Young people like Toby Adams are bringing their people, once removed by policy, back to country and are working with local councils in outback Queensland for a better future through Reconciliation Action Plans.
Kullilli traditional owner Toby Adams has spent his life piecing together the past to reconnect with family and culture in Queensland's Channel Country.Of 77 Queensland local government areas, only seven have formalised Reconciliation Action PlansThat knowledge was ripped apart when his father was taken from his family to the Aboriginal community of Cherbourg when Mr Adams was six years old.
"[Like] a ranger program that will enable our mob to be out on country, look after country and revive our cultural obligations and connection," she said.Of the 77 local government areas throughout Queensland, only seven have formalised RAPs. "There's a lot of things happened over the years and years and [we're] trying to bring people together and make things work."In Wirrarri , on the edge of the Simpson Desert, there are more public artworks and acknowledgements than any other town in western Queensland.Wangkangurru Yarluyandi elder Don Rowlands AOM is the only traditional owner working as a councillor in western Queensland.
"I look forward to sitting around a table with people and discussing this in an honest and calm manner so we can get it out there … unload it," he said.Elder Mr Rowlands has done a lot of work documenting cultural heritage. "It's a bit of an ugly history for Australia and it's not something that a lot of people can easily reconcile or even want to talk about, but it's a necessary one."More than a 'written document'