The recently retired Monash University professor, who still works with Deakin University, along with public schools and within the Catholic school system to show teachers ways to connect with Indigenous students, contacted The Riv on Wednesday to explain why he would not be attending.
“I can’t stand there and watch someone give welcome to country, on my country. When that person is not from my country,” he said.
Mr Atkinson was referring to the fact that the Yorta Yorta nation had taken a “front and centre’’ role in the community celebration, which he said did not reflect the true identity of the land on which the bridge is built.
“This is a significant moment on our land, but I won’t be part of it. This is Wollithiga country, not Yorta Yorta country,” he said.
Mr Atkinson is not a petty man, but he is extremely concerned about the identity of his clan, and the others which were absorbed into the Yorta Yorta nation, being lost.
By way of explanation Mr Atkinson is no newcomer to the bridge discussion, in fact, it was he and several other Aboriginal elders who worked with all levels of government to eventually give the green light on the site that was chosen for the second crossing.
His contention is the Wollithiga nation, of which he is fiercely proud, would be lost in the historic event as the Yorta Yorta totem (a turtle) stands as the Aboriginal representation through the highly significant Welcome to Country ceremony.
Mr Atkinson said he was pushed to contact The Riv after seeing first hand young Aboriginals losing their identity, growing up not knowing who their ancestors were.
He said there was an Aboriginal history much larger than Yorta Yorta.
“Indigenous clans do not have nations. Yorta Yorta was, and is, a corporation. It was developed for legal reasons,” he said.
“Clans have their own ancestral history and direction, on their traditional lands. This must be recognised and upheld for fear of extension.”
Mr Atkinson said he hoped speaking out at this point would encourage people to look a little deeper into the history of the clans.
“This is not just about Aboriginal people understanding the history of our land, but the wider community realising who the real owners of the land are,” he said.
Mr Atkinson, to his chagrin, is not recognised as a traditional owner of the land as he is not recognised as a member of Yorta Yorta.
“I resigned from the group as a result of its change of direction. Some people have lost their identity and been absorbed into the Yorta Yorta nation,” he said.
The Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1999, formed through a union of the Kailtheban, Wollithiga, Moira, Ulupna, Bangerang, Kwat Kwat, Yalaba Yalaba and Ngurai-illiam-wurrung clans.
Mr Atkinson was a spokesperson for Yorta Yorta when it first came together.
“People need to understand the history of the area, and of northern Victoria,” he said.
“To me Yorta Yorta is only a new thing.
“The original clans which owned the land were known as the Murray Goulburn clans. Wollithiga is only one of those.”
Mr Atkinson said anywhere that he spoke, he identified as a Wollithiga person, not Yorta Yorta.
The distinction is enormous to him and in how he delivers his teachings to those who educate students about the Aboriginal history of the region.
His fight to ensure Aboriginal cultural heritage would be protected through the alignment of the new bridge, and connecting roads, was waged over many years.
“We gave the approval for this to take place, well before the Yorta Yorta nation had been formed,” he said.
Yorta Yorta’s rise to prominence through Mabo legal proceedings led to a combined front from the clans, but Mr Atkinson said it was a condition, and promise, during that union that the clans would be looked after, and recognised individually.
“We were promised the clan totems would be recognised individually. That has not happened,” he said.
Mr Atkinson recalled sitting down with VicRoads to come up with a suitable alignment.
Not that it was the best. There was a better option to the east, which would have made it easier.
“I am not complaining about the bridge going where it is. My point is the lack of Wollithiga recognition in this process is another step in the loss of identity of an important part of our Aboriginal heritage,” he said.
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