Lismore City Council
In 1996, the Commonwealth, under the Local Government Development Program, provided funding to Lismore City Council, New South Wales, for the Building Bundjalung Cultural Bridges Project. The funding enabled the Council to provide cross cultural awareness training for Council staff and to employ two Aboriginal community development workers for 12 months.
The aim of the project was to provide liaison between Council and the Bundjalung Aborigines and other Indigenous people in the area with a view to bridging racial and cultural barriers and to increase Indigenous participation in mainstream community life.
This year, for the first time, there was Aboriginal involvement in Lismore’s Australia Day celebrations – an outcome directly attributable to the project and to Council’s positive relations with the Indigenous community.
The celebrations involved public apologies to Aboriginal people and a member of the local Aboriginal community was also presented with the Lismore Citizen of the Year Award. The profile of Indigenous people has been greatly enhanced, resulting in major benefits to the community as a whole.
The project is to be used as a model of best practice for other Councils, and if you would like any more information on the project please contact the Manager Community Services at Lismore City Council on (02) 6625 0599.
