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RECONCILIATION STATEMENT This website was created by Serena O'Meley of the Geelong Community Forum in consultation with the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative. All public meetings of the Geelong Community Forum acknowledge the Wathaurong Tribe as the original custodians of the land around and between the Werribee river, Geelong, Ballarat and Forest in the Otways. We are grateful to the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative for their participation in our events as guest speakers, performers and audience members, and for the many formal welcomes we have received onto Wathaurong land. On behalf of the Geelong Community Forum I would like to express our sorrow over the treatment of past and current generations of Aboriginal people. We are appalled by Prime Minister John Howard's refusal to apologise to the Stolen Generation and his betrayal over Wik. We are opposed to mandatory sentencing and recognise the structural disadvantages resulting from colonialism which contribute to the unequal living standards of many indigenous Australians. |