Media Release 10 October 2013
The Torres Strait Regional Authority (TSRA) Land and Sea Management Unit (LSMU) has won two of Australia’s most prestigious environmental awards including an award for an outstanding contribution to national sustainability.
The TSRA Environment Portfolio Member, Mr Willie Lui, was presented with the Banksia Indigenous Award and a Gold Banksia Award in Melbourne on Wednesday 9 October. Continue Reading…
With help from Terrains’ Habitat Incentives Project (HIP), the Djiru people are drafting an integrated natural resource management plan for two big blocks of land, which are home to the endangered cassowary and littoral rainforest, at Mission Beach.
In September 2011, the Djiru people, past and present, were recognised as the Native Title holders of their traditional lands in the Mission Beach area.
Tucked away on the North West side of North Stradbroke Island, is a hidden gem known as Myora Springs, which has long had a cultural significance for the Traditional Owner group here, the Quandamooka people, who locally refer to this site as Capembah Springs, which refers to the big hill just south of the Spring.
With a nationally endangered littoral rainforest on one side, and sheltering mangroves on the other, the unique natural beauty of these springs has made it a popular water hole, frequently visited by some of the local schools and universities.
To ensure preservation of this unique spot for future generations, a need was identified to help manage some of the unintentional erosion and a loss of vegetation, including mangrove dieback, that was occurring due to a high number of visitors walking across the area.
NQ Dry Tropics is joining Traditional Owners to celebrate the declaration of more than 1.2 million hectares between Mission Beach and Ingham under the Girringun Region Indigenous Protected Areas (GRIPA) Management Plan.
The declaration is the culmination of years of hard work by the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation and will guide Traditional Owners to look after the region’s natural resources and cultural heritage.
Social media is helping to harness the ancient oral history of indigenous people for contemporary audiences.
A series of short videos offering a rare insight into indigenous knowledge of country and ecology in central Queensland are now available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/fitzroybasin.
Fitzroy Basin Association Incorporated (FBA) developed the videos, which feature Traditional Owners talking about the cultural significance of different landscapes, and how different plants were used for practical purposes, food, and medicine, through funding from the Australian Government’s Caring for our Country program.
Video below: The Fitzroy River with Billy Mann
For the first time in the Condamine River catchment significant research has been undertaken to record and share Aboriginal language of the area.
The Condamine Alliance Languages Project is an initiative of Condamine Alliance through funding under the Australian Government’s Indigenous Language Support Program (formerly Maintenance of Indigenous Languages and Records). The project aims to support language revival in communities along the Condamine River.
Like the electrical charge building before a storm breaks over a mountain range, there is a powerful energy building over the Bunya Mountains in the South Burnett — but it has nothing to do with rain.
A major event is in the making for the 2014 bunya nut season on the Bunya Mountains, which will mark the first major gathering of Traditional Owners and other Bunya Peoples at this important cultural site since the large boyne boyne festivals of yesteryear. The last of these gatherings took place after the First World War, before the surrounding land and songlines were fragmented by settlement.
Social media is helping to harness the ancient oral history of indigenous people for contemporary audiences.
A series of short videos showcasing indigenous knowledge of country and ecology in central Queensland are now available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/fitzroybasin.
Southern Gulf Catchments worked with representatives from the Mitakoodi People to create a seasonal calendar titled “Through our eyes”. The calendar aims to pass on Mitakoodi traditional knowledge about ways of seeing, understanding, valuing and managing natural and cultural resources, according to Mitakoodi perspectives.
Media Release
The Desert Channels Group (DCG) in partnership with the Georgina Diamantina, Coopers Aboriginal Group (GDC AG), recently completed and launched its traditional knowledge project – One step back, two steps forward.
The 18 month project worked with the Indigenous community to film short stories relating to land management and caring for country.
“Initially it was very challenging to find people willing to share stories that related to ecological or biodiversity outcomes,” said project officer Ronell Frazer. “These aren’t concepts we Indigenous people relate to. Our connection to country is part of who we are and our way of life, we don’t separate culture from how we look after country.” Continue Reading…
