Bega Valley Shire Council’s Memorandum of Understanding with Aboriginal communities in Eden, Bega and Wallaga Lake continues to attract recognition from around the country and remains a source of great pride for everyone involved. The Memorandum was signed in 2001 by Council, all three Aboriginal Land Councils and Native Title holders in a bid to strengthen the relationship between Council and the Shire’s Aboriginal population and to pursue the objectives of reconciliation.
It acknowledges that Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants, custodians and Native Title holders of all lands and waters in the Bega Valley Shire and commits Council to ‘assisting, encouraging and promoting opportunities for Aboriginal people in its own workforce and in the broader community’.
It also states that Council will undertake appropriate consultation with Aboriginal communities in relation to significant development applications and Council’s civic works to ensure that Aboriginal culture and heritage are taken into account as part of the assessment/planning process.
Council is also committed to celebrating appropriate Aboriginal ceremonies and events and to involving Aboriginal people in appropriate civic activities. Through the Memorandum of Understanding, Council has also agreed to undertake appropriate community planning to address the social, economic and cultural disadvantage experienced by people in the Bega Valley Shire.
An independent review of the Memorandum of Understanding was undertaken last year and the document is expected to be re-signed this year after a number of refinements.
Bega Valley Shire Council received a commendation in the 2003 National Local Government Awards for the MOU and has since picked up a number of additional awards. It was named the NSW Aboriginal Local Government Network’s ‘Council of the Year’ in October 2003 and the following month took out the Local Government category in the New South Wales Aboriginal Employment and Business Awards.
More recently it was presented with the prestigious 2004 National Diversity@work Award in the category for employment and inclusion of indigenous Australians. Council took out the top award for organisations with 100 to 1,000 employees with the Western Australian Department of Conservation and Ford Australia sharing the honours for organisations with more than 1,000 employees.
Council’s Aboriginal Employment Program – an integral part of the Memorandum of Understanding – has seen the number of indigenous Australians employed at Council increase from two in 2000 to nine in 2005. Those employees include Council’s Aboriginal Community Development Officer, Kerry Avery.
Judges in the Diversity@work Awards made special mention of the cultural support which has been pivotal to the employment program’s success.
This has included the involvement of the broader Aboriginal community and local elders in supporting Aboriginal employees and the ongoing assistance provided by Ms Avery. They also commended Council on its long term commitment to the program and encouraged other Local Government authorities to follow the Bega Valley Shire lead.
Mayor David Hede said the award was further recognition that Council was heading in the right direction in terms of reconciliation and in creating employment opportunities for Aboriginal people.
Council has established a special Reconciliation Garden out the front of its administration centre in Bega’s Zingel Place. The centrepiece is a plaque commemorating the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Reconciliation Garden has been landscaped with native plants and features a number of carved and painted totems created by local Aboriginal artists.
