Workshops and Talks
Every year, the programme includes several workshops and talks. These are some examples from previous programmes:
Workshop on Human Trafficking at Anti-Slavery Australia
This workshop looks at the problem of human trafficking, forced labour and modern-day slavery in Australia and introduces the work that Anti-Slavery Australia (ASA) does to both support individuals who have been trafficked and to improve legal protections against slavery. ASA is part of the Law Faculty at University of Technology Sydney and the workshop is run by lawyers and student interns from the Law Faculty.The workshop includes a presentation on human trafficking and discussion of case studies in small groups.
Ben Oh's LGBTIQ Rights are Human Rights Workshop
Ben is a community worker, educator, and LGBTIQ rights advocate. His workshop includes a role play that helps us understand the experiences of people with different sexual orientations and gender identities and be more aware of the discrimination around us that we may not have noticed. He also leads a discussion about LGBTIQ rights and activism, and the history and importance of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade that we attend during the programme.
Aboriginal Kinship Workshop
Lynn Riley, a Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi woman who teaches at the University of Sydney, has developed her Aboriginal Kinship Workshop to give an insight into the system and importance of kinship (the connections we have with people we are related to) for Aboriginal people and to show how different this is to non-Indigenous understandings of kinship. She also shows the problems that are caused for Aboriginal people when non-Indigenous people apply their own ideas of kinship to Indigenous people and how the colonisation of Australia by the British destroyed many of the kinship connections for Aboriginal people with terrible results. Lynn also often brings the amazing Kangaroo Cloaks that she engraves to show us.
Multiculturalism and Human Rights in Australia
A talk on by Sev Ozdowski, President of the Australian Council for Human Rights Education, Director for Equality and Diversity at the University of Western Sydney, and former Australian Human Rights Commissioner, who first came to Australia from Poland as a refugee.
Turtle Skin Masks and Torres Strait Islander Culture
This is a talk by Leah Lui-Chivizhe, an academic at the University of Sydney. Leah introduces us to the history, culture and identity of her people, the Torres Strait Islanders, whose lands covers the North West of Queensland in Australia and the west of Papua New Guinea, and who are the other Indigenous people of Australia in addition to Aboriginal peoples. Leah focuses on the importance of turtles for Torres Strait Islanders and the amazing masks they make from turtle shell.