Mark Riley, Mayor of Moreland – Incursion 

Students in 5/6 were able to listen to Mark Riley speak about his role as the Mayor of Moreland, and the changes that he has been working on implementing since becoming Mayor late in 2021.  The students were asked to create questions that linked to the process of change, Indigenous Perspectives, and community engagement and consultation.  Students collaborated with each other to create questions that they could ask when their homegroup went to listen to Mark speak.  

Some of the questions and Mark’s responses included:

1. What is the process for changing the name of Moreland?
   1. We used a survey sent out to your house.
2. How does changing the name of Moreland benefit the community?
   1. It will make people happy and will stop a lot of tension in the community. It will benefit the Aboriginal community, everyone living in the area because it is inclusive and a new start.
3. What inspires changes like this?
   1. Children were taken away, they don’t have the same rights.
4. What name are you going to change it to? 
   1. Wa-dum-buk meaning ‘renew’ 
   2. Merri-bek meaning ‘rocky country’
   3. Jerrang meaning ‘leaf of tree’
5. What challenges have you faced in trying to rename Moreland?
   1. Mark met some elders and others who were a part of a group called ‘No Moreland’ and the name Moreland was related to a slave plantation who traded slaves. 
   2. When a doctor came to Vic he was one of the first people to buy land in Victoria, within about 4 years all of the land in Moreland was sold to white men, the British Empire got all of the money the original owners got nothing.
   3. The name is associated strongly with slavery and taking something that isn’t yours. 
   4. Named it after his father and grandfathers slave plantation. 
   5. Mark and the group talked for months, they then went to a formal meeting and most people agreed: 3 councillors voted against it and 7 voted for it and they got an approval.
   6. The local government minister agreed with the name changing but he has to ask the public.  The reason people disagreed is because it’s tough to get everyone to decide on one name.
   7. Some thought that they should go and ask the community.  Mark felt comfortable not to go out and ask people because a commitment was signed around 20 years ago and it is a commitment about not being racist and being fair and it is an acknowledgment of the fact that they are the traditional owners.
6. What further plans do you have for bringing change as Mayor?
   1. Trying to create a foundation or a source of funds to help Aboriginal People spend money
   2. Help different cultured restaurants get more money 
   3. Get more trees and open space in Moreland
   4. Looking towards zero carbon by 2035

Some of the students reflections from the incursion:

Where to next?

Coming off Mark’s incursion, where he spoke about process for projects and change, the students began to plan a process that they will use for project design, development, and implementation at PHPS.  They collaborated in groups to begin thinking about what needs to be included and how to visually represent this.  We need to explore the key components for our process and decide on these, so we can move forward with a visual representation of what the process will actually look like.  One thing they all agreed on was that we have to brainstorm to generate ideas as a starting point and see if there really is a need for the idea or change they are trying to implement.  

The students are looking forward to the end of term inquiry assembly, where they will showcase their learning in a variety of expressions to share what they have learned through the lines of inquiry in Indigenous Perspectives, Community of Writers/The Media, Social Issues, and Artefacts.  

Well done to everyone on a great term, and we are looking forward to sharing the learning and growth with our 5/6 families in the three way conferences.