
Yaama! Welcome to our monthly CIE Newsletter! We are really excited to share with you some news about our CIE (Community Is Everything) campaign, our Firestick Flick for this month and much more!
But first, let us introduce ourselves – Uncle Rodney Dillon is a Palawa man, and our Indigenous Rights Advisor. Kacey Teerman is a Gomeroi woman, and our Strategic Campaigner. And the newest member of the team is Rach McPhail, Gomeroi woman and our Campaign Organiser.
Together, we make up the Indigenous Rights team at Amnesty International Australia. We work to amplify the voices of First Nations communities, and campaign for increased funding for community-led diversion programs and a fairer and more humane youth justice system. We are honoured to be able to do this work for our communities, and couldn’t do it without the support of activists right around the country just like you!

CIE News

The Indigenous Rights team are currently deep in planning mode, developing our strategic campaign for the next 5 years.
At the end of December, we came together with the wider team of AIA staff who work on Indigenous Rights to brainstorm ideas, and we will continue to work on this throughout the first half of 2025 to ensure that we have a really solid, culturally informed campaign plan.
Invasion Day 2025
January 26 is fast approaching, which means that First Nations communities right around the country are organising Invasion Day rallies and events – and we hope to mobilise as many Amnesty activists and supporters as we can to show up in solidarity in their local areas.
This year in particular, post-referendum and in the lead up to a Federal election, we have seen a massive uptick in the amount of racism that First Nations communities are experiencing – so we want to make sure that there is a huge groundswell of support from allies!
To help you attend a rally, our team has put together this Invasion Day Activism Toolkit with lots of info about Invasion Day, why we march, some resources to watch, read, share, wear and listen, social media tiles to share, printable protest posters – as well as a list of all the events we have been able to find so far around the country. Big thanks to ANTAR as well as everyone who shared details of local events.




For activists located on Gadigal, Kaurna or Naarm (where we have an action centre), there is an opportunity to attend rallies as part of an Amnesty International Australia contingent in collaboration with staff. If you would like to join Amnesty contingents in these regions please RSVP using the map in the toolkit.
In cities where there is no action centre, and a rally event is occurring, activists are encouraged to self-organize their own contingents.
In smaller locations where no event is planned, activists are encouraged to liaise with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to organise your own smaller event, and we have included information in the above toolkit on how you can do this.
Not A Date to Celebrate – Clothing the Gaps Petition
The legends over at Clothing The Gaps have started a petition ‘Australia Day – Not a date to celebrate!’ calling for leadership from Prime Minister Albanese to acknowledge the harm that January 26 represents and to commit to a thoughtful and inclusive process to reconsider its place as a national holiday.
Amnesty’s Indigenous Rights team would encourage all AIA activists to click the link above and support this petition.
They also have a free Not A Date To Celebrate colouring in page that you can download and print here!

Firestick Flicks

Firestick Flicks is a monthly film club, which aims to encourage Amnesty activists, staff, and supporters to watch First Nations films and documentaries, by providing supporting resources, discussion prompts, and reflections to foster deep learning and understanding on the path to reconciliation.
This month’s Firestick Flicks film is Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, which is available to stream for free on SBS on Demand.
(Content warning: colonial violence, racism and oppression of First Nations peoples, murder and mature themes)
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, is a documentary film presented and co-written by comedian Steven Oliver. It was released in 2020, on the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s first landing on the east coast, when he claimed the territory for the British Empire.
The documentary travels along the eastern coastline of Australia, telling the history through a combination of interviews and stunning landscapes. Captain James Cook’s landing is reimagined through contemporary, original music performed by a range of First Nations artists including Kev Carmody, Birdz, Trials, Fred Leone, Mo’Ju, Alice Sky and Mau Power. Through their yarns and their music, the artists create a modern day songline about the invasion and colonisation of so-called Australia, and the dispossession of the First Peoples of this land.
Winangala (Listen)
BAGI-LA-M BARGAN – Birdz featuring Fred Leone
Written and recorded for the above-mentioned documentary Looky, Looky Here Comes Cooky, BAGI-LA-M BARGAN was co-written by Birdz, Trials and his cousin Fred Leone.
The song was inspired by the story of the Butchulla people seeing James Cook sail past K’gari (so-called Fraser Island), and is written from a young warrior’s perspective of defending his Country:
Standin’ on the shoreline, Cook man comin’
Muthar wanna cross mine, wanna take it from me
Fire in my eyes, but we ain’t runnin’
Wonamutta, let’s ride, ayy, ayy
Patiently waiting for someone I ain’t never seen before
They say he’s a captain of men, but he believe in our law
From the land of the white skin
He’s self-righteous, a murder without license
With the spear, I’m the nicest
Thinkin’ that I might just wait ’til night hits
Then I move in silencе (move on my land)
‘Til the moon’s at its highest (nobody can)
And my soul is dеfiant (defy my land)
Won’t be tuned by desire to kill
Any white devil wanna test my will
Then he finna get burnt by the fire I feel
Look ’em in the eye and hold his spirit still
He’s hopin’ I won’t catch him, but I know I will
In an interview, Birdz said:
“While the song itself is character driven, it’s also a family affair and that’s what makes it extra special. As well as being cousins, Fred’s like my big brother and mentor, and Trials is like my brother too, so the whole process of writing the song was mad organic and one of the most fulfilling experiences I’ve had in my career so far.”
Biibabiiba (Book)
Somebody’s Land: Welcome to Our Country – Adam Goodes
This award-winning picture book by Adam Goodes, an Adnyamathanha and Narungga man and former Australian Rules footballer, is the perfect way to help kids and adults alike to understand First Nations history and the term ‘terra nullius’.
For thousands and thousands of years,
Aboriginal people lived in the land we call Australia.
The land was where people
built their homes,
played in the sun,
and sat together to tell stories.
When the white people came,
they called the land
Terra Nullius.
They said it was nobody’s land.
But it was somebody’s land.

This storybook allows “children and their families to imagine themselves into Australia’s past – to feel the richness of our First Nations’ history, to acknowledge that our country was never terra nullius, and to understand what ‘welcome to our country’ really means.”
The publishers have also created some amazing resources to go alongside this book, including Acknowledgement of Country posters for libraries, schools and shops, a teachers resource, and a guide for parents and carers with lots of discussion questions!
Blak Business
Ngurrbul Collection is a 100% First Nations owned clothing and homewares business, founded by Wiradjuri woman Tara Townsend.
Tara’s clothing range is size inclusive, and she engages 4 First Nations artists – so when you buy Ngurrbul products, you’re helping to support at least five Aboriginal families.

Ngurrbul products are available via the online store – and if you follow Tara’s instagram account (@ngurrbul.collection) you will know that she travels far and wide to take her stall to as many community events and markets as possible. If you want to meet Tara and her team in person, they have a calendar on the website, so you can see when they will be coming to an event near you!
Ngurrbul means ‘love’ in Wiradjuri language, and Tara chose this name to honour her Nan, and the “undying love for her and the gratitude I have for being raised by a strong, black woman!”

Mob Who Inspire Us
Uncle Dr Charles ‘Chicka’ Dixon
(Content warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: this segment contains the name and pictures of a First Nations person who has passed.)
In the Indigenous Rights team at Amnesty, we always talk about and acknowledge the fact that we wouldn’t be able to do this work if it wasn’t for the staunch work of First Nations activists and Elders who have come before us.
This month, we wanted to highlight one of these incredible Elders, who is sadly no longer with us: Uncle Dr Charles ‘Chicka’ Dixon.
Chicka Dixon was born on Yuin Country at Wallaga Lake, NSW in 1928. He began his political activism for Indigenous Rights after hearing Jack Patten speak when he was 18. He also worked on the Sydney wharves, where he learned to organise through the Waterside Workers’ Federation.

Uncle Chicka dedicated his life to fighting for equal rights and believed in a good education for all, as this was a tool to use to help empower your community. He said:
“I believe that every Man is my Brother
That every Woman is my Sister
I know that the land is my mother
And if all the leaders of the world were to believe this there would be no wars and most importantly, there would be no starving children.”
He was one of the central campaigners for a YES vote in the 1967 Referendum, and was involved with the Aboriginal Tent Embassy and the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders (FCAATSI). He was also a foundation member of the Aboriginal Arts Board, and was part of the establishment of the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service.
Uncle Chicka was named “Australian Aborigine of the Year in 1984”, and he worked at a half-way house for released prisoners at Summer Hill in his retirement until he sadly passed away in 2010.
Thank you for your tireless activism Uncle Dr Chicka Dixon.
Thank you to The Fox and Barani for your information about Uncle Dr Chicka Dixon.
Maliyaa (Friend) – Activist Shout Out
Do you know of an Amnesty Activist or Action Group in your local area who is doing some really great work in fighting for Indigenous rights and amplifying First Nations voices? Send us a short yarn (50-100 words) to tell us about the work they’ve done, so we can put a shout out in our next issue.
Please send to activism@amnesty.org.au with subject “Activist Shout Out”
Coming up next month:
Feb 4 – Anniversary of the Cummeragunja Walk Off
On the 4 February 1939, around 200 Yorta Yorta people walked off the Cummeragunja Mission in protest of poor living conditions and treatment, with many relocating to Barmah, Echuca and Mooroopna.
Feb 13 – National Apology Day
On this day in 2008, Kevin Rudd (then Prime Minister) made a formal apology to First Nations people and the Stolen Generations.
Feb 13-26 – Anniversary of the 1967 Freedom Ride
The 1965 Freedom Ride was a 15-day bus journey through regional New South Wales. It was led by a group of students from the University of Sydney, including Arrernte and Kalkadoon man Charlie Perkins. They drew national and international attention to the racism experienced by First Nations people in country New South Wales.
Thank you to Common Ground for their excellent dates of significance resource, where you can find further information about these dates.
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