Indigenous

Victorians should be alert – and probably alarmed – at a deal that has been kept quiet by the State Government that will give indigenous groups in Western Victoria a huge say over water, roads and biosecurity ... The land mass covered by the agreement is nearly 36,000 sq km and involves ten local councils: Ararat, Horsham, Buloke, Hindmarsh, Pyrenees, Northern Grampians, Southern Grampians, Yarriambiak, Mildura and West Wimmera ... “There is so much to be worried about in relation to this ‘unprecedented’ agreement:” Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur.

Try finding out what the true cost is of undertaking an Aboriginal Heritage survey in Western Australia and you will be confronted by a conspiracy of silence ... with no examples of the amount it has cost explorers, councils and main roads to get heritage clearances so that farmers can have a realistic idea of what their LACHS are likely to charge them, I’m limited to telling you my latest journey down the mad rabbit hole of aboriginal cultural heritage.

For the next four days, Cairns will move to a vibrant, artistic, and cultural beat celebrating the rich traditions, creativity, and contemporary talent of Queensland’s First Nations peoples at the 14th annual, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF), 13 to 16 July 2023 ... Also taking a cue from this year’s curatorial theme is CIAF’s new-look, two-day Symposium that will be held on Friday 14 July and Saturday 15 July at Bulmba-ja Arts Centre...

The remains of five ancestors have been returned to the Yaegl people of northern NSW, with a significant cultural ceremony honouring their repatriation back to Country. The repatriation ceremony took place at the Yaegl Nature Reserve, near Maclean, which was the designated burial site identified by the Yaegl community.

“When our children come to us, and we’re available, we are there, and we’re listening, and it could just be just 30 seconds, it could be something very important they want to tell us, then stop and listen, send that message that we are available.” These thoughts come to a town that spends a great deal of time talking about a cohort of children, different ones from year to year but always around 50 to 120 of them, out in the streets at night, breaking into homes and businesses, trashing, stealing cars, torching some.

Tennant Creek has celebrated NAIDOC Week with a range of community events. Despite some inclement weather, the festivities kicked off with a Community BBQ at the Transit Centre, which included a jumping castle for kids and hair braiding in the colours of the Aboriginal flag. The NAIDOC March on Monday was a heartwarming event, with awards presented to outstanding First Nations individuals.

The grand finale of NAIDOC Week in Tennant Creek today promises to be a memorable event, with the winner of the 2023 Australian Idol competition taking the stage. Royston Noell, a 24-year-old Thanakwith and Wagadagam man from Mapoon in far north Queensland, was crowned as the first winner of the series since 2009 back in March.

This year’s NAIDOC theme was one that was tremendously special to all - recognising the important role that Elders played and continued to play in Aboriginal lives, both individually and as a community and more broadly as First Nations people ... To embrace this year’s NAIDOC theme "For Our Elders" Ms Hickson gave her speech surrounded by her grannies, mob and community.

The NSW Government attended a cultural burn, on the eve of NAIDOC week at Nellingen last week organised by The Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council. The cultural burn was an opportunity to support the renewal of culture through the use of fire while promoting knowledge sharing with Crown Lands’ bushfire mitigation staff.

Macorna Football Netball Club (FNC) will play host to the Golden Rivers Indigenous Round between Macorna and Wandella this Saturday, July 8 ... Each team will wear specially designed Indigenous Round uniforms, which were introduced to Senior levels in 2021.

Two 2 bedroom homes built in Wagga, by Adaptive Interiors, transported here and welded on foundations by Zac Pirie Welding and Fabrications. This is one of the 3 town blocks sold to the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office for $1-00 per block.

The Starcke boat ramp area has been the target of an intensive clean-up after years of visitor over-use, weed infestation and damage from feral cattle. Cape York NRM provided training for the Juunjuwara Rangers in littoral rainforest research, and teams then conducted surveys to establish the health of the coastal vegetation.

Patrick Goldsmith. There were cultural burns across Yorke Peninsula from Monday to Friday, June 19-23. In a bid to reinvigorate the Narungga land management practice, Narungga men and women took to four locations in Ardrossan, Point Pearce and Minlaton for just the second time in recent history to ignite shrubbery.

New laws designed to protect and manage Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia started on July 1 with the Cook Government saying they were modernised and improved to prevent another incident like what occurred at Juukan Gorge ... Prior to the implementation of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2021 almost 30,000 people signed an e-petition calling on the government to delay the start date by a minimum of six months.

Recent research reveals that school attendance in our First Nations communities is declining despite the continuation of the remote schools attendance strategy ... MCERA has reached out to First Nations education experts to invite  solutions towards a responsive education system that strengthens  First Nations culture and student engagement in remote Australia.

The system which protects and manages Aboriginal cultural heritage in Western Australia will be modernised and improved from July 1 to prevent another incident like what occurred at Juukan Gorge. The improvements include new practical exemptions and a simpler, fairer system to manage activities that may harm Aboriginal cultural heritage across WA ... The State Government has also announced the appointment of four new members to the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council, including former Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister and respected Yamatji and Wongi Elder Ken Wyatt.

Senator Lidia Thorpe and the Indigenous-Aboriginal Party of Australia (IAPA) have joined forces to call on the NSW State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Treaty, David Harris MP, to listen to the voices of Traditional Custodians, the Guringai, regarding the devastatingly destructive development proposal, by the Local Aboriginal Land Council, for land on Woy Woy Rd Kariong NSW, in the area known as Kariong Sacred Lands ... "Do we want to listen to First Nation’s voices or not? Or is First Nations input only relevant if it comes from a state sanctioned Aboriginal corporation?”

Greater Shepparton City Council, in conjunction with Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation land management team ‘Woka Walla’ and Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority, is working to protect cultural values and facilitate Caring for Country works by the local Aboriginal community at the Mooroopna sand hills site.

The new WA Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws will have far reaching consequences to the farming community, many of which are only just coming to light as the WA Department of Heritage workshops the changes across the State. This is how WAFarmers responded to one of the workshops in the central Wheatbelt.        

More than 79,000 hectares of the iconic Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park have been handed back to the Waanyi People in a historic ceremony at Parliament House ... Waanyi Prescribed Body Corporate will lease the Aboriginal land, in perpetuity, to the State to manage under the Nature Conservation Act, the first lease back arrangement that has been successfully negotiated on national park land in Queensland.

Of the two budding NT government art galleries, one is making news: The one in Darwin, because construction is under way. At the opposite end of the Territory, and of government attention, there is no news about the Alice Springs “national” Aboriginal gallery because its senior director, Tracy Puklowski, is not able, not willing, not permitted, not whatever to answer media questions.