Thanks for attending!
Dear attendees,
Thank you for tuning in to the first webinar of our 2023 series, Critical Public Conversations: Country, Climate, Colonialism. This webinar titled ‘Who is Country to me: Sovereign women protecting Country and culture’, hosted by Dr Lou Bennett AM, this webinar brought together Wurundjeri Elder Professor Aunty Diane Kerr, Stacie Piper, and Dr Ngaree Blow for our most well-attended public event to date. Collectively they discussed who Country is to them, conceptions of sovereignty, social determinants of health and the importance of listening to Country.
Over 330 people joined us for our first webinar of 2023, which led to many thoughtful questions and ideas being shared.
A recording of this webinar will also be included in ABC’s ‘Big Ideas’ show on Radio National (release date TBC).
Themes raised
- Who is Country to me? The panel discussed who Country is for them and how Country informs and shapes how they understand and move through life.
- What does "Sovereign" and "Sovereignty" mean to you? The panel discussed these words, how they connect to these concepts and the limitations of using the coloniser's language.
Health and Country: 6 Layers of Country and a new Social Determinants of Health model. Stacie Piper and Dr Ngaree Blow discuss their work to embed Wurundjeri's knowledge into the University's medical curriculum.
Professor Aunty Diane Kerr shared her work at the Indigenous Knowledge Institute (IKI), which takes a holistic approach to health.
Deep Listening- The panel shared the importance of listening to Country.
Some questions from the audience
- I have a question about sovereignty. What does the word sovereignty mean to the presenters? What characteristics do you identify with to be a 'sovereign woman?"
- Do you see the social determinants of the health model being available beyond the University of Melbourne for implementation practically across the health and health education sector?
- Country always talks to us - walking through a forest of She-oak trees, they whisper to you.
- I love these yarns. Thank you so much, beautiful sisters and Aunties. I feel us women have been conditioned to suppress our intuition and do what the patriarchy/colony expects us to do for their purposes. Re-engaging with our intuition and listening to Country is part of re-indigenising ourselves.
Next webinar in the series - Cultural water for cultural economies: pathways to water justice
This webinar is the second in the Australian Centre's 2023 Critical Public Conversations series: Country, Climate, Colonialism.
Date: Wednesday, 29th March 2023
Time: 12:00 -1:00 PM (AEDT)
Location: Online
Presenter: Dr Erin O’Donnell
In settler colonial states like Australia, the doctrine of discovery that dispossessed Indigenous Peoples of their lands also took their waters. Although land rights have been the subject of sustained law and policy focus, the original water theft of colonisation and the erroneous assumption of aqua nullius remains almost entirely unacknowledged and largely unaddressed, undermining the legitimacy of water law and governance. This legitimacy problem is intertwined with a more widespread failure of water law: to deliver ecologically sustainable water management. This presentation will highlight the work of Indigenous Peoples in the settler state of Victoria to develop new pathways to water justice, and show how their leadership has influenced the policy commitments of the settler state government in their 2022 policy document ‘Water is Life’.
Please register using this link - https://go.unimelb.edu.au/et3e
To stay up to date with Australian Centre news, events and subscribe to our monthly newsletter, please enter your details on this subscription form.
The Australian Centre acknowledges the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung peoples (Parkville, Southbank, Werribee and Burnley campuses), The Yorta Yorta Nation (Shepparton and Dookie campuses) and The Dja Dja Wurrung people (Creswick campus) stand and respectfully recognises Elders past and present. Based on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne which sits on sovereign Wurundjeri lands, we at the Australian Centre are conscious we have obligations to this place and its people. We are also conscious that the University has not always valued this relationship and indeed still has a long way to go.
