A YOUNG Wiradyuri woman has made sure her voice and the voices of people within her community were heard at the Black Lives Matter protest in Sydney.
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For 28-year-old Nikki Trudgett, joining the peaceful protest was about raising awareness of the issues Aboriginal people continue to face in Australia.
The protest was sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in custody in America after a Minneapolis police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck for close to nine minutes.
Protests have been held around the world in solidarity, with the ones in Australia also highlighting that this country is not immune from racial inequality.
READ ALSO: George Floyd's family praises Aust support
At Saturday's protest in Sydney, people marched from Town Hall to Redfern.
Ms Trudgett travelled from Bathurst to join the protest, saying it was "a pretty easy decision" to make.
"When our prime minister says things like 'I'm so glad it doesn't happen here', but yet not one single person has been reprimanded for what has happened to 432 people [who died in custody], it's not okay," she said, adding that Aboriginal people fear they could be next.
"It's really important that if we have a voice, we use it."
The atmosphere of the protest was described as "amazing" and "calm", and Ms Trudgett was moved to see the level of diversity.
"There were elderly people there, there were people of every culture, there were people walking around with signs," she said.
"I saw a really beautiful one that said 'I'll never be able to understand, but I'll stand with you'. That was so amazing to see, people who were not Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander but are willing to stand with us."
One of the concerns about the protest was that it would be impossible to maintain social distance to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Ms Trudgett stressed that organisers discouraged people from attending if they were unwell or high-risk, but forged ahead with the protests as the issue was too important not to speak up.
Many protesters marched with masks on and sanitiser was also made available.
"At the end of the day, this has been going on for over 200 years; the treatment of Aboriginal people has been astronomically terrible," Ms Trudgett said.
"Yes, it's not great timing, but if not now, when? This has been going on for too long, and it's getting attention and people are finally going to pay attention to how important this is to our people.
"Aboriginal people are at risk to so many health problems that people just ignore, so yes there was a big risk, but there's also a big risk for Aboriginal people walking down the street every day."
She hopes that the protests have sparked a conversation that will lead to positive change in Australia.
