• Charles Sturt to host free lecture on Indigenous youth activism in Dubbo on Saturday 12 October
• Lecture will explore current and future topics facing the young Indigenous population
• Indigenous youth activists Meriki Onus and Tarneen Onus-Williams to present lecture

The third lecture from a series exploring how Indigenous Australians have made cities liveable will be held at Charles Sturt University (Charles Sturt) in Dubbo on Saturday 12 October.

The lecture, titled ‘Why it’s important for us to show up’, will be presented by leading Gunnai and Gunditjmara youth activist Ms Meriki Onus and Yigar Gunditjmara, Bindal, and Yorta Yorta youth activist Ms Tarneen Onus-Williams.

Ms Onus and Ms Onus-Williams have been involved in campaigns for issues including youth detention, racism, deaths in custody and environmental activism.

Ms Onus and Ms Onus-Williams’s lecture will explore current and future topics concerning Australia’s young Indigenous population and the importance of Indigenous youth activism.

Senior lecturer in the Charles Sturt School of Indigenous Australian Studies in Dubbo Dr Holly Randell-Moon said that Ms Onus and Ms Onus-Williams have an impressive range of experience and advocacy for the issues facing young Indigenous Australians today and will bring first-hand perspectives to the lecture.

“Indigenous Australian communities are very young by non-Indigenous standards. The average age of these communities is in the early twenties,” Dr Randell-Moon said.

“How are education, health, and employment services going to respond to young Indigenous people as they enter the workforce?

“I’m inspired by how much the speakers have accomplished at such a young age. I’m looking forward to hearing what they have to say about why it’s important for young people to participate in social justice issues.”

Ms Onus is a co-founder of Warriors of Aboriginal Resistance, a collective of young Indigenous people at the forefront of Indigenous activism in Australia. She is passionate about transformative justice in her community.

Ms Onus-Williams is a writer and has been featured in IndigenousX, The Saturday Paper, NITV and RightNow.

The first lecture in the series was presented by Aunty Frances Bodkin who discussed the importance of plant associations and Indigenous ecologies for combating climate change.

The second lecture was on Indigenous Creative Industries and was presented by Associate Professor Sandra Phillips from the University of Technology Sydney.

The lecture starts at 4.30pm on Saturday 12 October in room 902.202 at Charles Sturt in Dubbo and will be followed by a reception with food and refreshments.

The lecture is free and open to members of the public. The venue is wheelchair accessible.

The public talk will also be live audio-streamed. To access the live stream, please contact Holly Randell-Moon via email hrandell-moon@csu.edu.au.