This week the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Co-chairs addressed the Victorian Parliament as debate commenced on historic Treaty legislation. Read Ngarra Murray’s historic speech below.
Good afternoon.
My name is Ngarra Murray and I’m a proud Yorta Yorta, Wamba Wamba, Dja Dja Wurrung, and Dhudhuroa woman. I’m elected Co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
First Peoples have been caring for Country for at least tens of thousands of years.
Pre-colonisation, Victoria was home to about 60,000 First Peoples, comprising 300 to 500 clan groups and speaking over 40 First Peoples languages.
Each language carried the stories, laws, songs, and knowledge systems that connected people to Country.
Aboriginal people are deeply connected to the land through stories, languages and systems of relational sovereignty that have guided our way of life for thousands of generations.
Being part of the oldest continuous living culture on this planet, is to walk in the footsteps of our old people whose knowledge, stories, and spirit stretch back more than 60,000 years.
It is to carry a history so vast that it predates the Egyptian pyramids.
It is to hold the wisdom of this land and the lore that has been passed down from generation to generation.
The enormity of this truth is humbling and powerful – it means we have unbroken bloodlines, we are guardians of the world’s most ancient stories, and the keepers of a legacy that continues to guide our future.
Connection to Country is as profound as it is unique. Our cultural practices are founded on and embedded within a worldview in which people and Country are one.
The Sovereignty of First Peoples in Victoria has never been ceded and continues to exist.
So, on behalf of the Assembly I pay my respect to the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people, ancestors, Elders and family clans of this Country.
Here, in Naarm, the land of Bunjil and Waa, the Wurundjeri have been generous and shared, and provided, a platform and a place for the fight for equality.
That includes this place, the Parliament of Victoria.
Thank you, Uncle Andrew Gardiner, for welcoming us to this Country and to Thane Garvey for the smoking ceremony.
I also acknowledge all First Peoples in the room today, particularly our Assembly members, former Co-chairs Aunty Geri Atkinson and Marcus Stewart, former Treaty Commissioner Aunty Jill Gallagher, our Elders, Treaty Authority Members, and former Yoorrook Justice Commissioners.
I acknowledge the leadership of the Premier Jacinta Allan; Minister for First Peoples and Treaty, Natalie Hutchins; Parliamentary Secretary for First Peoples, Christine Couzens; Sheena Watt; and all Cabinet Members, a number of whom have walked with us on this ten year journey.
Our Ancestors as children watched the white man come to our Country.
They would have seen many of their people die. Some were killed in cruel reprisals when they tried to keep their territory. Some were shot down in the blackfella hunt – no different to the kangaroo hunt – simply to clear the land.
Some were given presents of poisoned flour. Some died from the white man’s diseases, some from his alcohol.
The history of dispossession in this country is long. Our dispossession was affected by the colonisers through a systemic campaign of intentional violence.
Our people felt the impacts of colonisation and dispossession physically, culturally, spiritually, economically and legally.
We heard many of these truths through Yoorrook. Our people are story-tellers by nature, and we ensured those stories were carried forward.
Yoorrook was the first formal Truth-telling in this Country. But it won’t be the last.
Through Treaty, we will ensure ongoing truth-telling.
That’s because we’ve been vocal about the impacts and the conditions of our people. For a long time.
In 1933, William Cooper circulated a petition asking for Aboriginal representation in parliament to have a say on the decisions that directly affected them.
In 1937 William Ferguson and Jack Patten launched their initiative, they called for the emancipation and betterment of Aboriginal people.
In 1938 at the Day of Mourning, the explicit call from people like my grandfather Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls was for equality within the community.
Ninety years on, and until very, very recently, we were still having the same conversation, talking about the same struggles and calling for the same actions.
For a long time this country, and this State, tried to forget or erase the past, but we remembered.
The time for paternalistic Governments making decisions on behalf of our people ends with this Treaty.
No longer will policies be made about us, without us.
Our people will no longer tolerate being the political football that politicians kick around looking to further their own selfish interests.
We are Sovereign peoples with the oldest systems of governance on Earth.
We bring forward that knowledge to today. Where we stand at a crossroads.
We as a state, all Victorians, are presented with an opportunity for a new way forward.
This Treaty heralds an era where everyone prospers.
It’s built on respect, truth and shared responsibility. Where First Peoples culture, knowledge, and authority are not just acknowledged but are central to how we govern, care for country, and make decisions together.
It’s children growing up proud of who they are, walking confidently in two worlds, knowing their language, history, and rights are honoured.
It is healthier lands and rivers because decisions are guided by thousands of years of wisdom.
It is a future where Victoria is known not just for its natural beauty, but for the way it nurtures culture, celebrates diversity, and ensures that safety, dignity and opportunity is shared by all.
In this era our ethos and civic responsibility is defined by how deeply we value one another. It is felt in stronger relationships and in communities thriving.
I hope this is something that is felt and embraced by all Victorians, no matter their cultural background.
This new era is the culmination of the work from everyone here in this room, particularly those who you can see in the gallery.
But also, of the tens of thousands of people across the State that walked with us on this journey bridging the past to now.
Victoria has led the way, for a decade, in enacting that change.
We have passed legislation in this place before, twice, without opposition. With overwhelming support from all sides of the political sphere.
Today we seek to continue that path. I invite all Members of this place to support us once again and enable meaningful change.
At the forefront of creating change is Gellung Warl.
I invite everyone in this room, and in this State, to stand proudly as we walk that bridge towards Gellung Warl.
In Gunai Kurnai, Gellung Warl means tip of the spear.
A spear that is crafted with a task in mind. Created with care.
A spear is not haste alone, nor is it passive, it is endurance.
It is measured calmness and to understand the timing to take action.
That time is now.
Thank you.
