A standing ovation began this year’s Kerferd Oration with the orator walking to the stage singing acknowledgement of country in her own Indigenous language – Yorta Yorta – to a captivated audience.

One of Australia’s most influential arts and cultural leaders Professor Deborah Cheetham Fraillon, and an acclaimed soprano, composer, educator and artistic director delivered the 24th Kerferd Oration ‘actually this is who we are’.

The event held at the Beechworth Soldiers Memorial Hall on Sunday followed a smoking ceremony outside the hall with traditional owner, a cultural educator, and a cultural consultant elder Uncle David Nelson giving Welcome to Country at the beginning of the oration.

Professor Cheetham Fraillon delivered an inspirational, thought provoking and powerful oration.

Drawing upon examples of uncomfortable truths about targeted events in colonial history including local, as well her own ancestry, Professor Cheetham Fraillon made comparisons to modern day events.

Among these included events such as the Bondi atrocity with the messages by reports and community leaders ‘this is not who we are’.

“The Sunday afternoon shootings of innocents is as old as the history of our nation and that is our shared history,” she said.

Professor Cheetham Fraillon advocated throughout her oration returning to the message heard for years of ‘that’s not who we are’ as it is who we are but can be flipped to ‘this is not who we want to be’.

“Going from denialism to a proactive state of mind, and giving ourselves permission to be something stronger, powerful and more unified as a society and we can achieve something in the end together,” she said.

She said people needed certainty and not be left in a suspended state of hope even in the complexity of a 21st century Australia and a 21st century of a world which seemed to be spinning madly towards its own demise in terms of humanity.

“We can do nothing about that past except know it, understand it, and own it,” she said.

“There's a reluctance in Australia to properly examine who we are, and this failure to venture forth in search of our true identity has played out in numerous ways over history and has found its standard bearer under the banner of the One Nation Party.”

‘This is exactly who we are’, and it is this identity crisis, perpetuated by ignorance and fear and lacklustre leadership, which has for so long held us in this perpetual state of aggravated confusion and guilt.

Professor Cheetham Fraillon said this was evidenced with the 2023 referendum for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with its crushing 65pc defeat.

Professor Cheetham Fraillon also addressed the targeting of arts with its ongoing funding reduction.

They’ve taken a deliberate aim at the means by which we may one day live in the certainty of an emotionally mature society, which is capable of critical thought, arts funding, arts education minimized more and lengthier and more elaborate reports produced.

Professor Cheetham Fraillon proposed to the audience to think about expanding the name of this oration to include Dhudhuroa in the Kerferd Oration title.

The professor received another standing ovation at the end of her oration by an appreciative audience.

Kerferd Oration committee chair Ross Kearney said Professor Cheetham Fraillon had invited the audience to think deeply about history, belonging, and a shared future.

“It's been thoughtful, challenging, and invites us to choose what we want for our future, rather than just hope,” he said.

“We are sincerely grateful that you've shared your wisdom, experience, and vision.

"Her work is shaped by both outstanding professional achievement and a powerful personal journey.

"As a member of the Stolen Generations, she has turned lived experience into work that has inspired audiences in Australia and overseas."

Mr Kearney presented the traditional oration medal at the end of the oration followed by Professor Cheetham Fraillon addressing questions from the audience.

Visit www.kerferdoration.org to listen to this year’s oration.