Aboriginal Way

Recent cultural burns on Yorke Peninsula are reconnecting Narungga people to the traditional practice of burning on Country, training local First Nations people, and facilitating the exchange of knowledge between First Nations’ people and non-Indigenous partners and land managers.

Burns were conducted at Point Pearce, Minlaton/Minlagawi Gum Flat and Ardrossan grasslands, with further assessments carried out at sites initially slated for burns including Dhibara Sanctuary, Dhilba Guuranda (Innes National Park), Rocky Bend and Warooka Property (Marawardi).

On this episode of Aboriginal Way we spoke with Narungga man and leading practitioner, Peter Turner, who conducted cultural burns at Point Pearce alongside Victor Steffensen from Firesticks Alliance and described the practice on Narungga Country as “well overdue.”

“The Old People, they managed the Country and more or less gardened it with fire. Now we’ve got a couple hundred years of mess that’s been allowed to build-up since these practices were stopped," Mr Turner said.

Funding for the project was secured from the Australian Government’s Preparing Australian Communities – Local Stream, designated for the series of cultural burns conducted on Narungga Country, with project management, funding and stakeholder coordination for the project organised by the Yorke Peninsula Council.

Two weeks ago a group of Australian atomic survivors travelled to Canberra to speak with government decision-makers about their experiences as survivors of the British nuclear testing program in WA and SA.

They will outlined expectations for future actions from the government to acknowledge and address the harms caused by

 This year marks the 70th anniversary of the British nuclear testing program at Emu Field in South Australia, and one of the delegates,

Her late father, Yami Lester, was blinded by the tests at Emu Field, and Karina carries his story as well as her grandmother’s story about the impacts of the tests on her people.

 “Our mob were not informed of those tests that were about to take place on our traditional lands,” said Karina.

“Consent was never given by Anangu for the Emu

 "First Nations peoples of this Country have been speaking up strong about truth telling, this is our truth telling, about the

"All Australians need to know the truth about what happened on

“These people are infiltrating local governments, taking custodians land away and meddling with identity and politics, it's a really scary issue.”

Palawa man Nathan Maynard's play, 'At What Cost?', explores the issue of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders incorrectly identifying themselves as Palawa persons, a contentious issue since legal reform from the Tasmanian government in 2016.

New criteria introduced allowed people to use self identification and communal recognition to prove Aboriginal ancestry, replacing a system that previously required additional documentary evidence in the process.

Ahead of the State Theatre Company South Australia debut of the play on June 16, we spoke with lead actor, Sandy Greenwood, about the show's stirring content, her personal experiences with identity and more.

With constant rolling coverage in regard to the Federal Referendum, you may have missed the establishment of the South Australian First Nations Voice to Parliament.

Back in March, South Australia became the first Australian jurisdiction to pass a bill legislating a State Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Separate from the Federal Voice, the initiative is intended to provide a direct line of communication for elected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with the South Australian Parliament.

We spoke with the Electoral Commision of South Australia's Director of Advertising and Communications, James Trebilcock, about the key dates, enrolment + nomination process for the upcoming elections and differences between the state and federal voice.

Six regions across South Australia will feature an elected body, with only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders eligible to vote and nominate for this election.

Successful nominees will form Local First Nations Voice bodies, with each region choosing two joint presiding members to represent their region on the State First Nations voice.

Elections for the Local First Nations Voice will be held on 9 September 2023.

A lost totem of the Erawirung people, the Murray

On May 16, 200 crays were relocated from parts of the NSW

Erawirung man and ranger coordinator for the River Murray and Malle Aboriginal Corporation, Glenn

Charlie Flannigan was a prize-winning jockey and stockman who became the centre of a murder trial that gripped the Northern Territory in 1892.

Faith Thomas AM, the first Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to play for Australia in any sport, has died at aged 90.

The Adnyamathanha woman, who was born at the Nepabunna Aboriginal Mission in 1933 to an Aboriginal mother and German father was selected to play cricket for South Australia in the 1950’s, before going on to play Test Cricket for Australia against England at Melbourne's Junction Oval in 1958 as a fast bowler.

Thomas remains one of just four Indigenous Australians to have played in Test for Australia, alongside Jason Gillespie, Ash Gardner and Scott Boland.

A survivor of the Stolen Generations policy, Aunty Faith was raised at Colebrook Home in the Finders Rangers alongside friend Lowitja O’Donoghue, and both women were among the first group of Aboriginal nurses to graduate from the Royal Adelaide Hospital in the 1950’s.

In 2019, she was awarded the Order of Australia for her services to cricket and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. The Adelaide Strikers also

Aboriginal Way did an interview about the life of Faith Thomas AM a couple of years ago with Tyson Baird, who bonded with her over a shared love of cricket whilst working as an Occupational Therapist in her hometown of Port Augusta. He then went on to co-produce the 2021 NITV documentary about her life called “Before Her Time”, which is available to watch on SBS on Demand, available to watch here - Before Her Time | SBS On Demand

Please enjoy this repeat episode of Aboriginal Way, and note that Thomas's family have granted permission to use her name and images.

“There’s a sense of excitement that something really big is growing from this and it’s encompassing not just the school, but everything around the school that’s linked to it… I’m awed that my boys get to have this experience and know that it will be a visible part of their lives forevermore. It’s not going to be this hidden, misunderstood almost myth that you hear about as a child, that’s edited so heavily.

These children have now got truth, they’ve got connection to Kaurna people, to the culture. They’ve got an experience of that culture that

Aboriginal Way recently visited Upper Sturt Primary School to learn about its Kaurna Program led by Kaurna Elder Uncle Tamaru, which only began in 2021, but is already going from strength to strength.

When these children have the right to be a Governor, a Premier, a lawyer; when something about Aboriginal people crosses their bench, they’re not going to put it in the too hard basket – they’re actually going to deal with it because they will say ‘I know this culture, I know the people. I know Uncle, he’s pretty cool – he rides a Harley! Let’s work with them’.” - Uncle Tamaru

Kaurna Program at Upper Sturt Primary School - SA Native Title (nativetitlesa.org)

Over the last two days, the Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, the Federal Attorney-General Julian Leeser, the Special Envoy for Reconciliation and the Implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart Pat Dodson, met with the Federal Voice to Parliament Referendum Working Group and Referendum Engagement Group on Kaurna Land.

The Working Group also met with Acting Premier Susan Close and the SA Attorney General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Kyam Maher, to discuss progress towards a First Nations Voice to Parliament. The working group was excited to hear about the progress here, and supports South Australia’s movement to ensure that voices in remote and regional communities are heard.

The Working Group received an update on the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Amendment Bill 2022, which will be further considered by the Senate next week. The Working Group continued its discussion on the wording of the proposed amendments to the Constitution to include an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament and progressed the wording of the question on the ballot paper.

The Government will introduce the Constitution Alteration Bill to Parliament in the final sitting week of March.  The bill will define the question Australians will be asked at the referendum and contain the proposed amendment to the Constitution. This will be followed by a comprehensive parliamentary inquiry. This process will provide Australians, including First Nations people, with the chance to make formal submissions on the proposed constitutional amendments and the question to be put to the Australian people.

The group addressed the media on Friday morning, the 17th March to discuss progress and tell South Australians about the special Parliament sitting day on Sunday, 26th March when all South Australians are invited to take free public transport a partially closed-off North Terrace and hear the South Australians Voice to Parliament Bill officially passed in Parliament and proclaimed by the Governor of South Australia.

Hear directly from SA Attorney General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Kyam Maher, Referendum Working Party representative Thomas Major, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney and Federal Attorney-General Julian Leeser....

The biggest South Australian event dedicated to improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is coming up quickly. The annual “Closing the Gap day” from Sonder and Nunkuwarrin Yunti will be held on Kaurna Country at the Adelaide Showgrounds on Thursday, 16th March from 11am to 3pm. Here to tell us about it on the show today is Njirrah Rowe, the Team Leader of Sonder's Closing the Gap Integrated Team Care Program.

*Organisations can still register to hold a stall on the day, just email [email protected].

More info at Closing The Gap Day – Closing The Gap Day