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You can help save the last great places in Australia. Donate now! View photos of Australia Nowanup Reserve includes some stunning red bluffs. © Carey Nicholas See a larger version of this photo Eucalyptus vesiculosa is only found at Nowanup Reserve and on nearby properties. © Amanda Kessing/Gondwana Link See a larger version of this photo Part of Nowanup Reserve was once poor quality farmland. These areas are now being revegetated. © Ron Geatz/TNC See a larger version of this photo Great Southern Circle of Noongar Women’s Business © Amanda Keesing/Gondwana Link See a larger version of this photo View the first page

Listening to Noongar Stories, Traditions, and Values

The Importance of Incorporating the Noongar Way into Conservation

It was truly a memorable day. The women have great senses of humour, laugh a lot and have fun. There were also some sad stories told, and very private stories about birth places along the river, discussions on the uses of native plants and other stories about the unique local landscape features such as explaining why the cliffs are so red. But those aren’t my stories to tell.

I really enjoyed my time walking with two young girls, about 13 or 14 years old—we walked beside the Pallinup looking at fencing and revegetation work done along the Pallinup’s river banks to exclude sheep, stabilize the river banks and provide natural habitat. I showed them the sand that had washed down the river from upstream farms and explained how this sand fills the pools that provide such important habitat for fish. The girls were genuinely excited to learn. Then I picked up a small white quartz stone and put it in my pocket. One of the girls asked if I was allowed to do that because her grandmother said never move stones—they belong where they are. So I replaced the stone but felt so heartened that the girl had so much respect for her elder’s values and traditions.

I talked to the women about the Gondwana Link project—that we are buying properties as part of our work to ecologically restore and re-connect 620 miles of protected land. Someone talked about whether the women would consider purchasing a site for their ecological repair work. The response was, “We don't need to buy land, all the land is ours, it is our mother and we just want to heal her. We just want to be able to visit the places where we have worked.”

I felt that as the only Wadjela woman, it was my responsibility to just listen. Although I facilitated the visit and was the group's guide for the day, I felt that the tables were turned and I learned a great deal about Gondwana Link through their culturally important stories. For me the day’s most heartening sentiment was the women’s delight that their knowledge and assistance was being sought and valued as part of our ongoing re-vegetation efforts. It was only matched by my delight that the Noongar communities’ knowledge, cultural traditions and values are part of the Gondwana Link project.

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For more information about Gondwana Link:

• The Nature Conservancy's role in Gondwana Link
  Partnering with several other Australian conservation organizations, the Conservancy is helping to restore and reconnect 34 million acres of landscape.
• How You Can Help: Donate Online
  Support conservation by helping to save the last great places in Australia.
• Visit the Gondwana Link website [gondwanalink.org]
  Learn more about our partners in this ambitious project.