The promise was to go big, to go black and to go live and that’s what the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria did, attracting some of the best First Nations acts from around Australia and 3,000 screaming fans to Yorta Yorta Country.
The concert concept was raised to help increase awareness of the Treaty process in Victoria, but also to promote the Assembly’s North East by-election.
The election will determine a replacement for Nartarsha Bamblett, one of the inaugural Members elected at the Assembly’s first election in 2019, to represent the North East.
Held on 26 February at the Rumbalara Football Netball Club, the concert kicked off in the heat of the afternoon, was interrupted by an electrical storm and concluded with dance duo Electric Fields.
In between was a first class First Nations line-up, including Archie Roach, Briggs, Mo’Ju, No Fixed Address, Alice Skye, Marlon X Rulla, Scott Darlow, Madi Colville Walker, Wulumbarra and Yothu Yindi.
It was the kind of concert that had it all. From the more relaxed picnic blanket tunes of Madi Colville Walker and Alice Skye to the deck chair foot tapping and head nodding No Fixed Address and then the get up and dance beats of Marlon X Rulla, Electric Fields and the incomparable Yothu Yindi with their anthem Treaty. But, of course, some of the biggest cheers were saved for the base thumping, mosh pit jumping, ear bleeding beats of the home town hero, Briggs.
It was a showcase of Indigenous Australian music talent, a smorgasbord of First Nations characters and personalities and an exhibition of not only survival, but more a display of belief in the future of our people and our culture.
Eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders registered on the Aboriginal Electoral Roll, which is maintained by the Assembly without any link to government, gained entry to the concert for free and plenty took up the opportunity with around 3,000 people in total turning out, including loads of kids, who can now boast an amazing concert as their first.
Assembly staff were on hand to answer any Treaty questions and thanks to the merchandise tent, there are now Treaty and Treaty Day Out shirts of the small, athletic and even cuddly varieties walking around Country all over the state.
The food stalls kept everyone fed and watered while a range of stalls offered up outstanding products from several First Nations businesses.
The Treaty process is all about getting First Nations people in Victoria back in control of their own lives and taking up the driver’s seat when making decisions for their communities.
Treaty Day Out was the perfect metaphor for our emergence from the shackles of colonisation through Treaty with hope for a brighter future determined by ourselves. The concert was one of the first opportunities we’ve had to gather and have fun since the start of the pandemic and the challenges of the following days seemed just that little more surmountable afterwards.
Voting locations and dates can be found here.
You can enrol with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria here.
To find out more about the Treaty process or to become an ally go here.
Image credit: Wayne Quilliam Aboriginal Photography & Murray Silby (FPAV).
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