Lauren O’Dwyer with Premier Daniel Andrews at her campaign launch on Thursday night.Credit:Penny Stephens
An online campaign,largely led by Aboriginal people,has built over the past week,questioning both O’Dwyer’s Aboriginality and her ties to the Yorta Yorta community.
Yorta Yorta country stretches over a large area on both sides of the Murray River in northern Victoria and southern NSW.
“I know who I am,and I’m proud of who I am,” O’Dwyer toldThe Age. “I’ve never misrepresented or over-represented my heritage. I’ll always be learning.
“And there are many fair-skinned Aboriginal people in this country that will for the rest of their lives be learning more and more about their identities. And I’m just disappointed that my mum has to witness this.”
She holds a Confirmation of Aboriginality from the Njernda Aboriginal Corporation,seen byThe Age,which is signed by elders Barbara Day and Richard Ronnan.
“It is hereby confirmed that the above named is of Aboriginal Descent,identifies as an Aboriginal and is accepted as such by the community in which they live,” the papers state.
Among the criticisms made of O’Dwyer on social media are that local communities don’t know her. For her part,O’Dwyer points out she moved to Melbourne some 20 years ago,and her family connections to community were disrupted several generations ago.