Aunty Lisa and Aboriginal Identity
So you have seen the Aunty Lisa reels making fun of the apparent ease of which Aboriginal people can just choose an Aboriginal identity.
On Mabo Day we also remember the three part test confirmed by the High Court.
The tripartite test of Aboriginality is the standard used in Australian law and administration to legally define Indigenous identity.
Derived from Justice Brennan's definition in the landmark Mabo v Queensland (No 2) (1992) case, it requires three criteria to be met:
Biological Descent: The individual must prove biological descent from an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.
Self-Identification: The individual must identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person.
Community Recognition: The individual must be recognized as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander by their local community or traditional elders.
Now this is not without contention and pain and is challenged but it's not as simple as "Aunty Lisa" makes out.
Stay strong…
Happy Mabo Day
#auntylisa #MaboDay
Today is Mabo Day. The Day the High Court Mabo decision was handed down. The decision recognised that a form of native title existed and allowed legislation for courts to determine native title to be passed. It was the beginning of the next journey, which is still being walked.
"Six members of the Court are in agreement that the common law of this country recognizes a form of native title which, in the cases where it has not been extinguished, reflects the entitlement of the indigenous inhabitants, in accordance with their laws or customs, to their traditional lands and that, subject to the effect of some particular Crown leases, the land entitlement of the Murray Islanders in accordance with their laws or customs is preserved, as native title, under the law of Queensland." Mabo [No 2] [1992] HCA 23; 175 CLR 1
"On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia handed down its landmark ruling on Mabo v Queensland No. 2 establishing the principle of native title rights in Australian common law.
The judgment overturned the concept of terra nullius – that Australia was a ‘land belonging to no-one’ at the time James Cook in 1770 declared possession in the name of the British Crown.
The case was led by Edward Koiki ‘Eddie’ Mabo, with Celuia Mapo Salee, James Rice, Sam Passi and Father Dave Passi, on behalf of the Meriam people of Dauer, Waier and Mer of the Murray Island Group in the Torres Strait, claiming ownership of their traditional lands. It was the culmination of legal proceedings which began 10 years earlier when the plaintiffs had brought their first action against the State of Queensland and the Commonwealth claiming native title to the Murray Islands.
The Court found that the Meriam people continued to occupy the islands, as they had for generations before the first European contact and were ‘entitled as against the whole world to possession, occupation, use and enjoyment of the lands of the Murray Islands'.
In recognising the rights of the Meriam people, the Court also found that Indigenous peoples around Australia continue to hold rights to their land and waters arising from their traditional laws and customs, unless these rights had been legally extinguished. For native title to be recognised, those laws and customs must have continued to be acknowledged and observed substantially uninterrupted by each generation since the time of settlement.
"The fiction by which the rights and interests of Indigenous inhabitants in land were treated as non-existent was justified by a policy which has no place in the contemporary law of this country."
Sir Gerard Brennan, Justice of the High Court of Australia, 1992
The Mabo case is an example of the continued advocacy by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of their connection to lands, skies and waters for over 65,000 years. The judgement recognised the coexistence of both European and customary law. For the eight clans of the Meriam people, law is communicated down the generations via spiritual and ancestral stories and customs. This knowledge includes the complex systems of ownership over lands and waters, seabeds and reefs, winds and stars.
Sadly, three of the plaintiffs Sam Passi, Celuia Mapo Salee and Edward Koiki Mabo had died before the High Court handed down its landmark judgement.
Following the Mabo decision, and prior to introducing legislation in November 1993, the government undertook extensive consultations which informed the drafting of the Native Title Bill. In the Bill, ‘native title’ is defined as the rights and interests that are possessed under the traditional laws and customs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, through which they have a connection with land or waters, and are recognised by common law.
The Bill proved to be socially divisive and was debated in the Parliament for almost 52 hours before being passed by the Senate at 11:58 pm on 22 December 1993. Addressing the House of Representatives during debate on the Bill, Prime Minister Paul Keating declared:
Today is a milestone. A response to another milestone: the High Court's decision in the Mabo case. The High Court has determined that Australian law should not, as Justice Brennan said, be 'frozen in an era of racial discrimination'.
Its decision in the Mabo case ended the pernicious legal deceit of terra nullius for all of Australia—and for all time.
The Act established the National Native Title Tribunal offering a legal pathway for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to claim their traditional rights over lands and waters, and compensation. The Act came into effect on 1 January 1994 and continues to evolve, with the most recent amendment being passed in 2021. This landmark legislation was a significant step forward in the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians."
From Parliament of Australia
https://www.aph.gov.au/Visit_Parliament/Art/Stories/The_Mabo_decisionRead the whole Mabo case here:
https://jade.io/article/67683
For our mates on the east coast or anyone travelling to Sydney. Don’t forget the 25th Biennale of Sydney is on until the 14th of June.
And if you find yourself at the White Bay Power station in Rozelle, take some time to see Wangki’s very own Natalie Davey’s soundscape documentary, “Nightscape” on display as part of the Rememory art exhibition.
Wangki’s station manager had the privilege of being able to experience it last week and is definitely worth the trip. Please check it out ❤️
Thanks to the Wangki Yupurnanupurru Radio trio for putting on a night of music and laughs as part of our reconciliation week celebration held here at Wangki.
With thanks to our mates from the Shire of Derby/West Kimberley who sponsored the event. Keep listening to Wangki for deadly Indigenous tunes played throughout the day🖤 💛 ❤️
“Ultimately the goal is self-determination, we want to be in control of our own decisions, for us by us.”
Two Way Learning and Cultural Governance – the Behind the Scenes Benefits of Native Title
In April, Andrea spoke with Kuku Yalanji woman Michelle Deahong, who has strong connections to North Queensland and the Kimberley after she ran cultural governance training in Fitzroy Crossing.
Michelle has worked in cultural governance and governance spaces for decades including time at ATSIC in the 1990s and is a strong advocate for self-determination through self-governance. After finishing school in Townsville, Michelle moved to Canberra and spent twenty years in Public Service in Indigenous Affairs, which gave her the privilege of being able to build relationships with Indigenous People in communities in many communities.
An outcome of the native title era is the phasing in of joint management of National Parks and Conservation parks in Western Australia with traditional owners and native title holders. Joint Management is a partnership between Aboriginal people and the State Government that is based on recognition, trust, respect, and shared goals and achievements across WA's conservation estate.
While there has long been partnership between Bunuba people and local park rangers, Bunuba people first had native title determined on December 12 2012 and signed their first Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) to establish joint management of national parks and conservation estate in 2017. A further ILUA was authorized and signed in 2022 to establish the new Fitzroy National Parks. The Bunuba Joint Management Body jointly manages this estate with Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction (DBCA) through formal meetings and ongoing partnership.
These agreements have had strong outcomes including training of Bunuba rangers up to Certificate IV Conservation and Land Management Level and the renaming of Parks to their Bunuba names including Danggu (Geikie Gorge) National Park, meaning the area where the water is very deep under the cave and Bandilngan (Windjana Gorge) National Park. Bandilngan is the name of the water pool within the gorge in which sits a large boulder. This recognises that these parts of country always had Aboriginal names.
Michelle completed Australian Indigenous Leadership program in 2000 and then got to sit on the board. Her influence has focused on a State and National level to change process and policy at a big picture level.
The cultural governance training that she runs begins with helping attendees reflect on their values and what meaning they give various elements including relationships, country, culture and allowing groups to see that there are differences in how people see concepts.
“Äs a woman the things that I value is the voices of women. I value space for us to be heard. I value our role as mothers and caregivers but that shouldn’t diminish our role the value of our contribution beyond being in the home and being a mother or in the home and the right to have a voice … and too often our voices are silenced.”
Cooperation and Collaboration are critically important to allow Aboriginal people to work together with Non-Indigenous people and walk in two worlds such as the joint management space. This is a really complex space and the training that Michelle runs allows groups to become clearer about the values that run underneath the governance and rules that manage our interactions.
“There is space where you can make good decisions but it has to be about valuing both sides and often that’s where the tension comes from in this idea that Western structures and western ideas are superior to Indigenous ones and we would say the opposite”, said Michelle.
This conflict pervades all aspects of Indigenous people’s lives including definitions of family, which can cause conflict at times when caring or grieving responsibilities arise.
Indigenous corporations are often criticised and alleged to waste money or have poor management practices. However, this is often far from the truth for a majority of Indigenous corporations, who are held to the same corporate governance and accounting standards as their non-Indigenous counterparts such as ASIC, ORIC and ACNC.
“This idea that Indigenous governance is high risk governance is because you don’t have the in-depth understanding of what cultural governance looks like. Just because something has an Indigenous lens doesn’t mean it is less valuable.”
Joint management and cooperation between all parties is critical particularly in the area of fire management. Aboriginal groups conduct cultural burning or “right way fire”, but this has to be jointly managed between pastoralists and is why fire meetings are held each year.
While change is slow, it is happening. Michelle discussed the changes that have happened since the 1967 referendum. In the 1970s, Aboriginal services were set up with the first ACCOS, like Marra Worra Worra, Land Councils, such as KLC, Medical services and Legal Services. These organisations were set up to deliver services for a government agenda. That worked for that period of time”
“What has changed now is more and more there is a freedom to choose what it is that we want as Indigenous people. What’s a priority for our community and then build organisations or corporations that are fit for purpose.”
“We don’t need to be constrained by a government policy that says this is what we should do. When we reclaim our cultural governance models and notions of Nation Building. We decide what we want to prioritise then we work to that intent. Rather then being distracted by funding and resourcing.”
“There are many more people working on governance that is led by them for them.”
“We start to look at ways of making economies out of our governances so we are not always held to a government contract on their terms. We have also developed a huge Indigenous business sector where mob are making huge contributions where they weren’t 20 or 30 years ago. Absolutely the world has changed and I look forward to seeing what the next 20-30 years brings us.”
The importance of strong, transparent leadership is its foundation as part of the end goal of self determination.
“Ultimately the goal is self-determination, we want to be in control of our own decisions, for us by us. Everything we do continues to work towards that endgame,” said Michelle.
Listen to Andrea’s whole conversation with Michelle here:
https://omny.fm/shows/kimberley-voices-6fx/michelle-de-chong-cultural-leadership-v2Learn more about joint management here:
https://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/management/aboriginal-engagement/joint-managementLearn more about naming of parks here:
https://exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au/get-inspired/whats-name
Join us in making Biriyali Tea on Bunuba Country in Fitzroy Crossing.
I make Biriyali tea all the time.
Biriyali means Konkerberry bush in Bunuba.
Native title grants the right to collect parts of the plant and use them for traditional purposes.
When the berries turn purple you can eat them. The wood is used for smoking ceremonies.
Today we just boiled up the leaves to drink. It's great when you have a cold or sore throat.
Final rehearsals…
Reconciliation Week performance…
Collecting Biriyali from Danggu Conservation Park on Bunuba Country.
My son is also called Biriyali (mostly called Aarli), which means Konkerberry bush in Bunuba language that I was determined to preserve.
Berries are beginning to fruit but are still green 💚 we can eat them when they turn purple 💜
Today we are making Biriyali tea though which is a green tea good for sore throats and colds but also just nice to drink, made by boiling up the leaves.
Three years on from the 2023 floods the admin impacts on the flood are still being felt with many people still working on replacing lost or damaged identification documents.
Justice Connect has partnered with Telstra to provide these instructions to put ID documents on a USB or email them to yourself.
Some community members may still find this challenging – help is out there.
If you need help getting ID documents or replacing/ reapplying for them:
Talk to Money Management, Karayili CRC, go to the AJP Day or see one of the legal services that comes into town.
Once you have your ID documents work on keeping them in one safe place.
If you live somewhere that floods a lot make sure to put this into your flood emergency plan.
How to store your documents on a USB — Get ePrepared
Flows and Tracks at Old Crossing…
Partnerships Help Raise Kids and Adults Up
🧵 Thread Together 🧵In a few hours from now, the MWW Night Space Fashion Project will be walked down the KAFTA – Kimberley Aboriginal Fashion Textiles Art Runway at Town Beach Broome by young Fitzroy Valley women alongside professional Walmajarri-Yamatji Model Billie-Jean Hamlet as part of the amazing work of Marra Worra Worra at the Night Space and KAFTA proudly supported by funding from the Kimberley Development Commission through the Kimberley Community Action Fund as many other sponsors.
Earlier this afternoon, the central Central Kimberley Football Basketball League Colts Team came runner up in the Kimberley Spirit Football Carnival, as result of another Fitzroy Valley partnership between Garnduwa, Central Kimberley Football League, Leedal, Nindiliingarri and WA Police.
It was partnerships and connections that bought Thread Together and their pop-up store to the Old Café in Fitzroy Crossing too. In November last year the Fitzroy Crossing After the Flood Runway was held, featuring amazing fashion and a trip back to town for Billie-Jean Hamlet. Billie-Jean had volunteered at the Thread Together Warehouse in Sydney earlier that year and was able to connect Thread Together to Marra Worra Worra as well as bring clothes back for the young girls, who walked the Old Crossing Runway.
“Billie said I’m going back to Fitzroy in a couple of months can I take a couple of boxes and of course we said yes,” said Katie.
From initial introductions from Lotterywest, Thread Together was also able to work together with KRACLN (Kimberley Remote Aboriginal Community Leadership Network).
“Parallel to that (meeting Billie Jean) through Lotterywest Thread Together were introduced to KRACLN who have joined together to have a louder voice on issues that are affecting them.
After reaching out to CEOs to let them know that Thread Together could provide clothes if needed, three reached out – Mulan, Yiyili and Ardyaloon. TT got the clothes to Broome and then 75 boxes of clothes were transported by community to Ardyaloon and then set up on tables in a hall and people then sorted through them on tables.”
After this experience, TT began to imagine how they could bring dignity and choice similar to a shopping experience elsewhere. From this a modular pop up shop was designed which can now be put up and down in about 4 hours.TT started in Broome in April were KRACLN had their annual meeting in April. This is the first round and each month they will be at a different community. June in Halls Creek, July Kununurra and then back to Broome in August. In the Kimberley wet season, TT will be in Kalgoorlie but the main way to access clothes will be through online orders.
Mansfield at Gurami Yani U and Deborah Carter from Marra Worra Worra was with Katie and the volunteers, introducing them to the community. Far North Disability Services also bought in clients and Fitzroy Valley District High School have received ball dresses for events later in the year.
“It has just been the most amazing community experience here. We have been so blessed to be introduced to the community in the way we have. “
“The point of the popup was to show the community what we were about and what clothes we had. It’s the start of the long partnership.”
Katie said that “30% of all clothing that is made is never sold. Just over 2000 brands donate clothes to Thread Together and she didn’t realise but a pair of $1000 shoes made it to Fitzroy Crossing, including clothes from Calvin Klein, Tarocash, Tommy Hilfinger and RM Williams.
In fact, Katie said, “More clothes from more expensive brands actually are donated rather than Kmart brands as those brands do not want to price down.“
Thread Together just promises that they will never on-sell the clothes they will always give them.
Last year they had 10000 volunteers sort clothes, size clothes, then fulfil online orders.
Thread Together works with charity partners as they know that charity partners know their communities so much more then they do.In Fitzroy Crossing, it will be Marra Worra Worra receiving the order, which be put on a pallet, wrapped and sent to Marra Worra Worra each quarter.
“Logistically we seem to have issues with missing boxes when they are send individually but its must harder to lose a pallet. “
“We are here for the long haul. We are committed to being able to support the community.”
“Also without ruining local businesses. We are quite conscious when we go into small communities that we don’t take away someone’s business. So we won’t be setting up a permanent shop. That’s not what we are about. We are here to top up. To help the people who may not normally be able to get even good quality second hand clothes.”
The clothes at this month’s pop up were chosen by Billie-Jean who walked the Australian Fashion Week Catwalk and is walking the KAFTA walkway tonight. This is role modelling and education all in one. She also spent time with the young girls from local schools helping them choose clothes and doing a mini catwalk near the Old Cafe's mango tree.
The Thread Together warehouse receives 60 and 90 pallets of clothes every single week. Each pallet had 25 boxes on it. They do get a lot of orders and any charity with a registered ACNC can make orders for a variety of reasons and TT get 600 requests a week.
Thread Together work on an appointment system. They allow three people every half hour to come into the shop to choose their clothes as they are mindful that people have had trauma and become distressed in small, crowded spaces and so all visits are appointment only through local charities.
Thread Together plan to be back next year supported by Marra Worra Worra.
Listen to the whole conversation with Katie from Thread Together here (22 minutes):
https://omny.fm/shows/kimberley-voices-6fx/thread-together-katie-28-may-2026Written by Andrea Myers
Photo of Billie-Jean Hamlet by NIT
Photo of Gurami Yani U by Gurami Yani U
All other photos Wangki RadioLove the Footy Backflips!
WHAT A MARK!
Kenyon Munda of Central Kimberley Football Basketball League is up for AFGRI JOHN DEERE Mark of the Year after this huge mark at Haynes Oval Broome on Day 1 of Kimberley Colts Carnival against West Kimberley.
Watch all Day 2 action here on Filming Footy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wd0AGZkahL0
(Photo Credit: Garnduwa
Kimberley Spirit Football Program
@topfans
Watch the end of the Colts Grand Final
CKFL v WKFL
https://www.facebook.com/share/1DTsPThBwx/
Working to Overcome Eurocentric Attachment Tools Used in Child Protection
Tracey Westerman has announced that her paper “Arguing the Need for Aboriginal Specific Testing of Attachment Theory as a Foundation of Cuturally Informed Child Protection” is to be published in the journal “Clinical Psychologist”.
Dr Westerman has argued for decades that this testing needs to take place and a program that specifically addresses Indigenous Carer Needs is required.
In September 2024, The Westerman Jilya Institute secured a Department of Health Medical Research Future Fund grant for their project: “Aboriginal Cultural Connection and Attachment-Based Responses” to validate Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Procedure with Aboriginal Australian Populations and design a culturally informed attachment program targeting Indigenous Caregiver Responsiveness.Mary Ainsworth was an American-Canadian psychologist and researcher, who’s work developing the Strange Situation Procedure, built on the work of John Bowlby and is considered the gold standard for identifying and classifying individual differences in infant attachment security. Initially observing caregivers in Uguanda.
Classic Attachment theory describes four types of attachment:- secure, insecure – avoidant, insecure-resistant and disorganised. The theory describes what is observed in children exhibiting these types of attachment styles, with a securely attached child considered to feel safe enough to explore their world knowing they have a safe haven to return to.
Years after Ainsworth, other researchers found that attachment patterns are transmitted across generations argued that a parent's “state of mind with respect to attachment” predicted their behaviour, which then predicts an infant's pattern of attachment.
Living under constant threat of your children being removed impacts a parent’s nervous system and caregivers can become fearful and hypervigilant, which compromises their ability to be responsive to their children in ways that promote secure attachment.
Unfortunately, when a child protection investigation starts, child protection workers look for signs of disorganised or insecure attachment to confirm poor attachment as it confirms that a parent’s state of mind needs “fixing” as poor attachment is a predictor of poor outcomes for a child.
This can look like child protection writing their observations as:
“staff observed during a home visit that x carried in bags from the car without being asked.”
“children would call out to their mum but she would redirect them or send them to a sibling for comfort.”
The above is then considered “absent parenting, unwilling to prioritise children’s needs and lack of supervision.”
With the Department arguing that “studies show that without receiving enough affection and attention the brain fails to grow and develop in core areas.”
Westerman and argues that this means parenting difference becomes considered parenting maltreatment.” In an article she wrote with Judy Atkinson ten years ago ‘Trauma and Attachment in Aboriginal People’, it was argued that aspects of collectivist , that caring is a shared responsibility, more than one person might pick up a child from school daycare, increased autonomy and independence of children, such as older children developing the capacity to learn responsibilities to care for and protect one another can be considered a normal part of culture.
In the eyes of the Child Protection authorities, those same aspects can be labelled “parentification”, “not supervised properly”, “the older children take on a lot of the care needs for the younger children” and be part of substantiating the emotional abuse and neglect grounds to intervene and remove a child. Observations that appear disorganised are seen as an indicator of inconsistent or neglectful parenting leading to removal so these children can be “healed” through responsive caring by foster carers in a Eurocentric context.
Ironically, in the Circle of Security Model based on Ainsworth’s strange situation protocol, this would be considered removing the parent off the circle all together as the hands would simply be “gone”. So while the model accepts that every parent experiences frustration or overwhelm and struggles to meet their child’s attachment needs at times, considered a relationship "rupture", if parent and child remain in the same space the have the opportunity to repair the relationship by being in the words of COS “Bigger, Stronger, Wiser, and Kind caregiver”, let the child know the parent realises things went off track, validate Their experience and show empathy for what they were feeling without shaming or blaming them for the outburst and then re-establish connection.
Unfortunately, once children are in care, contact can often be limited to 2 hours supervised contact per week in an unfamiliar location with rules on what to say and everything a parent does being watched, listened to and recorded.
Westerman has also argued for increased cultural competency and her consultancy firm completed an audit of the WA “Child Protection and Family Support (the Department) Foster Care and Adoption Assessment Manual 2017” in 2019.While Aboriginal people can be considered a collectivist culture, and Westerman and Aiken write “The commonality amongst Indigenous groups lies in the importance of the extended family and the unity of the relationship to the land and to kin”, what is also noted is the trauma of generations of child protection experiences changes the way families respond to each other. Families with significant trauma and child protection histories can develop what Teresa Hall, Rhys Price-Robertson and Ruby Awra call “Threat Brain”, so alert to threat that survival behaviours of fight, flight and freeze are triggered from every reaction. So while, the Department expect a outpouring of support from extended family if child protection come knocking, what they may get instead is flight – no one coming at all, people not answering the phone and the parent being left labelled as having a mental health condition that means they “struggle to maintain stable support networks due to being too intense or relying too heavily on them and being the cause of extended family withdrawal.”
The Circle of Security Model was adapted by a group of Aboriginal perinatal and mental health professionals between 2015 and 2018 with the Connected Parenting Team at St John of God Social Outreach Team, with a series of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Resources developed that encompass Indigenous Worldviews of Relationships to country, spirituality, culture and community.
While adapting the Circle of Security (COS) framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families has been shown to create profound, community-led benefits by focusing on cultural safety, relational healing, strengthening kinship ties and improving the social and emotional wellbeing of children, medical research on Aboriginal Cultural Connection and Attachment-Based Responses has not been completed before. This is what The Westerman Jilya Institute is currently undertaking with the current grant term ending November 2026.Dr Westerman continues to run Indigenous Mental Health, Complex Racial Trauma and Attachment workshops across Australia.
Find virtual workshops here:
https://indigenouspsychservices.com.au/product/indigenous-mental-health-complex-racial-trauma-attachment-virtual-2026/Written by Andrea Myers
Images:
Left: Tracey Westerman – Indigenous Psychological Services
Right: Connected Parenting Coming Together Handout from Circle of Security International