Australians have the opportunity to “lift the burden of history” from Indigenous people by voting yes to the voice to parliament, a clearly emotional Anthony Albanese has told a gathering of traditional owners at Uluru.
The prime minister sat with leaders from central Australia, including the most senior traditional owner of the rock, Reggie Uluru, on a hot afternoon in the national park at the base of the rock on Tuesday.
Anangu women performed, including a new dance they created using big digging sticks which the prime minister later said symbolised carrying the burden of the referendum.
“The sticks represented the burden of the yes campaign, the burden of feeling the weight of history which is upon us. [We have] the opportunity to lift that burden of history,” he said.
The women raised the sticks above their heads, which he said symbolised strength and rising to the occasion.
“I believe Australia can rise to the occasion between now and 14 October,” he said.
“We have just four days now in which Australia can be an enlarged country, a country at peace with our history, a country more unified, a country able to move forward, in the words of the Uluru statement itself, walking together for that better future.”
The 14 senior women who met the prime minister were from several remote communities across central Australia, including the chair of the NPY women’s council Margaret Smith, and celebrated artists Illuwanti Ken and Renee Kulitja, who helped paint the original canvas on which the Uluru statement from the heart is written.
Albanese was accompanied by Marion Scrymgour, Labor MP for Lingiari and the only parliamentarian who signed the statement, and prominent yes campaigner Noel Pearson.
Albanese unexpectedly sat down in the red earth with the women who held his hands. He appeared visibly moved as they sang a song for him about lifting their voices together “higher and higher”.
The prime minister described the Uluru statement as a “masterpiece”.
“And on Saturday Australians can bring the beauty of this art to life with a grey lead pencil and one word – yes,” he said.
Earlier in the day, those 14 senior Aboriginal women told Guardian Australia they felt “very strongly from their hearts” that they want to be recognised in the constitution.
They said at the moment, they were not seen, heard or visible to the rest of the nation.
“We want you to think of us, remember that we’re here and we have a lot of struggles in this country. When we vote yes, it’s not dividing two colours. We want everybody to come together, work together in our community, help us for our young generation,” Margaret Smith from Imanpa, and chair of the NPY women’s’ council said.
“We want to put our voice in so we can make changes in the community – what we want, not what the government tells us they want.”
The women are all senior leaders who are working to develop mental health resources for communities, called Uti Kulintjaku or “clear thinking”, combining traditional healing practices with western mental health concepts to give Anangu (people) the tools to talk about “strong feelings” and trauma.
They say the project is an example of the kind of healing work that could be done if voice to parliament was made possible.
They say the referendum has “stirred up strong feelings” for everyone, and “clear thinking” was needed to find the right answer.
“We have been struggling. We want to see changes in our lives for the benefit of our young people, generations to come, that’s why we are voting yes,” Mamie Butler from Blackrock in Western Australia, said.
“Our voices, our needs haven’t been heard by the government. So this is a big chance for us to be heard. We are sick and tired of just getting hand fed, we want to be equals. We are strong in our own cultre, our own ways … We want to see white and black working together in a good way, empowered, not weak, and living happy together.”
“We want to be seen, we want to be heard, we want to be understood,” Renee Kulitja from Mutitjulu, one of the artists who painted the original Uluru statement from the heart, added.
On Wednesday, Albanese will greet ultramarathon runner and former Liberal MP, Pat Farmer, as he arrives at Uluru.
Farmer has run 14,400km around Australia over six months. He left Hobart on April 17, and has run almost every day through every state and territory, in support of a voice to parliament.
Farmer is due to arrive at the rock just after sunrise.
