Darryl Cronin of the Edmund Rice Centre is working with the City of Sydney’s community engagement team to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Sustainable Sydney 2050 strategic planning process. 

This involved designing and producing a Dialogue Forum which took place on Monday 6 May 2019 at Customs House in Circular Quay. The forum was attended by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who live, work, study, visit or lead communities in the City of Sydney local government area and also City of Sydney Councillors and Executive staff. Forum participants discussed how the Indigenous past could inform the future of Sydney; identified aspirations and possibilities for the future; and looked at how they could translate aspirations into action as part of the Sustainable Sydney 2050 strategic plan. Prior to the forum a welcome and smoking ceremony was conducted in the fore court of Customs House. Two Nguura (traditional houses) were part of the ceremony. The Nguura were built by Jeremy ‘Mudjai’ Devitt with assistance from David Beaumont (City of Sydney) and Darryl Cronin (Edmund Rice Centre). Mudjai is a descendant of the Gumbaynggirr Nation of the mid-north coast of New South Wales. The Ngurra were constructed with rainforest cane and paperbark.