On behalf of Australian South Sea Islanders – Port Jackson (ASSIPJ) honorary patron Ms Shireen Malamoo and our board, we would like to thank community supporters for their contribution towards the advancement of Australian South Sea Islander (ASSI) peoples, history, stories and culture.
Your shared vision, skill and courage to change the narrative to include Australia’s Blackbirding history and its descendants has raised a global consciousness and appreciation for those that have past and enthusiasm for the generations to come as we work towards meaningful inclusion.
Australia’s economy saw many lose their lives as some 60,000 Sugar Slaves were taken from the eighty islands of Vanuatu and Solomon’s including Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Kiribati, New Caledonia and Fiji.
To our First Nations communities, families, allies and knowledge keepers thank you for receiving our Pacific forebears across Country noted back to 1700s in Sydney and the 1800s to Queensland as receiving ports that saw the influx of displaced peoples arrive and rebuild communities, societies while striving for survival, equal rights and social justice.
ASSI-PJ express gratitude to our Commonwealth, State and local governments, agencies, community organisations, leaders, universities, academics, artists and schools for embracing the need for self-determination and the truth-telling process initiated through the work of our board and volunteers.
The international community, heritage institutions and volunteers thank you for your diligence in showing action to learn share and embrace the commonality throughout our struggles and sharing with interest knowledge and culture as part of community forums.
Our collective work adds value to a global memory of social justice and highlights a truth for what we are known as ‘the forgotten people’ in Australia.
To the Australian Government, Amnesty International, Australian Catholic Religion Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH), Australian National Maritime Museum, Bankstown Women’s Health, Caribbean Social Forum-UK, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Caribbean Social Forum, City of Sydney, DSV Accounting Solutions, Elements Bar and Grill, Fairfield Women’s Health Service, Gilbert and Tobin Lawyers, Gold Coast Tweed ASSI United Community, Helen Fraser, iComply, Inner West Council, International Coalition Sites of Conscience, International Council on Monuments and Sites, International Peace Youth Group, James Cook University, JMC Academy, Khal Torabully (Coolitude), Kokonut Vibe, Lotus Holistic Wellbing, Multicultural NSW, National Australia Day Council, NSW Council for Pacific Communities, NSW Government, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Onyx Management Group, Queensland Government, Scarred Tree Indigenous Ministries, St Johns Anglican Church Glebe, The Body Studio, The Christiansen Fund, The Healing Process, The University of Queensland, The University of Sydney, Tribal Warrior, UTS Shop Front, UTS Centre for Social Justice, Vanuatu Government, Vanuatu Indigenous Descendants Association, w3media, Watermark Art & Design, Women for Election Australia and to all our other supporters, Tanku Tumas.
The ASSI-PJ wishes to acknowledge the following Supporters:
