- Funding supports 20 projects to preserve culture through activities on Country
- Activities include artist camps, cultural mapping, a cultural perspectives program and recording of oral history
- Connecting to Country grant program fosters inter-generational knowledge sharing
Twenty projects throughout the Kimberley, Pilbara, Mid-West, Goldfields-Esperance and Metropolitan regions will share in $469,384 through the Connecting to Country program.
Connecting to Country is a competitive grants program that supports Western Australian Aboriginal people and organisations to undertake on-country activities that foster the intergenerational transfer of knowledge, preservation of culture and strengthening of communities.
The program aims to:
- facilitate sharing of cultural knowledge and skills between generations, such as the preservation of language, stories and dance;
- recognise Aboriginal cultural leadership within the Aboriginal community and support leadership development in young people;
- contribute to stronger community mental health and wellbeing; and
- strengthen, protect and maintain traditional ways of maintaining cultural knowledge.
The Connecting to Country 2022 to 2023 round has awarded funding to the following recipients with projects starting from 1 May:
- Mantjiljarra Yulparirra Pty Ltd - $24,904 to facilitate a songline and Tjukurrpa field trip across the northern Goldfields desert;
- Yawuru Jarndu Aboriginal Corporation - $22,519 for Nagula Jarndu women artists to complete a guided tour led by Yawuru Country Managers and Yawuru Elders;
- Tjarlirli Art Indigenous Corporation - $25,000 for an artist camp and return-to Country project mapping significant cultural sites north of Tjukurla Community;
- Northampton Old School Community Initiative Inc - $17,874 to bring the Ku'arlu Mangga (Good Nest) Women's group and Aboriginal youth to significant Nhanda water and seasonal food places on the Murchison River;
- Juluwarlu Group Aboriginal Corporation - $24,917 for a Women's Art Camp for emerging and senior Yindjibarndi women artists and arts workers to visit women's knowledge sites on Country;
- Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation - $24,860 for telling Lalay stories, singing Junba songs and art paintings of traditional Wanjina Wunggurr rock art;
- Ngunytju Tjitji Pirni Aboriginal Corporation - $25,000 for a program to empower Aboriginal women through connecting to Country, sharing culture and knowledge across generations;
- Warlayirti Artists Aboriginal Corporation Inc - $25,000 for on-Country trips with Elders to build the next generation of Cultural Leaders;
- Muludja Remote Community School - $5,000 for the Muludja RCS On Country Camp to facilitate the sharing of cultural knowledge and skills between generations of Gooniyandi people;
- City of Greater Geraldton - $25,000 to deliver two on Country cultural camps for young people in the Greater Geraldton region;
- Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC - $24,480 to co-design the program logic for a Wudjari Cultural Perspectives Program to be delivered in public schools in the Esperance region;
- Shire of East Pilbara - $25,000 for artists to travel to Punmu Community and surrounding country to reconnect both with Country and family ties;
- Enterprise Partnerships WA Ltd - $25,000 for a series of on Country camps to keep Kwini culture strong in Kalumburu and enable the sharing of culture and stories between women and young women;
- Kalyuku Ninti - Puntuku Ngurra Limited - $25,000 for an on Country trip for Martu Elders and their family members to reconnect with Country and record oral history and stories of cultural sites and places;
- Jidi Jidi Aboriginal Corporation - $25,000 for Nharnuwangga Wajarri Ngarlawangga Traditional Owners to undertake cultural co-mapping with Artist, Kim Mahood, on Country;
- Yorganop Association Incorporated - $25,000 for connecting Aboriginal children in foster care and their carer families, and young people leaving care, to on Country experiences and day camps;
- Noongar Boodjar Language Cultural Aboriginal Corporation (NBLCAC) - $24,925 to take a multidisciplinary team on Country with Elders to create the first ethical model of ethnogeology in Australia;
- Yiyili Community Indigenous Corporation - $25,000 to help deliver a series of bush trips on Gooniyandi Country for students at Yiyili School;
- City of Melville - $25,000 to engage at-risk young people and build their cultural knowledge, connection to Country and artistic practice; and
- Ngaanyatjarra Media (Aboriginal Corporation) - $24,905 for women Elders and Community leaders of Irruntju to take girls to a sacred rock-hole to teach them an important Tjukurpa (dreaming), Two Sisters Dreaming, and make an educational film.
Connecting to Country is administered by the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries. More information is available on the DLGSC website:
https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/funding/arts-funding/connecting-to-country
Comments attributed to Culture and the Arts Minister David Templeman:
"The McGowan Government recognises the importance of investing back into our State's rich Aboriginal cultural knowledge to preserve and strengthen WA's diverse and extraordinary cultures.
"WA is home to the world's oldest living and continuous cultures, stretching back at least 60,000 years.
"Through supporting these on Country activities, we also strengthen communities and encourage vital inter-generational knowledge sharing."
Comments attributed to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Tony Buti:
"I am so pleased to see so many important and culturally secure projects being supported through these grants.
"Part of reconciliation and walking together is recognising the importance of Country and culture, which these grants aim to do through these 20 different projects."
Culture and the Arts Minister's office - 6552 5400
Aboriginal Affairs Minister's office - 6552 6400
