Environmental Stewardship Resurgence in Walbanga (Yuin Nation) Land and Sea Country

This project is a collaborative action-research initiative led by Mogo Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC). The initiative aims at developing a toolkit for Mogo and Batemans Bay LALC rangers to strengthen their capacity to inﬂuence environmental management decisions across their Country. It weaves aspirations to genuinely increase Walbanga’s participation in the governance of their territories and support their everyday resurgence through environmental stewardship practices articulating work on Country and Walbanga's philosophies. As the extent of the damage caused by devastating 2019-2020 bushﬁres (which engulfed Yuin Country, destroyed 7 community members' houses and Mogo LALC’s building) is yet to be fully assessed and comprehended, the resolution and passion of Mogo and Batemans Bay LALCs, rangers and community to realise these aspirations are stronger than ever. Building on their knowledge, their relationship to Country and existing skills, this project will provide opportunities for the rangers to enhance their surveying, analytic and reporting capacities, further expanding their toolkit to document, restore, reclaim and enact their stewardship practices. Together, the rangers and researchers will adapt and streamline Cybertracker sequences, use these sequences to conduct surveys on Country and interview key community members. New sequences will also be created, responding to the rangers’ pre- bushﬁre aspirations to document the revival of their cultural burning practices.

Researchers:

Associate Professor Karen Soldatic

Dr Kim Spurway

Dr Annick Thomassin (ICS Visiting Fellow, CAEPR/ANU)

Dr Janet Hunt (CAEPR/ANU)

Funding: AIATSIS Indigenous Research Exchange

Period: 2021 - 2022

Contact: Dr Kim Spurway

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The Institute for Culture and Society is located in Parramatta, “the place where the eel sets down” in Dharug language,
along the north bank of the Parramatta River. It sits on the traditional lands and waters of the Burramattagal people of the Dharug Nation,
who have been stewards and caretakers of these territories since time immemorial, in what today is referred to as Greater Western Sydney,
one of the most diverse cultural communities in the world and home to the largest number of Indigenous Australians in the country.
The Institute for Culture and Society acknowledges the Dharug, Eora, Dharawal (also referred to as Tharawal)
and Wiradjuri peoples as traditional custodians and Indigenous knowledge-holders, whose storytelling serve
as historical record, a form of teaching and learning, a way to care for Country,
and an expression of Indigenous culture and identity.