On 21 March the Marrickville Heritage Society (MHS) organised a tour of the Cooks River called ‘Walk the Talk’. The main purpose of the tour was to inform MHS’ members and friends about the significance of the Cooks River to Aboriginal people past and present, as well as to learn more about the Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign’s proposal to have Richardson’s Lookout declared a Peace and Reconciliation Park.

The ‘Walk the Talk’ event attracted about 30 members and friends of MHS who walked along the Cooks River from Steel Park to Richardson’s Lookout via Warren Park.

The first stop on the walk was the Aboriginal Interpretive Signage Site in Steel Park. At this stop and a number of others along the way, Nardi Simpson¹, a Yuwaalaraay woman and a Marrickville resident, spoke about the way of life of local Aboriginal people before the colonial period and how European settlement brought them disease, death and dispossession of their land.

Nardi also spoke about Indigenous legends and how a healthy river containing freshwater fish, rock oysters, pipis, crabs etc. within an uncontaminated and diverse environment helped sustain Aboriginal communities for thousands of years.²

Nardi’s son Luke, and her younger sister Lucy, also contributed to the event. At one of the stops, Lucy spoke about her work as a graphic artist and displayed samples of her striking textile designs.³

At Richardson’s Lookout, following Nardi’s talk about the Aboriginal Interpretive Signage Site there, John Butcher⁴ from the Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign (GCPC) spoke about the group’s campaign to have Richardson’s Lookout declared a Peace and Reconciliation Park.

Given the favourable response to the proposal during an extensive community consultation process, Council appears likely to declare Richardson’s Lookout a Peace and Reconciliation Park around the time of the Gallipoli Centenary on 25th April.

This may well take the form of Council authorising a ‘virtual launch’ (via media and facebook) in April with temporary signage being installed in the park. This would then allow Council to consult more widely with stakeholders about the content of permanent signage as well as to plan for an official declaration and ceremony later in the year.

Notes
¹ Both Nardi Simpson and Lucy Simpson are members of Marrickville Aboriginal Consultative Committee.
² A short account of Aboriginal people’s connection with the Cooks River is provided by Paul Irish in ‘First people of the Cooks River’, Dictionary of Sydney, 2013. The Aboriginal name for the area around ‘The Warren’ is Bul(l)anaming and the Cooks River was known as Goolay’yari. Also see Ferncourt Public School’s history of the precinct on the school’s website.
³ Photos of Lucy Simpson’s textile designs and products can be found on her website.
⁴ Apart from being the President of the Gallipoli Centenary Peace Campaign, John Butcher is also an active member of the Cooks River Valley Association and the Cooks River Mudcrabs Community Eco Group.

? View GCPC’s flyer about the history of Richardson’s Lookout and the rationale for a Peace and Reconciliation Park here.
? Listen to John Butcher’s speech below. A short Aboriginal song is performed by the ‘Simpson Trio’ before the speech!