Stan Grant encourages students to look beyond differences to find a brighter tomorrow

The Wiradjuri man gave the occasional address at Charles Sturt University Wagga’s graduation ceremony on Thursday morning and used the opportunity to speak about unity in the face of diversity.

“Here in Australia we don’t have to be measured by what separates and divides us, we have the best chance to be the country we want to be,” Mr Grant said.

“French philosopher Ernest Renan said a nation is a spiritual thing, it is a moral conscience that allows people to look at each other and see in themselves what it is to belong, to look at each other and see a fellow Australian beyond the differences between us.

“We as Autralians can meet the challenges of this age and let this country continue to be a beacon of hope around the world.”

It was a doubly special occasion for the Indigenous rights campaigner, with a diverse group of people, including teachers and elders, graduating from his father’s Wiradjuri language course.

“It’s an amazing thing when you consider our language was rapidly in danger of disappearing, the number of speakers was very few,” Mr Grant said.

“Now to see the resurgence of that language and the way that it has been able to not just speak to us but to the broader population as well – that non-indigenous people are engaging with it as well – because it’s the language of the country as much as the language of the people.

“Anyone who lives here has a right to that language and I think that’s been one of the really powerful messages to come out of this, is that it’s been amazingly unifying.”

It has been a watershed year for Mr Grant, after a speech he gave in 2015 went viral and catapulted him into the spotlight.

“We have done multiculturalism better than arguably any other country on Earth, but there is still unfinished business with our first peoples,” Mr Grant said.