RESETTLEMENT | Wiradyuri Gawaymbanha-gu Mamalanha which means Wiradyuri Welcome to Visitors, is a podcast all about Wagga Wagga’s First Nations community.
Be drawn into the lives and experiences of Aboriginal people from Wagga Wagga, the meeting place, on The Marrambidya, or Murrumbidgee River. Join Luke Wighton, a Wiradyuri man from Condoblin and now Wagga Wagga as he talks to Elders who share their histories, memories and hard won reflections on living black.
These recordings were made in 2024, 50 years after the launch of the Aboriginal Family Resettlement Scheme, where families were urged to move from smaller, scattered and remote communities to larger rural centres like Wagga Wagga to be closer to essential health and education services.
The Scheme changed the lives of those who moved and those already here and changed the fabric of Wagga Wagga itself. Services and equal treatment were not a given and had to be fought for.
Each episode relates a different perspective but a shared and remarkable journey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
RESETTLEMENT | Wiradyuri Gawaymbanha-gu Mamalanha which means Wiradyuri Welcome to Visitors, is a podcast all about Wagga Wagga’s First Nations community.
Be drawn into the lives and experiences of Aboriginal people from Wagga Wagga, the meeting place, on The Marrambidya, or Murrumbidgee River. Join Luke Wighton, a Wiradyuri man from Condoblin and now Wagga Wagga as he talks to Elders who share their histories, memories and hard won reflections on living black.
These recordings were made in 2024, 50 years after the launch of the Aboriginal Family Resettlement Scheme, where families were urged to move from smaller, scattered and remote communities to larger rural centres like Wagga Wagga to be closer to essential health and education services.
The Scheme changed the lives of those who moved and those already here and changed the fabric of Wagga Wagga itself. Services and equal treatment were not a given and had to be fought for.
Each episode relates a different perspective but a shared and remarkable journey.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aunty Maria Williams settles in with Luke Wighton to discuss identity and survival, how Resettlement Schemes see her family move from Condobolin to 3 Ways to Leeton to Wagga Wagga and fights against assimilation to maintain indigenous identity. She talks of her father and uncle, Pastor Cecil Grant and Uncle Dr Stan Grant Sr, and their journey to reclaim language and connection and how they inspire her to teach, lead and help in the community. A working life with the Police in Wagga Wagga and in Health services and the Council of Elders is mixed with fond memories of working together and enjoying sport. She believes in rebuilding the nation, asserting Land Rights and fighting racism. “The future is bright.”
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Geoff Simpson catches up with Luke Wighton to talk of journeys and connection with land, how he is bribed to leave Walgett in 1981 and is astonished by pizza, how the public housing was pretty flash - better services but less community. He finds a path in sport, begins work, and joins a band, A Foot Full of Bindis, and never looks back. A shift to Land Conservation Services sees a change in perspective fed by snippets from Elders and a deeper understanding of species, their resilience, and cool burns. He sees the horizons of Lake Mungo and introduces a Corroboree.
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Uncle Greg Packer joins Luke Wighton to discuss all things Health and Rugby League, and all the stories in between. How his family (mother, brother, sister, all stolen generation) moved from Leeton to Wagga Wagga in 1978 to confront a daunting city with less employment, finding work at Council, getting involved in sport, the Koori United, and finding a path in Aboriginal Health. He becomes chairman of the NAIDOC committee, uses the Koori Grapevine, has a lot of respect for the Black Santa, doesn’t hold a grudge and decides not to drop a load.
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aunty Pam and Uncle Craig Honeysett, brother and sister, join Luke Wighton and tell stories of their early life in Euabalong, swimming, fishing, walking to school, hot scones on a tree trunk and hiding from the Welfare. They move to Wagga Wagga as the second resettlement family and encounter racism for the first time. They find a way to fit in through sport and education and Balls. Their mother, Aunty Violet Honeysett, becomes a community leader and is so honoured when she cuts the ribbon at the opening of The Wiradjuri Bridge. Pam weaves her way to greatness and Craig learns “it’s hard to be boss to a brother.”
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Uncle James Ingram chats with Luke Wighton and relates a life of changing circumstances and cultural revival, working as an employment facilitator, organiser and ambassador in Wagga Wagga and the surrounding area. He talks of the fight for services, the need for more, and the effects of Colonisation; how language is lost and reclaimed, better understandings of Marrambidya, important sites and boundary markers. He encounters racism and friendship, enjoys Roger Knox and has hope for the future.
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aunty Lottie Bamblett joins Luke Wighton and with great humour recounts her journeys from Brungle Mission Station to 3 Ways Camp to Wagga Wagga and to Canberra. She talks of her mother who was always on the move, one step ahead of the Government with the threat of her children being taken at every turn, her use of language and a stoic face to the world. Lottie learns to swim in an irrigation canal, picks fruit for work, marries Carl Bamblett, raises a family in Wagga Wagga and rises above the racism and traumas she encounters.
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Aunty Dot and Uncle Hewitt Whyman join Luke Wighton to tell their stories of moving to Wagga Wagga, language being criminalised and brought back, the establishment of Aboriginal services, the pocketed but overt racism, standing together as one mob, bringing up children and playing sport. They talk of the struggle with Government departments and changing priorities, the joys of deb balls and Black Santa and the time to pass on Knowledge.
Complete episode transcripts can be found at https://museumriverina.com.au/explore/podcasts/resettlement
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
