acknowledgment of country
I acknowledge that I work and live on this land which is bordered by water, of which the Gadigal people of the Eora nation hold custodianship. I acknowledge that I benefit from an uncompensated and unreconciled dispossession which began over 200 years ago, and continues today.
This land and these waters have been materially, ecologically and socially transformed through occupation by White settlers. The presence of the city known as Sydney, and its surrounding suburbs, does not erase the history of the Eora nation, or the ongoing connection to land and culture held by all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
I pay respect to Elders past and present.
I pay respect to trailblazing Sistergirls, Brotherboys, as well as other sexuality, gender, and bodily diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Those who came before us, who taught us, who forged many of the paths we now take.
Always was, always will be Aboriginal Land.
author: rebecca howe, photo: danyelle mei kaplan
(image description: a large blue board with a spray-painted stencil of a quote by dr. martin luther king: “until justice rolls down, like waters / and righteousness like a mighty stream”. the board is attached by zip-ties to a chainlink fence, against a backdrop of green grass and lush trees on Gadigal land.)