Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

Katrina Johnson, Gooreng Gooreng woman and Senior Lecturer of Monash Business School's Master of Indigenous Business Leadership, writes of her grandparents' powerful legacy that shaped generations to follow.

I was born in Nambour, on the lands of the Kabi Kabi and Jinibara peoples. My family raised me on my traditional lands until I was 15, and then we moved to Yorta Yorta Country.

My childhood was filled with beautiful memories ... baking lamingtons with my Nan, fishing and crabbing with my Pop, family beach camps, yarns and songs together under the stars, sleepovers with cousins and backyard football and cricket.

I was always surrounded by loving family who protected me, believed in me and trained me up.

^{Mum and dad with my daughter Cody, Butchulla Country, Hervey Bay.}

I always return to the sacrifices made by my grandparents, Percy and Phyllis Appo, when I think about why I value education and what this year’s NAIDOC Week theme, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! means to me.

Countless days toiling in the field to earn money to send their eight children to school, knowing their sweat and labour would pave a way for their children's children to have a better life.

_{My Country, Bargara Beach; Nan and Pop, Percy and Phyllis Appo [both dec].}

My grandparents were only afforded a limited education back in the 1930s and 40s, when Assimilation and White Australia policies were at their peak.

Yet that did not deter them from the pursuit of knowledge for themselves or their children.

^{(Top) Myself, Nan Phyllis Appo [dec], mum Karen Mohamed; (right) Family at my mum's 21st birthday party; Myself with family members at graduation.}

My grandparents along with so many of our mob marched on the frontline for our rights in their homes and communities long before we started campaigning publicly.

Three generations later we are still seeing their legacy reaching higher ground with senior academics, lawyers, veterinarians, nurses, defence force officers, directors within government, business owners and countless school and university graduates.

_{Land rights rally, picture by Elaine Syron; alc.org.au}

I look at the fruit of their decisions and remain in awe of the insight and wisdom they coupled with personal sacrifice and perseverance to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

_{South-sea islanders planting cane, my Country, Bingera, QLD.}

As a proud Gooreng Gooreng woman with Pakistani and Sri Lankan heritage, I am blessed to celebrate NAIDOC Week 2022 knowing that I walk in the steps of my ancestors, Elders, those who have gone before me and those around me.

I acknowledge my late aunt, Dr Nereda White, who encouraged me back to education as a struggling single mother trying to rebuild my life.

An esteemed yet humble academic with many accolades and achievements, she showed me how education could help me rise above life’s challenges and equip me to create a future I didn’t dare to imagine possible.

I hope to continue her legacy in my role as a Senior Lecturer with the Master of Indigenous Business Leadership.

_{(Top) Dr Nereda White [dec]; (right) Scene from my ancestral land.}

At Monash we are celebrating and championing this kind of success in the Master of Indigenous Business Leadership.

A unique education offering designed by our mob as a collaboration between the William Cooper Institute and Monash Business School.

The brainchild of Professor Jacinta Elston, during her tenure as Pro-Vice Chancellor (Indigenous), is now a trailblazing program empowering our business leaders across the nation to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! in the boardroom, across community, in the marketplace and on global stages.

This program is an example of what is possible when a relationship is forged between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non‑Indigenous Australians “based on justice, equity, and the proper recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights”.

Join me this NAIDOC Week to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! with us, amplify our voices and narrow the gap between aspiration and reality, good intent and outcome.

_{(Top left) Myself with students from the 2022 cohort; (bottom left) Professor Jacinta Elston.}

_{LAYOUT: COMMUNICATIONS TEAM, MONASH BUSINESS SCHOOL}