“We are the fire keepers and all You here are welcome at my fire”: First Nations activists take over Parramatta Square

Parramatta Square on Saturday, 21 June 2025. Photo courtesy: Adriana Vaccari.

Outraged First Nations activists and supporters thronged to Parramatta Square in western Sydney to protest against Indigenous deaths in custody on Saturday.

First Nations activists organised the rally to coincide with a networking and educational conference for former and current first responders in Parramatta. Former police officer Zachary Rolfe, who was acquitted only three years ago of charges relating to the fatal shooting of Kumanjayi Walker, a Warlpiri man, in a remote area of the Northern Territory, was booked to speak at the event for allegedly as much as $10,000. Zachary Rolfe, who now runs a private investigations business, had a notable history of poor discipline, proven dishonesty and alleged racist banter with colleagues while working for the Northern Territory (NT) Police Force. NT Police stood Rolfe down in 2023 as a result of internal psychological and risk assessments.

While the conference was ultimately cancelled following public backlash, the counter-protest went ahead regardless.

Speakers paid homage to the family of Kumanjayi White. Three weeks ago, police restrained and killed the disabled Warlpiri man in a Coles supermarket in Mparntwe (Alice Springs) following an altercation, sparking nationwide protests. (Kumanjayi White is a substitute name used in the media to honour cultural protocols whereby certain First Nations groups retire the name of the deceased).

The day also marked 18 years since the start of the Northern Territory Intervention, a set of Australian government actions intended, on the surface at least, to raise living standards in Indigenous communities in the nation’s north. A common theme among speakers was the failure of the Northern Territory Intervention. Many also emphasised the active harms caused by Basics Cards and paternalistic government policies enforcing welfare income management.  

Lizzie Jarrett, a Bundjalung Gumbaynggirr Dunghutti woman and MC for the rally, spoke about the recent government announcement of the provision of guns to security guards on buses and public housing estates in the Northern Territory.

“It will mean open season” on First Nations people and escalate violence, she told the throng present.

Lizzie Jarrett, a Bundjalung Gumbaynggirr Dunghutti woman, addresses the crowd, 21 June 2025. Photo courtesy: Adriana Vaccari.

Reflecting on the cultural and linguistic diversity of First Nations groups within Australia, First Nations woman Gloria Duffin underlined the language barriers Indigenous people in remote areas face on a daily basis.

“Sometimes English is their fourth or fifth language,” she explained.

Duffin made a public plea for the expansion of interpreter services within the prison system and social services before declaring that “white man law” isn’t appropriate for remote communities.

One Coles worker at the supermarket where Kumanjayi Walker died has already told the ABC that disabilities, language difficulties and the employment of non-Indigenous security guards has proven challenging for Indigenous shoppers.

First Nations woman Gloria Duffin speaks at the protest, 21 June 2025. Photo courtesy: Adriana Vaccari.

In a fiery speech, Paddy Gibson declared that the Country Liberal Party (CLP) in the Northern Territory is “off its head”.

“600 more [Indigenous] people are in jail since the CLP came into power at the end of last year and they’re bragging about it. They’re holding press conferences bragging about it!”

“Enough is enough,” Gibson continued. “A man dies in broad daylight in an aisle of Coles. We gotta say no.”

“We need you fair-skinned mob to network and mobilise within your organisations and workplaces,” Lizzie Jarrett told the crowd of roughly 250 people, addressing the privilege that many non-Indigenous activists hold in terms of employment. “You can’t just turn up at a rally and say that’s enough”.

Rodney Mason, aka Felon, an Awabakal man who helped run the Redfern Tent Embassy in the mid 2010s, told the crowd that “we can’t make a poster boy of anyone in particular” because “this shit keeps happening”.

While some Indigenous deaths in custody have made international headlines – the death of TJ Hickey in Sydney in 2004, for instance – many have flown under the radar. What’s important to recognise, Felon emphasised, is the continuous pattern of mass Indigenous incarceration and racially-driven police brutality.

“I don’t give a fuck about politics,” Felon roared into the microphone. “The left is often as oppressive as the right. This is about helping human lives.”

Felon said he was shocked to learn that Zachary Rolfe was speaking at a first responder summit.

“Was he there to show people how he fucked up?” Felon asked, referencing Rolfe’s dismissal from the NT Police Force. “Or was he there to teach them what he did [to Kumanjayi Walker]? Why was he there to speak? It baffles me. It really baffles me. It’s a strange move by the PR team.”

Lizzie Jarrett expressed solidarity with other communities impacted by police violence and colonialism, leading chants in support of Palestinian freedom.

“If you’re not blue, they [police] don’t care about you,” she declared before introducing Judy Deacon to the crowd.

Judy Deacon, a non-Indigenous mother whose son was shot and killed by police while experiencing a severe mental health episode in a Glebe public housing block, said she will never stop fighting for the victims of police brutality, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. She expressed her desire for a nationwide ‘000’ mental health line. This will mean that, when the public call a 000 operator, they’ll have a fourth option – police, fire, ambulance and mental health.

The authorities are “starting to listen” and “they’re fucking scared”, she said.

Lizzie Jarrett stated, soon after, “we are the fire keepers and all you here are welcome at my fire”

Chants of “they say accident, it is murder” and “too many coppers, never any justice” rang out across Parramatta Square all afternoon.

In contrast to the aggressive policing of BLM protests during the COVID-19 pandemic and intermittent lockdowns, there was relatively minimal police presence at the rally on the weekend.