Tribal Fires - Dumbartung

In this 3 part episode of Tribal Fires titles Communities features the stories of two young Aboriginal people who have travelled to Perth from remote Aboriginal communities in Western Australia to further their studies and seek employment opportunities either in the city or back in their home community.

In this podcast we discuss the relevance of community, culture and family.

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This episode of tribal fires is an Observation on Dumbartung’s cultural program implemented into the Banksia Hill detention centre including the infamous unit 18 during 2024-2025.

It also observes the history of incarceration on Indigenous people from the time of colonisation. It also addresses the adopted 3 strikes policy with a mandatory 12 months sentence.

 It also observes an incident that occurred at the conclusion of the program between Dumbartung senior staff members and custodial officers.

It gives reference to a number of recommendations that were forwarded to the department of justice regarding these programs.

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This episode of Tribal Fires titled ‘Black Cladding’ looks at the increasing practise of non-Indigenous businesses cashing in on funding and contracts designed specifically to further the advancement of Aboriginal people.

These companies appear to be Indigenous owned and operated, however behind the scenes there is a clever strategy and company setup that appears genuine but in fact the decision making, true ownership and the profits are syphoned off to benefit the non-Indigenous shareholders.

With the current Commonwealth Indigenous Procurement Policy there is now Billions of dollars available for Indigenous owned businesses to finally become economically independent and create a vibrant Indigenous business and employment network.

However a vast amount of this funding is being rorted and fraudulently obtained by non-Indigenous owned business entities due to the lack of government oversight and failure of the governing agencies to properly scrutinise and verify the authenticity of these business structures.

This is what we call “Black Cladding’.

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This episode of Tribal Fires titled ‘Genocide’ features an interview with Dr Muhamed Mustafa affectionately known as Dr Mo.

A practising GP in Australia, Dr Mo has visited Gaza first hand, witnessing  the devastation and in particular the impact that the war has had on young children.

Dr Mo has a vision to re build a children’s hospital from the ruins that has devastated the Gazan population and especially the innocent children.

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This episode of Tribal Fires titled ‘Truth Telling’ is a story about the heart of Reconciliation, identified as a truth telling process to bring awareness of history from an Aboriginal perspective to build a greater understanding for the future of Australia direct from the Uluru statement of the heart.

However this story shines light on the difficulties and uncertainties for those who tell these truths to ensure their safety and well-being from the backlash and racism that still exists within the social structures of Australia.

This episode gives recognition to those who have lost their lives in the pursuit of justice.

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This episode of Tribal Fires entitled ‘Smoke’, discusses ancient Aboriginal customs including spiritual healing from pre colonisation traditions to contemporary times. 

Connections to old customs within the Aboriginal communities today are still very strong and require the appropriate cultural knowledge, understanding and ceremonies to ensure the spiritual well-being of our people.

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This episode of Tribal Fires is entitled “Entrenched”.

It discusses the social empowerment of racial control of the Australian social systems.

We cover Dumbartung’s perspective of the recent federal election and the racist policies of the conservative right wing party, the Liberal coalition.

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This episode of Tribal Fires called Massacre Ground ‘The Song’, explains the meaning and background in the writing of the song.

We discuss the reason why it was important to record a message for our young people to understand the concept of telling our stories by our people as part of the need for truth telling.

Massacre Ground will be released shortly as a poem/affirmation on YouTube and will be promoted on our Social media platforms.

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This story of Tribal Fires center's on the Dumbartungs maxim, "May our Campfires Burn Forever". Its origin, purpose, and how NAIDOC eclipsed and whitewashed its true meaning and, without any form of consultation, used it in their 2024 slogan "Keep the Fire Burning."

This episode also gives evidence of other forms of cultural exploitation and is an ongoing tribute to the young people in our community, who will carry our stories into future generations.

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WARNING: This podcast contains story of personal loss through suicide.

This Tribal Fires episode is titled ‘Hurt’. This is a deeply personal story about the devastating loss of my only son through Suicide.

Suicide in Australia’s Indigenous communities is at a pandemic level. 

This horrible reality is now affecting the youth and most concerningly young children are also becoming part of this statistic.

This podcast is the story of my son Rob (Bobbo) and the emotional journey My wife and I have been on since his passing. I hope this story will give strength to the parents who have lost children to suicide, and also give hope to any young person who may find themselves in a dark place to not give up.

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