Caring for our Aboriginal Cultural Heritage

We began 2021, by working collaboratively on a number of cultural projects and programs to help us better understand Aboriginal culture in the Hunter region past and present, and to see how we can incorporate this knowledge into our everyday Landcare operations.

Collaborations - LP038 -R004

The issue

Our Landcare community want to learn more about our Aboriginal cultural heritage of the Hunter region, particularly in relation to their Landcare sites or farm property.

The challenge was knowing where and how to start this journey of learning and understanding - who to contact, how to obtain advice, protocols for inviting Elders to Welcome us to Country, and appropriate material to use for workshops and field days.

The solution

We started by hosting workshops and field days that would provide us with practical knowledge and skills about places and artefacts of significance that we might find on our Landcare sites or farm property; how to recognise artefacts such as stone tools by participating in a stone napping activity; what to do if we do find an artefact such as a scar tree, stone tools, middens, etc; the legislation around places and objects of cultural significance.

The impact

It was important for us to share, learn, and understand our Aboriginal cultural heritage within the Landcare community, and these workshop provided a way to get started. We had 30 participants in our first workshop field day.

Landcarers and farmers that we work with share a genuine interest and passion in caring for our land, rivers, sea and sky, caring for country, so already we have a shared bond with our local Aboriginal community.

Some feedback from participants in the workshop field days:

Thanks to you and the team for a wonderful enlightening and enjoyable day. Many lightbulb moments throughout. Presenters and venue excellent. We are very glad we had the opportunity to attend and left with a great deal more knowledge and awareness of Aboriginal culture.

Author: Henrietta Mooney