“We’ve had enough seeing conservation people… they all white fellas and they go and tell Yolngu stories. We want to change that and say ‘No this is our country. This is our story. This is me.’”
Marley Djandirri Dalparri (mar-lee jahn-deer-ree dahl-pahr-ree), Arafura Swamp ranger
“It’s my vision for (my grandson)… We are in two worlds… Carry on Yolngu knowledge and… meet with Balanda (non indigenous) knowledge.”
Helen Nyomba Gandangu (hel-len neye-ohm-bah gahn-dahn-goo), Yolngu Traditional Owner
“White people destroy all the native tucker (foods)... We don’t want to go to shop all the time… Sometimes we don’t have money… More better we just go here and eat free.”
Peter Djigirr (pee-terr jee-geer), Gurruwiling Ranger
“I am an Aboriginal from mud, red mud. I am black, I am red, I am yellow. I will not take my people from here to be in these other places.”
Gawirrin Gumana (gah-wee-rin goo-mah-nah), Dhalwangu (daw-lay-wah-lah) clan leader
“My name, the languages of the islands and the seas, were given to us by the ancestors when they made the world.”
Laurie Baymarrwangga (law-ree bang-or-nah), Senior Traditional Owner of Yan-nhangu (yan-an-new) Islands
“If we are caring for our country, we’re caring for our people. If people are connected to country… we are healthy, our knowledge is healthy.”
Otto Bulmaniya Campion (oh-toe bull-mahn-yah cam-pee-yon), Senior Traditional Owner at Ramingining (rah-mon-ggin-ning)
“Our kinship connects us to whatever lies in the sea. It holds our family. And everything in the ocean is related. ”
Langani Marika (lahn-gahn-ee mah-ree-kah), Senior Traditional Owner for the Rirratjingu (reer-ott-jin-goo) clan
“That which we do, we do not do for ourselves. We do it for these children because…it is the children of this day that will take us into a new way of life.”
Jan van der Westhuizen (yahn vahn-der-vest-hay-zen), Khomani San healer
“We're all power. We all have power - one has this knowledge and one has a degree.”
Belinda Kruiper (beh-lin-dah cry-per), author & widow of Khomani San artist
“I do not want to only talk about our traditions. I want to show people how to track and gather food... If I do not pass on what I know, who will?”
Andrew Kruiper (ann-droo cry-per), Khomani San tracker
“If a person who speaks our language dies then our language also dies. When you cover him with dirt the language is not like a plant that grows again.”
Ouma/Una Rooi (oo-mah oo-nah roo-ee), Khomani San leader
“It is the knowledge and contribution of the elders that gives us confidence to claim our inheritance and heritage.”
Anna Festus (ann-nah fess-tuss), Khomani San community leader
“The red Kalahari sand is like the blood of our people.”
Buks Kruiper (books cry-per), Khomani San master tracker
“I learned my knowledge of herbs from my mother. The knowledge was transferred from woman to woman, mother to daughter.”
Ouma Geelmeid (oh-mah ggee-yell-mide), N/uu (noo) language teacher
“I am a bushman. I am a GPS.”
Oom Dawid Kruiper (oom dah-weed cry-per), Khomani San leader