by Hepburn Shire Council, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation and the Great Dividing Trail Association.
Walkers must meet at the crater at Mount Franklin Reserve at 9am. The walk will commence after representatives of the Dja Dja Wurrung perform a Welcome to Country ceremony. Participants must register no later than July 12 via Eventbrite.
