THERE were more than a few tears shed at the Mawonga Divestment Celebration on Saturday.
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Winangakirri Aboriginal Corporation chairman Lawrence Clark admitted his emotions got the best of him for a brief moment.
“I said to myself I wasn’t going to do this,” he told the crowd as he choked back tears.
The milestone was the culmination of a decade’s work from the Winangakirri Aboriginal Corporation and wider community to buyback 22,000 hectares of land north of Hillston.
The Mawonga property is now the largest declared Indigenous protected area in South Eastern Australia.
“It’s one of those events that some of us will attend maybe once in a lifetime,” Mr Clark said.
“It’s a very important day as people are aware.
“We’re here today because we worked hard as a community group. The whole community worked towards today.”
Mr Clark said it was hoped the property would be utilised by the community.
“It’s for the community to utilise,” Mr Clark said.
“It’s for the community and like I said at the start it’s not only for Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan Aboriginal people, it’s for all Aboriginal people and all people in the community, non Aboriginal as well.
“We’re building this to become something that if there’s a group of people out there that want to just get away from big city life, like Griffith I’m talking – that’s a big city for us fellas out here – get out for the weekend and just get their thoughts together as a community group or something I’m sure that’s in our plan and I’m sure it can be utilised.
“There’s a lot of community groups out there that need somewhere to go.”
Mr Clark also took the opportunity to encourage young people to step up as community leaders.
“This is what you’ve got to do – talk up the front and look at all the faces looking back at you,” he said.
“All you young people, it’s not scary at the front, you need to take that chance and step up. So if you get the chance and can be up here and babble like me you should do it. The community’s here, Mawonga’s here, it’s all yours, it’s all ours.”
A large crowd attended the event at Mawonga to witness the historic handover of the property.
Craig North from the Indigenous Land Corporation congratulated the Winangakirri Aboriginal Corporation for their efforts in securing the land.
“There were a few failed applications but they never gave up,” Mr North said.
The community celebrated the historic moment with lunch after the handover was complete.