The GetUp Mob’s rework of Paul Kelly’s ‘From little things big things grow’ samples the PM’s apology to indigenous Australia.

It went down well at last week’s Get Up reconciliation meeting in Forster. If reconciliation had fallen off the national agenda, nobody told the 50 people at the meeting.

“Even the exchange of names at the start, people talking to people they’d not normally meet in their everyday lives – it was great they took the time to talk,” convenor and councillor Leigh Vaughan said.

“We were really happy with the response. I was expecting about half a dozen but we got 50.”

The Aboriginal Land Council’s Donna Hall was glad to see the CWA room bursting at the seams.

“It was a really good gathering, a lot more than we expected,” she said.

The meeting’s aim wasn’t to gather a handful of well-meaning white people, and Ms Hall said there was genuine support from the Aboriginal community.

“There were about 10 of us there, and that’s a start,” she said.

Meeting organisers say people are excited about reconciliation again.

There’s talk of a Forster gathering for National Reconciliation Day on May 26, for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) week in July and an informal picnic at Pebbly Beach.

There’s a feeling Mr Rudd’s apology reignited reconciliation from the embers of Howardian obstinacy.

“That ‘sorry’ was the trigger that made people realise a lot of these things were possible,” Cr Vaughan said.

“It’s made them a lot more open and willing to share.”

“It would have been a lot harder to have something like this [without the apology],” Ms Hall said.

“It was mentioned on the night and it’s a great starting point. It’s started a lot of talking, and it was great to hear different thoughts. Some at the meeting had never worked with Aboriginal people before.”

But back to the song. It hit No.4 on the top 50 chart, the highest ranking debut single for the week.

The rewrite by Urthboy of hip-hop collective The Herd features Kelly, Kev Carmody, Missy Higgins and Mia Dyson.

It also samples former PM Paul Keating’s 1992 Redfern speech.

“I made people copies of the lyrics and played the song on the night,” Cr Vaughan said.

“People usually get embarrassed singing in public, but they seemed to like it.”

Ms Hall’s a fan too.

“It’s a catchy little tune. I think a lot of us had it on our minds the next morning.”