Response-able and collaborative knowledge in Indigenous geographies

Presenting author: Bawaka Country (Macquarie University)

Other authors: Laklak Burarrwanga (Macquarie University), Ritjilili Ganambarr (Macquarie University), Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs (Macquarie University), Banbapuy Ganambarr (Macquarie University), Djawundil Maymuru (Macquarie University), Rrawun Maymuru (Bawaka Cultural Experiences), Sandie Suchet-Pearson (Macquarie University), Sarah Wright (University of Newcastle), Kate Lloyd (Macquarie University), Matalena Tofa (Macquarie University), Lara Daley (University of Newcastle)

In this paper, we engage with the Goŋ Gurtha songspiral, shared on/by/with/as Bawaka Country in Yolŋu Northeast Arnhem Land, Australia, to provide a basis for re-thinking responsibility in the context of ongoing Eurocentric colonising processes. Goŋ Gurtha encourages us to consider two key aspects of responsibility - response and ability.

We argue that Yolŋu relational ontologies conceive response-abilities as requiring an ability to pay close and careful attention as part of more-than-human worlds, and an imperative to respond as part of these worlds. As such, rather than being responsible to or for others, we seek to respond as, emphasising our emergent co-becoming in more-than-human, situated, ethical ways. Goŋ Gurtha guides the paper through four aspects of these response-abilities: response-abilities as songspirals; response-abilities as continuity; response-abilities as academics and response-abilities beyond Bawaka. In doing so, we understand response-abilities as more-than-human co-becomings enacted in contingent ways that none-the-less need to be grounded in deep obligations of more-than-human kinship.

Presenting author: Bhiamie Williamson (Western Sydney University)

Other author: Bhiamie Williamson (Australian National University)

"Do they know the basics?" we ask each other before going into another meeting, workshop, or beginning another report. The answer is usually 'No', and it feels like we journey on, into an ever expanding void. Appreciatively, if your life is steeped in colonisation, then it can take a while for the light bulb moment that Indigenous people and Country are still here #alwayswasalwayswillbe. So, last year, instead of subject expertise, we published basic facts and statistics that show, yes, Indigenous people are still here and they were disproportionally affected by the 2019-20 bushfires in Victoria and New South Wales (Williamson et al. 2020).

Seasoned journalists and researchers expressed surprise. Though, not as surprised as we were when our cursory search of post-Bushfire commissions and inquiries revealed how Indigenous people had been erased and made absent, or included as an historical footnote under 'The Past' (Teale et al. 2009). At what point do you say enough is enough? This presentation will strip back some layers in research, policy and practice, to reveal matters that are, as these conference organisers have also insisted, applicable across not just topics but the discipline and where geographers' place their priorities. 

Presenting author: Arlene McInherny (University of Newcastle)

Learning from the Koala song is a focus of my research as a Birpai woman Country. Through deep listening, in my presentation you are invited to hear the koala and the song of Country which the koala sings with. Through eco acoustics, be transported to the warmer months of Birpai Country on the Mid North Coast. Hear Birpai Country's song woven with the stories of the old people for an eco-acoustic immersion. This presentation focusses on questions that that I bring to my master's research; can we sing the Koala population up? Can we remember our place and responsibility in entangled kinship with country through sound and ecolinguistics? Drawing from the literature of Barclay (2019), Bawaka Country et al (2018)., and Kwaymullina (2016), as well as studies that underpin the relationship between ecolinguistics and conservation (Harmon & Skutnabb-Kangas, 2017), this narrative will consider the reciprocity of song and existence. Arlene shares story of how her own language was restorative to connecting with Country in a decolonisation process. Listening to country guided her to use sound to advocate for the more- than- human world and further honour cultural responsibilities in a contemporary context.

Presenting author: Tod Jones (Curtin University)

Other authors: Roy Jones (Curtin University), Samya Jabbour (Curtin University)

This paper analyses an important component of the shifting institutional relationships and land management arrangements in Western Australia. Native Title processes are entwined with and have, to an extent, driven, a change in the relationship between conservation agencies and Indigenous traditional owners that are now starting to transform Australia's conservation estate. Since 2005, the West Australian state Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions and its predecessors have worked with local Aboriginal groups to establish formal processes and guidelines for joint management of Western Australia's parks and reserves. This process has actual and potential synergies that respond to the ecological and socioeconomic effects of settler colonialism. Aboriginal concepts of both connection to and caring for Country have alignments with the Department's conservation remit, and joint management agreements allow for the provision of a formal role in land management, the exercise of customary practices, and Aboriginal employment and training in rural and remote areas of the state. This presentation will trace and map Western Australia's joint park management initiatives and consider how they are influencing land management and the livelihoods of Aboriginal communities.