Female Noongar elders call for Uniting Church to ‘return’ Sister Kate’s land in Queens Park to them

Female Noongar elders who continue to occupy the former Sister Kate’s site are demanding the land be transferred to them rather than remain under the Uniting Church and its subsidiary organisations. A group of female Stolen Generations survivors and their families have continued to live at the Queens Park location since the church ceased operations of the First Nations-led Beananging Kwuurt Institute in December. Last week the BKI revealed a new partnership involving the Uniting Church’s Indigenous arm and the WA Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation to press ahead with plans for a healing centre on the site. But the group of occupiers said they felt “disrespected” by the formation of the new group, called Yokai, and instead want the church to transfer the land to them. “The Church struck a deal behind closed doors to divide and conquer Noongar people over this land,” a spokesperson said. “This is not how you right past wrongs. The disrespect the Uniting Church and Congress have shown by signing this agreement without speaking to us is shameful. “This is sacred women’s land, and this is women’s business. We as women are asking them to speak to us. We are the descendants and family of the children of the Stolen Generation that were brought here. We are going nowhere.” Sister Kate’s was a birthing site for Noongar women pre-colonisation and a home for “half-caste” children in need of care in Queens Park. Sister Kate Clutterbuck died in 1946 and her land was donated to the Presbyterian Church in 1956. It became Uniting Church land when the Methodist Church and the Presbyterian Church joined in 1977. BKI was established in 2007 by the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress and occupied the Queens Park site until last December. “We made the difficult decision, after years of attempts to find another way, to request the Uniting Church to not renew the lease for the previous managers,” a UAICC spokesperson said last week. In a statement, the BKI board said it remained dedicated to restoring the institution to its full potential through the healing centre. “We were disturbed to see BKI taken in directions that did not align with the original vision for the Institute,” they said. “We remain committed to the original vision of BKI as a healing and support centre for our people, especially the Stolen Generations, and are dedicated to restoring BKI to its full potential.” The statement said there was no obligation to include the protesters in the negotiations with Yokai because they “are not under the oversight of either UAICC or BKI, the legal owners of the land and nor do they have any cultural authority”. “Months of discussions and mediation were attempted with the occupiers of the land regarding UAICC’s intention to restore BKI to its original vision,” it said. “However, the occupiers have shown no willingness to engage respectfully.” The occupiers claim they have “repeatedly shown willingness to engage respectfully via repeated requests to meet put to the Church and UAICC” but say the church has refused every meeting. The BKI has since requested the occupiers leave immediately to allow work to begin on the healing centre. “Our only desire is to restore this place as one of healing and support for all our people,” a BKI spokesperson said. “What we now ask is for the occupiers to vacate the premises immediately so that BKI can regain control of the site and the new Healing Centre can be established. “We are open to respectful discussions about the services that may be provided on the site, but cannot and will not engage in these discussions until the occupiers vacate the premises and demonstrate a willingness to participate in discussions in a respectful and truthful manner.”