The Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation has today received the keys to their new home in the former Port Kembla Leagues Club in a historic move that sees the organisation return to its roots.
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Now the work begins on renovating the former leagues club into a single hub, combining the multiple various services that fall under the IAC umbrella on one site, but already the site holds a major significance for the Illawarra Indigenous community, chairperson Uncle Richard Davis said.
"It's where it all started, Coomaditchie, Port Kembla, so in a sense it's coming home to where it all started."
As Aunty Irene Moran explained, the area around Port Kembla has been tied to the struggle of Aboriginal people in the Illawarra for equal rights and recognition for over half a century.
"It started from the official camps at the back of Coomaditchie, when the government stepped in and decided the sand hills were valuable to them, they moved all the Aboriginal people off the official camps."
Seeing what was happening, the powerful unions stepped in, led by miner Fred Moore, and fought to prevent further displacement of the Indigenous community.
This resulted in the construction of Coomaditchie Mission, as well as other modern accommodation for Aboriginal people, but also the formation of an organised Aboriginal community, associated as a branch of the Victorian-based Aboriginal Advancement League.
"We started meeting at one another's houses, and then we organised to have the meetings in the area health service," Aunty Moran said.
The group was eventually able to get funding from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission to first rent and then purchase the cottage at 22 Kenny Street in Wollongong, which became the landmark cultural centre and keeping place.
But with high rises encroaching around the building and the expanding number of services offered by the arms of the Corporation, the site's time had come, CEO William Henry said.
"Fundamentally, this building restricts us, it doesn't give us an opportunity for growth," he said.
When the former leagues club building on Wentworth Street came on the market, the board saw another opportunity.
"That building gives us an opportunity for growth, grow our aged care program, grow our counselling program and grow all our other programs as well," Mr Henry said.
Not only is there a practical benefit, the club itself holds fond memories for the community.In 1982, the club's ballroom was the venue for the first Aboriginal debutante ball.
"It was for the young girls to become women," Aunty Moran said.
The venue was a hub for the May Day marches that were well attended by the Aboriginal community, who maintained the ties to the union movement that remained by their side since the 1950s and 60s. It was also the home for the Indigenous rugby league teams to celebrate after wins and commiserate after losses.
Looking back on this history as the lights are turned on once again in the giant building at the entrance to Port Kembla, Aunty Moran said this was the next chapter of the community, with the blessings of the past.
"It was all started by our elders who are no longer here, and they continued on those struggles, from Coomaditchie, to our houses, to [Kenny Street], and now we've got an opportunity to go a bit further," she said.
"Our elders that have gone before us would be proud of what we're doing."
