‘To go forward we have to pull together’: SWAMS lunch brings South West Elders together

Indigenous Elders from across the South West gathered at the South West Aboriginal Medical Services Elder’s Luncheon to celebrate, yarn and hand down knowledge in the name of NAIDOC Week. Held at Bunbury’s Quality Hotel Lighthouse the lunch is the second of a series of events hosted by SWAMS and will be followed by a women’s breakfast at the Dolphin Discovery Centre on Thursday, July 7, and a youth day at Bunbury PCYC on Friday, July 8. Celebrating the past achievements of their Elders, SWAMS CEO Lesley Nelson said NAIDOC is an important time for people to come together and highlighted the importance of Indigenous communities engaging with medical services early. “They’re our Elders and we just want to celebrate the things that they have done in the past because SWAMS wouldn’t be here today without the work that they did before us,” she said. “It’s important for Aboriginal people to access Aboriginal medical services, to get engaged early and be able to manage many of the issues they are confronted with,” she said. Aboriginal elder and pastor Dennis Jetta said it was good to see such a big turnout of Indigenous Elders and the only way to “get further ahead” is to come together. “It’s good to have all the elders because that’s important, we have Elder groups in different towns — Manjimup, Busselton — this is a the first time we have had so many from different areas,” he said. “I always say for us to go forward we have to pull together, not only us Noongar people but also non-indigenous people too and that’s what NAIDOC Week is all about.”