Spent the day with a quick trip over to the Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative. This community and and medical center serve the Aboriginal population in the "Yorta Yorta" country. Aboriginal rights are a politically and socially charged issue in Australian government.
The day reflected this...
We spent most of the day in their community center - a beautiful building for large social gatherings and celebrations. The view of the bush from the large surround porch was wonderful.
We heard from Peter and Karen Ferguson (uncle and niece team) who are both part of the Aboriginal community and working to improve the rights of Aboriginals. After a brief spot of tea, we listened to Paul Bridges talk about his work with the Aboriginal Footie and Nettie Club (a social club for young aboriginal boys and girls to learn to play AFL - Australian Football League). They have spent >15 years working to become integrated with 'white' Australian leagues in Victoria and are still meeting resistance.
My tour was led by Luke Brock, General Operations Manager. The group is standing in front of their new health facility - run by 3 GPs (doctors), nurses and support staff. They run a non-profit operation with a budget of 20-30 million annually and employ primarily Aboriginal people (130/180 employees) looking for a better life.
My favorite speaker was Leon Saunders - himself a Yorta Yorta man - and descendent from the original settlers of the Rumbalara site. His people "walked off" their mission in 1930s. For the next 10 years they squatted along the river. In 1958, the government built 10 concrete houses on site and selected 10 random families to occupy those house. Only 1 remains today. Leon and his 9 brothers and sisters lived in a concrete block house (see below) with 3 small rooms until they were "modernized" enough to show that they could pay rent reliably. They were then provided a house in the town of Mooroopna (More - roop - na) in 1967. The Rumbalara co-op was started in the 1970s and the community has spent 40 years consolidating care for Aboriginal people on this site.
Leon is pictured in front of the only remaining concrete house, Niranoma Gundja (Rainbow House). There are many pictures of his ancestors in the house. The walls are covered in such photos as the one below (permission was granted by Leon and Luke for me to take photos as we walked around). They now use the Rainbow House as a museum to preserve their oral and photographic history. 
There are many issues facing the Aboriginal People of Australia including poverty, native language loss, poor education, lack of access to adequate health care (there average life expectancy is 17 years less than "white" Australians), social isolation, lack of civil rights/voice in government (they were not even acknowledged as people in the Australian constitution till 1967), and racism. I felt today as though I were looking back on what the U.S. must have been like during the civil rights movement of the 1960s. In many ways, the Australians feel behind in adopting a policies of social, religious, cultural and racial integration.
[Note: this shocking poster was in the Rainbow House as part of their history]
For more information on the Rumbalara Aboriginal Health Co-operative visit: http://www.rumbalara.org.au
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