An Indigenous woman and a colonial descendant have come together in an unlikely alliance

Keicha Day often has to fight back a rising wave of resentment when driving down the Henty Highway in western Victoria to visit her elderly mother.

It’s a similar feeling when she walks through Henty Park with her two children or along Henty Street in her home town of Portland. The resentment can resurface when strolling past one of the numerous Henty monuments or down to Henty Park Beach.

Keicha Day beside the Henty Highway. Credit: Justin McManus

The Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta woman is preparing for that anger to simmer again on Tuesday, which marks 190 years since British colonist Edward Henty arrived in Portland, followed by two of his brothers. Henty’s arrival is considered the beginning of the first “settlement” in Victoria.

But Day said recognition of Indigenous people was largely absent in the coastal town.

“When you come into Portland, you will see [Henty] monuments. You’ll see streets dedicated to the Hentys,” Day said. “But when you look in the landscape, you won’t see Gunditjmara people. It won’t be obvious. It’s a problem because it continues to diminish who we are as a people.”

The Hentys are credited with being the first to plough the land in Portland, ignoring thousands of years of Indigenous cultivation of the landscape. The family is also linked to massacres on land they settled in the 1830s and 1840s.

Keicha Day and Suzannah Henty in Portland. Credit: Justin McManus

In March, Day came face-to-face with a woman whose surname represents so much pain. Day watched as Suzannah Henty, a sixth-generation descendant of Edward Henty, gave evidence at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Victoria’s truth-telling inquiry into the injustices committed against Indigenous people.

Henty condemned the atrocities inflicted on Aboriginal people on her ancestors’ properties, and called for truth-telling and the destruction of monuments dedicated to her family.

Day and Henty are now working together to push for the renaming of street and place names and the removal of Henty-dedicated monuments, in the hope of “de-colonising” the landscape. They want place names to honour Indigenous culture and appropriate markers recognising the sites of massacres and other injustices.

Day said being in the presence of a Henty elicited a fight or flight response. “I have to calm myself all the time.”

One of the many plaques dedicated to the Hentys in Portland. Credit: Justin McManus

The pair had a tense first meeting during a break at the Yoorrook hearings.

“I realised whether I like it or not, people listen to her more than they listen to me,” Day said.

By joining forces with Henty, Day hoped her children and community could see themselves reflected in their home town.

Day does not want Henty monuments destroyed, but rather removed and put on display in a dedicated space, so visitors can learn about the region’s traumatic history. She said such an overhaul could deliver substantial mental health benefits for her people and ease the burden on the state’s besieged mental health system.

“We would get a life that is richer. We would get a history that we can own, and we would get healing,” Day said. “Colonisation is traumatic, and you can’t do all these awful things and expect people will heal themselves.”

Suzannah Henty and Keicha Day. Credit: Justin McManus

Henty’s public stance makes her unique. There is no widespread movement among the descendants of settlers to publicly address atrocities committed on their ancestors’ land.

In a submission to the justice commission in June, another Henty descendant – Grenville Henty Silvester – disagreed that monuments to the family should be removed.

Suzannah Henty said she grew up believing the family narrative that the Hentys were not directly responsible for committing violence against Aboriginal people.

But she said it was now time to speak out publicly again to refute this “historical denial” and ensure her family’s legacy is “correctly written into history”.

At the Yoorrook hearings, Henty listed multiple massacres on Henty property.

A portrait of Edward Henty at the Richmond Henty Hotel. Credit: Justin McManus

Henty told The Age that Australia’s non-Indigenous people were obliged to confront injustices against the Aboriginal population.

“I have a responsibility as a Henty to speak to that,” she said. “But I also think that other people have the same responsibility, or shared responsibility, to ensure that history is not whitewashed.”

Yoorrook will deliver its final report next year. It will create a public record of the impact of colonisation on Aboriginal people in Victoria and make recommendations for healing and changes to laws, policy and education.

Changing the names of places and small roads in Portland would require the Glenelg Shire Council’s support. Glenelg’s chief executive, Helen Havercroft, said the newly elected councillors would soon be able to consider these issues after completing a training program, including getting to know traditional owners.

There are many monuments dedicated to the Hentys in Portland. Credit: Justin McManus

VicRoads was contacted for comment.

Credit: Matt Golding

Day said it was time for mature conversations in which white Australians acknowledged they had been the beneficiaries of colonisation even if they were not directly involved in the dispossession of Aboriginal people from their land.

Despite Henty and Day’s tense first meeting, Day said she was comforted by simply connecting with another person committed to change.

“I truly believe that the ancestors brought us together – where we’re supposed to be here at the right time,” she said. “And so I’m going to honour that.”

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