Sydney City Councillor (Waskam) Emelda Davis says Yumi Wansolwara will bring together First Nations People, Australian South Sea Islanders, and other Melanesian people together for the first time in a festival of this kind, in a day of truth telling and reflection on consequences of Australia’s colonial past.
“For Australian South Sea Islanders Jan 26 is observed as Survival Day, a day of invasion and a day to reflect and remember what occurred as a part of this country established through slavery of Pacific Islanders and First Nations people,” Ms Davis Said.
Yumi Wansolwara describes the concept of togetherness as one ocean, one people in pijin English (or Creole) widely spoken in the Pacific Islands (Yumi Wansolwara - you and me - one saltwater).
Yumi Winsolwara key features:
- Family-friendly all-day event
- Traditional Owners, Elders, national and international leaders invited and participating
- Back-to-back sharing of truth
- Music and entertainment by First Nations and Melanesian performers (Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, PNG etc.)
- Pacific Islands seasonal workers involved in revitalising today’s economy will be present
When the slave trade lost its momentum and was eventually abolished in the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the 19th century, it was reintroduced in the Pacific under the moniker of Black Birding affecting 1.8 million Pacific and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“Pirrama Park where the event will take place is an important site as it is the receiving port of our peoples as a collective of people who were all affected by colonialism, and it is on these people that this country’s economy was established.”
