THE “inclusive alternative” to Australia Day – One Day in Fremantle – has been ditched seven years on from its dramatic launch.
Fremantle Council announced it will replace the annual event with a year-long program of Truth Telling.
“Our aim is to present a year-long program of opportunity, with some key events, for the community to engage in Truth Telling,” said Pete Stone, the council’s creative arts and community director.
“The program could manifest itself in many ways. It may be an exhibition, a walk and talk tour, one on one personal story telling, recorded oral histories, a residency, a weaving and yarning session, published material, poetry readings, a gig – there are no restrictions on format.”
One Day started with a flourish in 2017 – featuring a smoking ceremony at Bathers Beach, aboriginal cultural activities and a headline concert at Esplanade Reserve with John Butler that attracted more than 20,000 people.
While the smoking ceremony remained quite popular, without a strong headline event, interest in One Day began to wane over the following years.
It wasn’t held in 2022 due to covid, and last year the the smoking ceremony moved to Walyalup Koort.
• A smoking ceremony at Bathers Beach as part of One Day in Fremantle in 2021.
A Fremantle Council spokesperson said the $22,000 budget for One Day had been reallocated to Truth Telling, but wouldn’t be drawn on why they couldn’t hold both the flagship event and a program throughout the year.
The switch has been welcomed by Janetia Knapp, Indigenous artist in residence at Notre Dame University.
“I think it’s a good thing after the Voice campaign. There has to be an understanding of who we are and healing on Country,” she says.
“Our history is so important and it’s already in a lot of places in the community, and now we can come together and walk a shared path.”
The Truth Telling program also received the blessing of Whadjuk Nyoongar Elder Gerrard Shaw at the inaugural meeting of the new Walyalup Reconciliation Action Plan working group earlier this month.
“We will never abandon our dream of walking together,” Dr Shaw says.
“So, we begin again resolved to try harder to make Australians aware of all the things that happened to us in the past. Truth telling is the way we will do this.
“Unless our past history is understood by all Australians we will never walk together as one country.”
Fremantle Mayor Hannah Fitzhardinge said the award-winning event had played a significant role in the shifting national conversation about reconciliation.
“One Day in Fremantle successfully ignited debate around the country in questioning the celebration of Australia being held on the 26th of January each year,” she says.
“Many local governments and businesses now hold inclusive celebrations on a different date.”
In 2019, One Day in Fremantle won a Promoting Indigenous Reconciliation Award at the National Awards for Local Government.
Truth Telling will launch in March, coinciding with the release of the new Walyalup Reconciliation Action Plan, which will include the three pillars of Voice, Treaty and Truth.
by STEPHEN POLLOCK