Chairperson’s Report 2025
Our year:
The Committee:
Secretary: Heather Albrecht
Treasurer: Naomi McQueen
Stephen Mam
Rachael Skyring
Deb Moseley
Christine Mohr
Helen Rosenbaum
Jay Ridgewell
Carolyn Beaton
Early in the year, on 26th January, SCRGI committee members assisted with the annual Invasion/Survival Day March, organised by Stephen on the Sunshine Coast, and the Maleny Remembrance Ceremony in the Hinterland, commemorating the disastrous beginnings of colonisation in this area. In May we held a silent ‘Sorry Day’ vigil outside MP Fiona Simpson’s office and delivered her a letter drawing attention to unaddressed injustices for the stolen generation. It is important for those of us who are the beneficiaries of the invasion of this continent and who are immune from the injustices heaped upon First Nations people, to lead the call for acknowledgement of crimes committed and lead the actions to alleviate injustice and oppression. We should be led by First Nations people, but never expect those most at risk of a racist backlash to be in the firing line.
And we also participated in many celebratory events this year.
We participated in 10 NAIDOC and other ‘family fun day’ events with our ever-popular ‘Find Your Country’ stall. This involves us travelling from Caboolture to Gympie and many stops in-between.
We attended 14 First Nations events, openings or exhibitions and on-line events to support First Nations’ work.
Our facebook page, which has over 1,800 followers, is dedicated to highlighting First Nations initiatives on the Sunshine Coast and also events of note from around the country.
We delivered 9 talks on First Nations culture and history in our ongoing effort to contribute to educating non-Indigenous Australians about the true history of this country, at schools, history groups, U3A, for Council events etc. Some of these events we do, are with groups or organisations that have an extraordinary history of engaging with First Nations people, and use us for some of the information that we can best add to the learning experiences they offer their various constituencies. We recognise that many First Nations people who provide public education on the Coast are flat out with requests for their time and expertise so we speak at such events with support and encouragement from our First Nations friends and colleagues.
We held our first ‘First Nations Allies Day’ event in August with an audience of 100 people, to hear 5 speakers ably moderated by Councillor Tim Burns, plus the Torres Strait Islander dance group and Undumbi dance group. I need to acknowledge here, the generosity of Reconciliation Qld, the Baringa Community Centre staff, the First Nations speakers – Kerry Neill, Christine Thomas and Stephen Mam, plus Professor David Hollinsworth and Walters Mkemfack who all gave us time, money and support that made this event possible.
And we held our first archaeology ‘walk and talk’ at Sandstone Point last week, with Uncle Ron Powell from Bribie Island adding his amazing history of research in this area.
A couple of us were privileged to go to Reconciliation Qld’s 25th Anniversary Dinner where we heard about the history of this resilient group. And I went to Carly Forest’s Sunshine Coast NAIDOC dinner. Very posh!! It was a real privilege to go to these events and get to meet and chat to so many important, significant First Nations people who have contributed so much to changing things for their community. This includes Uncle Robert Anderson, a noted campaigner for the 1967 referendum. Bearing witness is also one of our obligations to First Nations people, in their struggles and triumphs.
And, of course, we held the fabulous Aunty Betty Memorial Reconciliation Week Walk again this year. The crowds for this keep getting bigger. This year Aunty Betty’s relatives and the Mayor unveiled the plaque we had installed on a garden bench at Dicky Beach Park to commemorate Aunty Betty’s tireless work.
We have established a good relationship with the Noosa First Nations Allies, belong to the Allies Network in Brisbane and Stephen Mam from our committee runs the First Nations Action Network which we also support. We are also represented at the Sunshine Coast First Nations Network Group where important local relationships are forged. These activities involve further meetings, travel and tasks for our committee.
We received 2 grants from the Sunshine Coast Council this year – one for the Allies Day event and one for next year’s Aunty Betty walk. We also received an inaugural grant from the MCU in Maleny, who are just really impressed with our work!!
We completed a Strategic Plan this year and have commenced succession planning for the Committee.
We have sent out 11 newsletters so far this year (one more due for December) – even while our Secretary was travelling around the country and the world!
I’d like to note a few events coming up:
1. We have a spot in the children’s festival at the Woodford Folk Festival this year, run by Deb Moseley using our ‘Find Your Country’ exercise. This trial run of a children’s event may become a learning experience we can repeat at other events or locations.
2. The Invasion/Survival Day March is on again on 26th January.
3. Maleny Remembrance Ceremony also on 26th January.
4. On 11th April we will be holding our fund-raising/launch event for our Truth-Telling project, ‘Truth-Telling Belongs to Us All’ at the Noosa Arts Theatre (with the venue generously donated for free). This will be followed through the year by truth-telling events in various locations around the Coast.
5. On26th May we are planning a Sorry Day event in Buderim to commemorate Stolen Children from this area.
6. We will be holding the First Nations Allies Day event again next year on 8th August, with a focus on Active bystander / anti-racism training and an Introduction to Decolonisation in a workshop format.
7. We’ll also be supporting the First Nations Qld State Forum to be held in August.
Unfortunately, our wonderful member Paul Zellerer, who has been taking fantastic photos for us at so many of our events, is unwell and couldn’t attend today. We wish him a speedy recovery and thank him sincerely for his generous support.
And finally, I’d like to congratulate the Committee for their incredible efforts this year. We have a highly skilled team with a range of talents and capabilities. They are all so dedicated and committed! It’s such a pleasure to work together. Our meetings are full of plans and ideas, but also actions. Everyone lends their expertise and works together with enthusiasm – an incredibly well-functioning team!
And thank you to all of you, our members and supporters. We are always excited to see you at events, and to see your comments and messages on facebook. Your participation is always welcome – we love it when you come along to help out with stalls. We’d love to have a few of you on sub-committees if there’s a project you’d like to help with, without having to commit to being on the Committee.
We are planning to have some ex-officio members manage our NAIDOC stalls, and gather some of you to assist with planning some of the big events on our calendar for this year. No tasks are too onerous or complicated. So, if you have time and inclination, we’d love to hear from you – note the flyer on your seat!!
Otherwise, we just love to know you are there – and it makes a difference to grant applications when we can say we have 500 members!!
Fiona McGill
Chair
December 2025