Collaborating (Not Consulting) to Care for Country: <i>Kwodjet Goorliny</i> Symposium, Kinjaarliny/Albany, Western Australia, May 2024
ABSTRACT The Kwodjet Goorliny symposium in Kinjaarliny/Albany, Western Australia, Menang/Merningar Boodja was attended by 191 people in May 2024. The three‐day symposium prioritised Indigenous voices and brought together all collaborators on the two‐way science research project, Walking Together, as well as other cross‐cultural ecology researchers, educators and practitioners from across Australia. Presenters included Noongar, Martu, Gamilaroi, Kaurareg and Yamaji traditional custodians, Indigenous rangers and representatives of research, education, health, local government, emergency management, conservation, Native Title and not‐for‐profit organisations. It was an opportunity to learn from and inspire one another, to celebrate achievements, and to collectively workshop next steps in cross‐cultural approaches to care for Country, culture and people. Strong themes of the workshop were that successful two‐way caring for Country requires robust collaborative relationships and is usually highly place‐based in nature, neither of which are well‐supported by short‐term and scarce funding programmes. New approaches to supporting Indigenous‐led, collaborative conservation work are required.
Authors
- Shandell Cummings
- J.C. Woods
- Ursula Rodrigues (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5976-9645)
- Alison Lullfitz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7712-1674)
- Stephen Donald Hopper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0364-2856)
- Susannah Cramp
Institutions
- The University of Western Australia (AU)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Ecological Management & Restoration
- Published
- 2025-09-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/emr.70024
- Primary Topic
- Global Health Workforce Issues
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00