IHH Trivia Night 2018

The annual IHH Trivia Night is coming up on Friday 29th of June. Make sure you give us a call ( 9387 7557 ) or send us an email ( house@ihh.org.au ) to book your table, as we will run out of tables!

Friday 29th June
6:30pm for a 7pm start
West Coburg Bowling Club - 24 Lindsey Street, Coburg West
(Enter via Bellevue Street)

Tables of 8
Tickets $20
Unwaged $10
Kids under 8 years $5

Great silent auction items!
Don’t forget your gold coins and snacks!
Drinks at bar prices (no BYO)
Please bring cash as there are no credit card facilities.
Funds raised will support the IHH.

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Healing Rites for Seven Sites

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A walking liturgy on Holy Saturday

On this walk we will hear the 'seven last words' spoken by Christ, and participate in words and actions of lament as we hear stories of Aboriginal people experiencing violence, suffering and injustice in our land.

For those who have ears to hear ... listen.

The walk will start at 2pm from Rushall Station (North Fitzroy) and end at approximately 3:30pm with afternoon tea at IHH.

Children are very welcome. Some guidance may be required.

RSVP by Monday April 10 to the Indigenous Hospitality House
1/907 Drummond St, Carlton North 3054
house@ihh.org.au
(03) 9387 7557

Quaker Spirituality

Our most recent learning circle was about Quaker spirituality. The early residents at IHH were strongly influenced by Quaker spirituality and practices when the house was set up. In particular, we looked at how these practices can help us to be a prophetic voice within our own culture.

Jane Hope started our learning circle on Quaker spirituality with silence. On a table in the centre there was a vase of daffodils, a Bible and the book Quaker Faith and Practice. It is at the heart of Quaker spirituality that those of the Religious Society of Friends (known derogatorily as Quakers because they often 'quaked' when they rose to speak at a meeting) try to respond to all things out of a deep silence. This is because a core belief is that every person can have direct access to God through silence. This is part of the testimony of truth.

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There are four key testimonies that Quakers hold to for personal and public life: the testimonies of peace, equality, simplicity and truth. At the IHH, we have been conscious of the 'peace of the house' which reminds us to be aware of what we are bringing into a space, and how we respond to situations of tension or conflict. In sharing living spaces with guests, we are seeking to relate as people equal in worth and dignity, while recognising that our circumstances are unequal due to the ongoing impacts of colonisation. We have tried to keep our household simple with many items donated - and the fact of living communally means we don't need (and can't fit!) duplicates of items such as ironing boards and fridges and bicycle pumps. And we seek to be open to truth from whatever source it may come, so our residents and volunteers have come from all sorts of backgrounds and faith traditions.

Quakers are also formed by a regular practice of reflecting on queries and advices. Thus, they are likely to ask questions more often than leaping to criticise or make a judgement. It is easy for us to loudly criticise and judge the society around when we see injustice and suffering (and we can also judge ourselves). Our learning circles invite us to sit and reflect contemplatively, and ask questions about ourselves, our culture and what the Spirit might be saying to us.
 

Talking on Tuesdays: 'Change the Record'

We've been partnering with North Carlton Railway Neighbourhood House, ANTaR Victoria and Yarra Libraries to host Talking on Tuesdays - education sessions about Indigenous culture, knowledge and history.

April marks 25 years since a royal commission presented a formula to prevent Aboriginal deaths in police custody. But how much has changed?

On Tuesday 26 April, ANTaR Victoria will facilitate a discussion related to the high incarceration rates of indigenous people and 'Change the Record’ Campaign. This session will provide us with an opportunity for self-education in relation to the disproportionate rates of incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the high levels of violence experienced, particularly by women and children.

Date: Tuesday 26 April
Time: 7.00 – 8.30 pm
Location: ANTaR: Father Tucker Room, Brotherhood of St. Laurence, 67 Brunswick St, Fitzroy (enter via 128 Fitzroy Street)

Background Information
Justice Reinvestment – Change The Record ANTaR is a founding member of the Change the Record Campaign launched April 2015. Friday 15th April marks the 25th anniversary of the Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) and sadly, a generation after the Report, incarceration statistics are not improving. As will be demonstrated during the presentation, being placed in prison is all too common for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with ongoing implications for individuals, families and the whole community. With your support, we can change the record.

We need to invest in early intervention, prevention and diversion strategies. These are smarter solutions that increase safety, address the root causes of violence against women, cut reoffending and imprisonment rates, and build stronger and safer communities. We can do this. We need to implement solutions and make it happen in a way that empowers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and services to drive these solutions.

Together, we can change the record. Together, we can build stronger and safer communities - we need to invest in holistic early intervention, prevention and diversion strategies. These are smarter, evidence-based and more cost-effective solutions that increase safety, address the root causes of violence against women and children, cut reoffending and imprisonment rates, and build stronger communities.

The National Justice Coalition
The Change the Record Campaign is a coalition of leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, community and human rights organisations referred to as the National Justice Coalition. Members include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda; Amnesty International Australia; ANTaR; Australian Council of Social Service; Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic); First Peoples Disability Network; Human Rights Law Centre; Law Council of Australia; National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services; National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations; National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples; National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services Forum; Oxfam Australia; Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care; Sisters Inside; Victorian Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People, Andrew Jackomos.

Healing Rites for Seven Sites - a walking liturgy on Holy Saturday

26 March 2016

We walk the way of the Southern Cross and hear again the words of Christ on the cross.

On this walk we will hear the 'seven last words' spoken by Christ, and participate in words and actions of lament as we hear stories from Aboriginal people experiencing violence, suffering and injustice in our land. 

Those who have ears to hear... listen.

The walk will start at 2pm from Rushall Station (North Fitzroy) and end at approximately 3:30pm for afternoon tea at the IHH. 

Children are very welcome, but some guidance may be required.

RSVP by Wednesday March 23 to the Indigenous Hospitality House
1/907 Drummond St
Carlton North
house@ihh.org.au
Ph: 9387 7557

What if it's not written for us?

On Thursday nights during Lent we've been opening up unit 2 for dinner and discussion of the Bible.  At our most recent discussion last week we were talking about a story that just seemed strange and difficult to interpret. It was talking about demon possession and prayer, ideas which don't sit easily in our society, and the details of the story were hard to make sense of. We talked about whether we were finding it hard because the story just wasn't written for us. It was a story from a foreign culture, separated from us by two-thousand years.

We talked a bit about how Beyoncé's recent song 'Formation' (and particularly the music video that accompanies it) have been caused a stir in the United States, and that seems to have been because Beyoncé's music has often been made to be mass-marketed, and has depended on being appealing to the white majority. It is pretty clear that this song (and particularly the film clip) is not made primarily for European Americans but for African Americans, and for people unfamiliar with African American culture it may be hard to understand what the song is saying.

There is often something similar going on with the Australian ABC's Black Comedy. While people from different cultures might watch the show, some of the jokes are going to be missed by Settler people who aren't familiar with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. That's okay, because those jokes aren't written for us. It may make us feel uncomfortable, but it might also help to make us more aware that we're used to media being tailored for the majority culture.

Learning Circle: What we've learned through intercultural work

Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines at Merri Creek by John Wesley Burtt, circa 1875.

Batman's Treaty with the Aborigines at Merri Creek by John Wesley Burtt, circa 1875.

The Indigenous Hospitality House is a learning community inviting people on a shared journey of cultural healing and growth in light of stolen land. Learning Circles are an oppotunity to reflect on what we have been learning by offering hospitality to Indigenous people. At our first Learning Circle for 2016, Matt Bell will be helping us explore what the IHH has learned about our own cultures and about Indigenous cultures through shared hospitality. Feel free to join us for dinner from 7:00pm. We plan to start our discussion at 8:00pm.
If you are planning to come, please let us know by emailing house@ihh.org.au