Bushfires: New York Magazine backs Aboriginal fundraiser

New York Magazine has backed an independent bushfire relief campaign run by a Victorian indigenous musician.

The US publication New York Magazine has backed an independent bushfire relief campaign run by a Victorian indigenous ­musician.

Yorta Yorta man Neil Morris has raised more than $800,000 in a crowd-funding campaign on the online platform, Go Fund Me.

The bi-weekly magazine promoted his page in an article ­suggesting organisations to donate to, alongside the Red Cross, wildlife charity WIRES and local fire services.

Mr Morris said he launched the fundraiser to provide Aboriginal-specific relief services to indigenous communities affected by the bushfires.

“We want our people to be serviced by their own people who have an understanding of cultural skills to be able to offer services in a way that is appropriate to them,” he said.

“When I started the fund, I couldn’t see any specific support for our people and knowing our people and what their needs are, I opened this up after community requests.”

Mr Morris said some indigenous communities were requesting indigenous-led relief centres, but he had not yet decided how the money would be spent.

“Ancestral connections tie into very specific needs for our people.

“As custodians of the land, we don’t want to be people receiving handouts, we want to be leading and helping everyone else to feel safe.

“A community might like a women’s healing centre or they may request indigenous psych­ologists to come and support them during difficult times, but the communities will make up their minds on this.”

He also said he was in discussion with Firesticks Alliance, an organisation that dispatches indigenous fire practitioners across the southeast of Australia.

“There is a potential for col­laboration and we may expand in this realm with community endorsement,” he said.

“But, ultimately, it is about what communities’ needs and wants are that will determine the final rollout of this money to communities.”

Mr Morris is a performing artist and member of the band DRMNGNNOW.

NY Magazine has a circulation of more than 400,000.