Launch of ASCA’s inaugural Forget-me-knot Day
Forget-me-knot Day installation
at Hyde Park Barracks
On Friday 13th November an enthusiastic group of ASCA supporters, friends, family as well as members of the broader community assembled in the forecourt of the Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie St. Sydney. A sizable blue knot, symbolic of the tangled knot of child abuse had been holding pride of place on the facade of the building for the prior week.
After a Welcome to Country, Susan Leith Miller, our MC for the morning welcomed everyone for the launch of the inaugural Forget-me-knot Day. Dr. Cathy Kezelman, ASCA chair addressed the group which included a number of government and media representatives.
Susan Leith Miller, Mc’s the day
Susan opened with the following words: “Thank you all for joining us on this truly historic occasion, ASCA’s inaugural Forget-me-knot Day. It is a day on which ASCA is bringing the legacy of childhood abuse out into the light, shattering the secrecy and publicly acknowledging the harm. It is a day on which ASCA is calling on all Australians to unite in support of the more than 2 million Australian adults who suffered abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence and/or neglect in childhood. It is a day on which adult survivors are reaching out to the broader community and seeking their support as they courageously cast off the shame and stigma of their childhood abuse….”
Forget-me-knot Day launch
Cathy then introduced Minister Mark Arbib, Federal Minister for Employment Participation, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Government Service Delivery. ASCA had first met the Minister when he was co-convenor of PACAN, Parliamentarians Against Child Abuse.
The Minister spoke with great insight and warmth, proclaiming his support for ASCA, for Forget-me-knot Day and for Australian adults surviving child abuse. Nicole Gertenaar and the “blue ribbon dancers” then performed a very moving ‘ceremony of connection’ which culminated in including everyone in the crowd uniting them as they held the unravelled ribbon, the tangle of child abuse. At the conclusion of the performance Minister Mark Arbib cut the thread from the large blue knot mounted on the facade of the Barracks and ASCA’s inaugural Forget-me-knot Day had been officially launched.
Minister Mark Arbib officially launches
Forget-me-knot day as Cathy Kezelman looks on.
Reverend Andrew Collis in the forefront
of the Ceremony of Connection
Many thanks to the Historic Houses Trust, the staff at the Hyde Park Barracks, Bianca Spiegel, our installation artist, Nicole Gertenaar and the blue ribbon dancers, Terry Nagle and of course Minister Mark Arbib for not only launching ASCA’s inaugural Forget-me-knot Day but for his ongoing express support.
Click here to read more about the Hyde Park Barracks installation and Bianca Spiegel.
Press Release
SENATOR THE HON MARK ARBIB
Minister for Employment Participation, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Government Service Delivery
Click here to read the pdf
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