Redfern Anzac Day Street March

This ANZAC Day the fourth annual Redfern ANZAC Day Street March and Commemorative service will be held at Redfern Park and the Redfern Community Centre.

The event is an initiative of the Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group and was established in 2007.

The march was organised to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans, family members and the local Redfern community to properly honour our Indigenous servicemen and servicewomen’s contribution to our country.

The event also seeks to raise awareness in the wider community about the service and sacrifices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and servicewomen and their families and to highlight the need for greater recognition of them in official commemorative ceremonies and at public memorials.

Father Raymond Minniecon of the Babana Men’s Group said that it was his understanding that it was the only march of its kind in NSW and perhaps even Australia.

“This year the focus is going to be a little different, we want to honour our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women,” Fr Minniecon said. “Because for them the war didn’t end, they raised our sons and daughters who went off to war and when they came back they had the incredible challenge of dealing with issues which they’d never seen or heard of in their families.

“That’s a special focus for us this year, to honour our women, war is a man’s business but in the end it’s a family business, everybody in that family and community feels the effect of the war, whether it be World War I or the Afghanistan War we all feel those effects.”

Fr Minniecon said that this year’s march would be special for him personally as his two brothers, both of whom served in Vietnam, would be marching in Redfern.

Fr Minniecon also spoke of the group’s ongoing mission to erect a statue at Circular Quay to honour the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander warriors who fought for the nation.

The sculpture depicts Aboriginal dancing figures which “typifies the spirit of the Aboriginal warrior”.

“They’re dancing with us when they go off to war and we can maintain the dance here and when they return they’ll come and join the dance with us again,” Fr Minniecon said. “The reason why we want it at Circular Quay is because that’s where they joined the boats to go off to war.

“It would be a gift on behalf of all of us, not just the Aboriginal people it’s a sculpture that is designed for all of us.”

The 2011 Redfern ANZAC Day Street March will commence at 1:00pm at the War Memorial in Redfern Park where a wreath will be laid. The march will move to the Redfern Community Centre near the Block where memorial service will take place at 1:30pm.