Wiradjuri elder Uncle Bob Glanville has challenged residents to recognise Cootamundra’s history and reconcile with its past at a special film screening on Friday night.
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The 2016 documentary Servant or Slave will be screened as part of a special commemoration marking the 20th anniversary of the tabling of the Bringing Them Home Report in federal parliament.
Directed by renown filmmaker Stephen McGregor, Servant or Slave presents an emotive and confronting insight into the history the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Girls, as told through the stories of five women.
Mr Glanville has encouraged people to attend and let them see for themselves the atrocities committed in the past.
“The fact is that terrible things happened and that’s that,” Mr Glanville said.
“The impact of those events never leaves the family and the descendants of the family.
“In-depth stories about what those women suffered are handed down from generation to generation and it continues to affect them today.”
Mr Glanville welcomed the community screening and said it was an important step towards healing.
“Nowadays there’s more emphasis on reconciliation,” he said.
“At the time, people tried to hush it up and ignore what was going on.
“It’s a part of Australian history that no one wants to recognise.”
The Bringing Them Home Report was the result of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.
Event spokeswoman Leigh Bowden said this was a unique opportunity for residents to educate themselves and lend their support to the Indigenous community.
“This is an opportunity for the community of Cootamundra to learn about and acknowledge this part of our town’s history and to support Aboriginal people in their healing,” Mrs Bowden said.
Servant or Slave screens this Friday May 19 at 5.30pm in the Stephen Ward Rooms.