As the sun set over an Aboriginal childcare centre in Melbourne's north, more than a hundred guests settled down to a Middle Eastern and African feast.
Islamic Council Of Victoria president Mohamed Mohideen proposed the Iftar get-together, attended by invitees from the state's Islamic and Aboriginal communities.
Mr Mohideen says the communities have plenty in common.
"I think the value of the country, the land, is all part and parcel of Islamic thinking as well. We need to respect the land, and we need to respect the culture, and we need to also accommodate and welcome people."
Lisa Thorpe is chief executive of the Indigenous Child Care centre that hosted the event.
She says the get-together was a welcome opportunity for her community and the Muslim communities to learn about each other.
"As a minority group as well, and how everything that happens in the world is our responsibility, it's been a really good time for us to share who we are. It's exciting."
Links between Australia's Aboriginal and Muslim people date back hundreds of years.
They essentially begin with Macassan traders in the 1700s, then continue with Afghan cameleers who helped transport goods though outback Australia over the next two centuries.
Melbourne general practitioner Umber Rind's great-grandfather, a cameleer, married an Aboriginal woman in Western Australia in the early 1900s.
In doing so, Dr Rind says, they began a proud lineage identifying as Aboriginal Muslims.
"I definitely see a link. There's the respect for one another, the care for the land, the environment, definitely a lot that Islam and Indigenous culture have in common."
Dr Rind established a medical clinic in Melbourne's north with her own cultural and religious background particularly in mind.
"The reason I set up the medical clinic is I really wanted to create a safe and respectful space for Indigenous people, and, also, the refugees as well. And I wanted to make a space where women could feel welcome."
She says the inaugural First Nations Iftar Dinner has offered a rare opportunity to witness the two groups -- both important in her development -- growing, mixing and learning together.
"(I'm) very proud to have that Indigenous background and, obviously, very proud to be a Muslim, and I feel very lucky that I've had opportunities to pursue an education and become a doctor as well."
Those from the Aboriginal and Islamic communities attending the get-together say they hope the inaugural First Nations Iftar Dinner will not be the last.
Share
