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| Virtual Tour Sydney 1998 IWD |
Rosie Scott Author of 5 internationally acclaimed novels, the most recent of which has been optioned of an Australian feature film. Glebe resident Rosie Scott is one of the founders of the group "Women for WIK" and currently devotes her time towards working for Native Title.
Women for WIK is a National grass roots movement which began in May 1997 when four women sat around a table to discuss ways of expressing their support Native Title and reconciliation. This eventuated in the first Women for WIK meeting in July when Lois O’donahue, Marline Reily and Jean Carter spoke movingly about the pain of their stolen childhood’s to a packed hall of women representing churches, business, the Arts, Indigenous organisations all levels of government, legal and medical professions, Universities and Australian women generally. These included Faith Bandler, Caroline Jones, Rachel Ward, Jane Champion, Wendy Harmer and many others. The success of this meeting has generated a wave of similar gatherings across Australia in every city and many regional centre's, a movement which is still gaining momentum and involves the active commitment of tens of thousands of Australian women now I would say hundreds of thousands including Hazel Hawke, Ruth Cracknel, Judy Davis, Jenny George and Margaret Whitlam. This extraordinary ground swell of support has taken everyone by surprise, including the Coalition Government. It has been very heartening to see such a massive commitment by mainstream Australian women and increasingly as we link with rural communities the courage of women willing to talk over these issues. This commitment to reconciliation can be summarised in the following six steps formulated by the National Indigenous Working Group and Australian’s for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTAR) which Women for WIK endorse.
We believe that Native Title endorsed by the High Courts WIK decision is a basic human right crucial to the well being of Indigenous people and their culture as well as to a truly democratic society for all Australians. We recognise that though we of this generation cannot bring the stolen children home we can take some responsibility for ensuring justice is done at this crucial time in Australian history. We can do this by urging the Howard Government to apologise for these past wrongs as a necessary step towards reconciliation and by opposing the effect of extinguishment of Native Title by the WIK Ten Point Plan as unnecessary, divisive, unworkable and unjust. We ask your organisation to endorse these six steps as a clear message to the government that a significant and growing proportion of Australian women voters strongly support reconciliation. Now as a result of that statement which was circulated right around the traps everywhere in the last month over 113 Australian women’s organisations have endorsed it and that includes local, national and international organisations ranging from the Women and The Australian Church, Institute of Sisters of Mercy, a hundred organisations. Recently to sorting over half of our national treasures have been voted as our most distinguished Australian women have endorsed the Women for WIK statement and these are Margaret Fulton, Lois O’Donahue, Dr Germane Greer, Hazel Hawke, Margaret Whitlam, Caroline Jones, Evone Coolegong, Faith Bandler, Judith Wright, Betty Archdale, Elizabeth Jolly, Jenny George, Gabby Hollows and Ruth Cracknel. We feel that this statement is going to be read out in rallies all round IWD today and we hope that some people here who haven’t read the statement or who have an organisation who could endorse it could go to the tent and get a copy of the statement and of the publicity release. Thank You very much |
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I’ll just read
out the statement we have been circulating around
women’s networks for the last month which will
explain about Women for WIK and also
let you know what the effect of the statement was which
is pretty amazing.