Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

Fraser Island is officially K’gari! The World Heritage-listed sand island now officially carries its Butchulla name. Butchulla Traditional Owners have inhabited and cared for K’gari for thousands of years, with as many at 500 ancient archaeological sites still present on the island today. The island’s creation story tells of a messenger, Yendingie, coming down from the sky to make the land and sea for people, helped by a beautiful white spirit: Princess K’gari. Tired after her efforts and awed by the landscape’s beauty, she asked Yendingie to let her remain. He said she couldn’t stay in the world in spirit form, so changed Princess K’gari into an island – with plants and animals for company, and knowledge and laws for people, so they’d always know how to care for and accompany K’gari. Respecting K’gari’s true name helps keep language alive and culture strong. Language itself is cultural heritage. It’s a vital part of identity and worldview, and transmits unique ways of understanding and relating to the world. It’s meaning beyond just words. We are so glad K’gari now formally carries its true name and thank Butchulla Traditional Owners for their care and generosity in sharing K’gari with the world.

What's Australia's only World Heritage-listed site chosen for its Indigenous cultural values? It's the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape on Gunditjmara Country, near Lake Condah Mission in Victoria's south-west. Budj Bim is a dormant volcano that erupted 30,000 years ago, spawning the Gunditjmara peoples’ ancestral creator, Budj Bim, meaning ‘high head’. Lava flow created new drainage patterns, which the Gunditjmara people channelled into built aquaculture systems that trapped kooyang (short-finned eels) for a year-round reliable food source. This knowledge and ingenuity has been continually handed down for millennia through storytelling and cultural practice. Culture has been passed on for tens of thousands of years and continues, unbroken, despite every colonial effort to destroy. The place we call Australia is a tapestry of interwoven cultural landscapes that reflect how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples engage with the world. These cultural landscapes include history, practices, ontology, relationships, plants, ancestors, songlines, physical structures, trade routes and more. Cultural landscapes are holistic and alive. Budj Bim cultural landscape is mountain, creation, history, traps, story, eels, transition, relationship, ancestors, and more. We are so lucky it endures and thank Gunditjmara mob for protecting and sharing their cultural heritage. (📷 Victorian Government and Tess Kelly)

It was great to get involved with First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria Traditional Owner Forum, where our CEO Paul Paton (with the mic in the third photo!) contributed our ideas for treaty. Paul said: "It was great to be part of Monday's Traditional Owner Forum with the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria. Many groups were interested to hear about the path to Treaty, the various pathways and considerations to be made including what a future relationship with FPAV might look like."

A second independent study has found "no evidence" of dingo-dog hybridisation in Victoria – further debunking the pervasive yet incorrect idea that dingoes are dogs. They're dingoes! And they're a culturally and significant species that has co-existed in relationship with Traditional Owners for thousands of years – yet despite that connection and importance, Traditional Owners are locked out of making decisions about dingo. New University of Melbourne research analysed DNA points on 434 samples from animals killed under Victoria's wild dog control program. All animals were pure dingo. Dingo is genetically different from its ancestors, and maintains this evolutionary trajectory, despite decades of lethal control. Previous studies that found hybridisation was the greatest risk to the survival of dingo were flawed – likely mischaracterising dogs' and dingoes' common ancestral genetic variation as breeding, not evolution. And, importantly: "The future conservation of the dingo lineage will require policies that promote coexistence pathways between humans and dingoes that protect rangeland systems and the dingoes’ evolutionary future." Traditional Owners have co-existed with dingoes for thousands of years and can again lead the way in this peaceful co-existence. The Victorian Government must commit to genuine partnership, shared decision-making, and recognition of the rights and interests Traditional Owners have in culturally significant species and their habitats. READ MORE | https://lnkd.in/g7T2pGdf

Fourteen years of formal recognition of Gunaikurnai land rights ✊🏾 On 22 October 2010, the Federal Court finally recognised Gunaikurnai as the native title rights holders in around 13,390 square kilometres of Gippsland. On the same day, Gunaikurnai mob entered into a range of agreements with the Victorian Government under the just-enacted Traditional Owner Settlement Act. The Gunaikurnai journey to formal recognition was long, complex and courageous – formally commenced in 1997, it covered a large geographic area, considered complex clan relationships, raced a state election that saw their negotiating partner lose government just days after agreements were signed, and in faith negotiated terms under legislation that hadn't yet come into force. The positive outcome is a testament to many people's resilience, strength and determination. Victoria's first recognition and settlement agreement is now being re-negotiated, to build on what Gunaikurnai got and reflect the capability of Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) as the representative of Gunaikurnai people. READ MORE | https://lnkd.in/gZtVsmGb

Dingoes are helping to protect the largest known population of endangered night parrots in the Great Sandy Desert. New research by Ngururrpa Rangers and Parna Ngururrpa Aboriginal Corporation, published today in CSIRO's Wildlife Research, contends native dingoes manage the population of the feral cats that prey on night parrots. This research shows the significance of dingo in the landscape: it plays a critical, enmeshed role that helps keep life in balance and ensures endangered animals won't be lost forever. It also shows the importance and impact of Traditional Owner-led management of culturally significant species – the Ngururrpa Indigenous Protected Area is home to as much as half of Australia's night parrot population. Traditional Owners must be supported and enabled to manage Country as a cultural landscape, to ensure Country and culture remain strong and healthy. https://lnkd.in/gGfQEWQu

It's great to see our testimony to the national truth and justice commission bill in the national media. National Indigenous Times and Yahoo News Australia picked up this AAP article, which covers Paul's testimony from Tuesday – where we made the case for a permanent commission with strong processes for sharing stories in culturally safe and varied ways. READ MORE | bit.ly/3BR1TuI

“This is a crucial step in restoring and rebalancing power relationships in this country and laying the foundation for treaty.” This afternoon our CEO Paul Paton appeared at the public hearings for the draft Truth and Justice Commission Bill, which – if passed – would create a national truth-telling body to investigate historic and ongoing injustices again Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, like Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission. In wide-ranging discussion, Paul answered questions spanning the Commission’s funding and timespan, the importance of cultural authority and best practice for community consultation, different types of evidence-giving and ensuring marginalised people can have their voices heard, considerations in appointing Commissioners, lessons from Yoorrook, and whether to wait until its final report before commencing a national process (it was a firm “don’t wait” from us there). Our submission – which Paul spoke to – outlines how a future Commission could be culturally safe, robust and rights-based, and centres Traditional Owner Corporations as representative, inclusive community bodies that have a central role to play in truth-telling and treaty processes. Thank you to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs for the opportunity to participate. Jana Stewart Dorinda Cox (She/Her) David Shoebridge READ MORE | bit.ly/3Y9cYOY

It’s public hearings for the truth-telling bill, and we’re thrilled to be appearing at the Aboriginal Advancement League today. Federation CEO Paul Paton will speak at a public hearing for the draft Truth and Justice Commission Bill, which – if passed – would create a national truth-telling body to investigate historic and ongoing injustices again Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, like Victoria’s Yoorrook Justice Commission. Paul will speak to our submission to the Bill, which urged a future Commission to seek cultural and community authority (including through engaging with Traditional Owner Corporations), embed internationally established Indigenous human rights into its design, and take the best parts of Yoorrook Justice Commission – to ensure a truth-telling process that is culturally safe and meaningful. Thank you to the Joint Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs for the opportunity, and to senators Dorinda Cox (She/Her) and David Shoebridge for proposing this Bill – an important step towards heeding the call of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. READ MORE | bit.ly/3Y9cYOY

The Voice referendum was “ultimately about who we are as a nation” – a painful experience that provided a foundation of momentum on which we now build, says Senator Jana Stewart. It was an honour to attend Senator Stewart’s oration on today’s anniversary of the Voice to Parliament referendum at the Aboriginal Advancement League – Australia’s oldest Aboriginal rights organisation and the place where Senator Stewart said she watched the apology to the Stolen Generations in 2008. The referendum was the most significant national focus on Aboriginal affairs since that apology, and was a time Senator Steward described as both political and deeply personal – “about my life, me and my people, my family, my community”. In a reflective speech spanning the referendum’s buildup and aftermath, Senator Stewart addressed the negative impacts of a misinformed and hostile campaign: 13YARN received an 108% increase in calls about racism, trauma and abuse, and the senator heard people describe the vitriol as dehumanising, painful, and undermining hard-won progress towards reconciliation. It was also about recognition, and about justice, equality, and a better future for the next generations. Referendum day felt like “hope, anxiety and solidarity”, a phone call from the prime minister, and the realisation in a chemist queue that three in five Australians voted no – “who in this line wrote two letters not three?” But it was also: 6.2 million Yes voters. 6.2 million people who stood up for change. Millions of Australians who believe in justice and reconciliation, who all have a hand in the future – through the decisions we make about where we spend our money, the words we use, the work we continue to do. We continue to push for the rights and recognition Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples deserve. “Thank you for walking this path with us.”