As we move from the season of Kambarang (roughly October-November) into the season of Birak (roughly December-January) here on Noongar country, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of the important recent steps taken as part of Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together, and look ahead to some of the next stages of our journey towards 2029 and beyond.
Lots more has been happening, and will continue to happen, but please find below a taste of some of the moments of Kambarang, and some of the things coming up in Birak, including the Noongar Summit (for Noongar people) on December 10 & 11. (All scribing is by Shenali Perera - please don't share individual images outside of this context.)
Boorda / See you soon, The Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together Team.
NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This year it took place November 8-15, with events all around Australia.
Here on Whadjuk country, the NAIDOC Week Opening Ceremony took place in the Supreme Court Gardens On Sunday November 8, followed by the NAIDOC Ball on November 14. (Visit the NAIDOC Perth Facebook page here).
On Tuesday November 10, Djinda Bridiya Wellbeing hosted an event in Heathridge with cultural activities, Noongar Radio live, a yarning session with Elders, and more. (Read more here, see next images below, and visit the Djinda Falcons Facebook page here.)
On Wednesday November 11, the four Danjoo Koorliny leaders Dr Noel Nannup OAM, Dr Richard Walley OAM, Professor Emeritus Colleen Hayward AM, and Carol Innes joined the Honourable Ben Wyatt MLA on stage during a NAIDOC Week breakfast at Kaarta Gar-up / Kings Park for an event co-hosted by Danjoo Koorliny, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, the NAIDOC Committee of Perth, and Reconciliation WA. The event was attended by leaders from business, government and the not-for-profit sector, as well as the extended Danjoo Koorliny team. (See images below, and first scribing and photo in this email.)
Later the same day, the Danjoo Koorliny leaders gave the welcome address at a sand mural event with the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the Public Sector Commission, and Treasury, in which the three agencies spoke about their joint Reconciliation Action Plan. (Sand mural by Acacia Collard.)
And in the afternoon, the Danjoo Koorliny leaders joined a public sector leadership council panel session with the Directors General of the Departments of Planning, Lands and Heritage (Gail McGowan); the Premier and Cabinet (Rebecca Brown); Water and Environmental Regulation (Mike Rowe); and Primary Industries and Regional Development (Ralph Addis). The session was a masterclass in policy co-design in the public sector attended by DPC, PSC and Treasury executive/senior-level staff and other government agencies connected to Danjoo Koorliny.
Lunch with the Governor On November 2, the Danjoo Koorliny leaders co-hosted a lunch at the house of the Governor of Western Australia and Danjoo Koorliny Ambassador the Honourable Kim Beazley AC, together with other Danjoo Koorliny ambassadors Professor Fiona Stanley AC, Professor Stephen Hopper AC and Janet Holmes à Court AC, as well as other recognised leaders across business, government and the not-for-profit sector (some of whom appear in the images below). The lunch helped align leaders across sectors as we move forward together towards 2029 and beyond. Read more.
GAIA Opening On November 5 & 6, The Presencing Institute (connected to MIT) launched its second iteration of the Global Activation of Intention and Action (GAIA) program, with over 1000 people taking part from over 80 countries around the world. The keynote for the Asia-Pacific timezone launch was given by Carol Innes, who spoke about the many gifts that this global moment of ‘disruption’ is providing. To read the recap of the opening click here. To watch the recording of the opening (with Carol's keynote starting at 34min 24sec), click here. To register for the second session of GAIA (with Kelvy Bird talking about visual presencing) on December 3, click here.
Ngadju Journey From November 15-18, a group of Noongar, Ngadju and Whadjella (non-Aboriginal) people met together on Ngadju country between Hyden and Norseman. A number of Elders guided the process. The trip was hosted by Les Shultz, together with James Schultz and Wendy Shultz, as well as the Ngadju Ranger team. Noel Nannup, Eugene Eades, and other Noongar leaders joined from different parts of Noongar country. The trip was organised by Rod Safstrom and David Dyke. The theme for the journey was listening for connecting - to ourselves, each other and country. One of the outcomes was to support conservation on Ngadju country by forming the 'Friends of Ngadju Conservation'. For more information, contact Rod. More cross-border exchanges are hoped for in the future.
Trips with Noel on Country Noel Nannup and team hosted a number of three-day trips on country during the month of November. To keep updated on trips next year, please email Jaime. You can also check out the Indigenous Tours WA Facebook page here.
Centre for Social Impact Walking Together On Monday November 23, Dr Emma Lee, a Trawlwulwuy woman from Tebrakunna country, north-east Tasmania, and researcher at Centre for Social Impact (CSI) Swinburne, hosted the first of a number of conversations between the Danjoo Koorliny leaders (joined on this occasion by Professor Emeritus Colleen Hayward AM, Carol Innes and, briefly, by Dr Noel Nannup OAM) and CSI node directors Distinguished Professor Jo Barraket (Swinburne), Professor Kristy Muir (UNSW and national CSI CEO), and Professor Paul Flatau (UWA). These conversations are helping CSI walk together better on a national level. CSI UWA was chosen as the host organisation for Danjoo Koorliny by the project leaders in 2019.
WA Senior Australian of the Year The WA Senior Australian of the Year Award for 2021 was awarded on November 13 to Dr Richard Walley OAM, one of the four Danjoo Koorliny leaders. Congratulations to Richard! Read more.
WA Museum Boola Bardip The WA Museum Boola Bardip / Many Stories is now open. To listen to Carol Innes talk on ABC Radio about one of her contributions to the museum, click here. Carol gave this interview on November 26 - the day of a landmark High Court native title ruling for Noongar people.
Commonland and Danjoo Koorliny We are pleased to announce that Commonland - a global ecological and landscape restoration organisation based in the Netherlands - will continue as key partner of Danjoo Koorliny in 2021. We are grateful to Willem, Jim, Dieter and the whole Commonland team, and look forward to the next steps of walking together. (First photo below by Zal Kanga-Parabia, second image by Willem Ferwerda, from trip on country with Commonland last year to Oral McGuire's farm.) For more information on Commonland, please click here.
Coming Up
Noongar Summit December 10 & 11 This is a summit for Noongar people only, to be held at the UWA Business School and hosted by the Danjoo Koorliny leaders and team. It will be an opportunity for the Noongar community to come together, talk, connect, reflect and take action. The focus of these days will be on community cohesion, cultural knowledge sharing (performance, stories, language), inspiring cultural strength, building a network of support for each other, engagement towards 2029, and other topics that come up. For more information, and to register, please click here.
About the Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together
Social Impact Project Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together is a large-scale, long-term systems change project designed and led by Aboriginal leaders to help us all walk together as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people towards 2029 (200 years of colonisation in Perth) and beyond, be it in Western Australia, Australia or globally. The leaders of Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together are Dr Noel Nannup OAM, Dr Richard Walley OAM, Professor Emeritus Colleen Hayward AM and Carol Innes, working in partnership and collaboration with numerous other Elders, leaders and organisations, include a large extended team of Aboriginal leaders. They have made it clear that if we are talking about social impact, Aboriginal people have had a blueprint for social, ecological and cultural harmony for more than 60,000 years, and that this can be of benefit to everybody and everything.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Ngalla kaadijt, Wadjuk Noongar moort, keyen kaadak nidja boodjar. Ngalla ni wer kaartidjin.
We wish to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land we live and work on, the Wadjuk Noongar people. We acknowledge Wadjuk Noongar and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders, their people and their land and waters where our work has an impact. We are on a journey of listening and learning.
