IT's been more than a year since Wiradjuri woman Taylah Gray was the defendant in a Supreme Court case over the staging of Newcastle's Black Lives Matter rally, which drew about 1000 people to the city's streets.
"I think we've had more social awareness going around about the inequality that First Nations people are facing here, but I don't think much has come [from it]," Ms Gray told the Newcastle Herald during NAIDOC Week.
"We've had no government body step forward and say 'This is what we're going to do to address incarceration rates, or deaths in custody, or police brutality', we haven't even had police commissioners come forward and work with us.
"Nothing has really come apart from public awareness."
Ms Gray said while she respects the work being done on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which calls for a First Nations Voice to Parliament among other things, her priority remains treaty, first and foremost.
She defines this as a promise between two people to take the best possible care of each other.
"There's a lot of disputes regarding whose land we're on, so there's some unfinished business in terms of the land rights movement, addressing incarceration rates, addressing the violence and the mental health issues in our communities here," she said.
"There's negative perceptions of First Nations people when we walk into shops and we're followed around by security guards and just mending that uneasy broken marriage between non Indigenous people and First Nations people.
"And truth telling in schools, telling the real history of this nation, as brutal as it may be. Our children need to know."
How long this will take to achieve, she said, remains to be seen.
"If we're mature enough as a nation to move forward it will be within the next five years," she said.
"But if we're not, it's up to the citizens of this country how we want to progress.
"It's up to society and whether we're mature enough to move forward together.
"I know First Nations people are ready - we've been ready since 1788."
Ms Gray has been hailed as an emerging leader in the Hunter's Indigenous community, leading both the Black Lives Matter rally on July 5 last year and the Invasion Day rally on January 26 this year.
"There's definitely pressure," she said, of the responsibility of leading her community.
"I have young First Nations people telling me they want to follow in my footsteps and do similar things as what I'm doing. It's really truly humbling to hear, but I don't think we should get sidetracked by that.
"I'm on a mission, we need to get the end goal, which is treaty, which is lowering incarceration rates, which is land rights, even academic sovereignty, having our voices in literature and things like that, empowering our young people in sport and music and education especially, because we're so gifted.
"Before I urge people to follow in my footsteps, I always tell them to look at their talents because they have so much and to really act on that."
Ms Gray is working as a criminal defence lawyer with the Aboriginal Legal Service and was this week in Lismore. She will be based in Taree from next Monday.
She's also completing her PhD into native title, sovereignty, the land rights movement and ways to grow the First Nations economy.
"First and foremost [my job] is keeping our people out of jail," she said.
"We're not inherently a violent people, we've learned that violence from somewhere, from a foreign hand.
"With the PhD it talks about native title but it also talks about solutions, about how we can use the land together, non Indigenous people and First Nations people... making sure First Nations people are taken care of in terms of our economic interests as well, because we always seem to be the ones that are missing out."
Ms Gray said "my people" are at the heart of her determination to see and willingness to fight for change.
"There's so much beauty in my culture and my community," she said.
"Our kinship system, the way we dance, the way we sing, the way we look after each other.
"The reason why we have overcrowded houses is because we don't want our family members to be homeless.
"There is so much love in our community and once we're healed I want to share that with the world, with our neighbours in this country.
"Because I know we can do it. I envisage this world where we don't have to protest because we can all come together as one and share this beautiful, old, rich culture, because we have so much to give to this society.
"But we can't do that while we're in jail or while we have these mental health crises in our communities or while we're dying at earlier rates than the rest of society."
Indigenous knowledge shouldn't be seen as a threat to the Western knowledge system, she said, but as something that adds to and complements the existing body of non-Indigenous knowledge.
In turn, she said, there were several ways non-Indigenous people could be allies, including by having conversations around the family dinner table about mistreatment and inequality, acknowledging which country they are on, reading Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe and learning some Indigenous words.
Ms Gray said there were sensitivities around this year's NAIDOC Week theme, Heal Country. "We have sacred sites constantly destroyed," she said.
"Is Australia really delivering on NAIDOC Week or are we just giving lip service while we're destroying country?
"It's all nice to look at our accomplishments, but NAIDOC Week came from protests... our elders have got us here in this position today and we're really thankful for that, but at the same time, Heal Country - it's just promises written in the sand."
She said she still believes in the power of protest and hasn't ruled out future action in Newcastle.
"Protest in the back of minds is always brewing, I think it's a really underestimated vehicle for social change," she said.
"It's always in the back of my mind and I say this, ain't no power like the people, because the people are the power.
"My people have been on the frontline protesting for centuries and I think we're going to be protesting for centuries more if nothing is done.
"Violence isn't the answer, it's always protest where our voices are heard.
"I envision a world where we don't have to protest anymore. First Nations rights should just be a given.
"That's the world I envision and that's the future I'm striving towards."
