I’m inviting you to explore with me & Uncle Moogy Sumner the development of a First Nations Cultural and Healing Network in South Australia.

The aim of this would be to:

• To provide a safe and welcoming spaces for First Nations peoples to learn about and with South Australian Aboriginal cultures.

• People will be able to learn about community and land, cultural and healing practices that are provided by educators who are the Traditional Custodians, Elders and experts from South Australian First Nations’ groups and non-Aboriginal experts & other community experts where relevant.

We want to develop this with all South Australian First Nations Communities and those that live in South Australia that would like to be involved. The first stage that is beginning now is asking you, what do you think of this idea and what should be the key parts of it.

At this stage, there is no external funding, reporting or KPIs, the only thing that matters is your voice, your hopes and dreams for our people.

Why are we doing this? 

Whilst western health systems can do many things they are not able to heal the spirit of our people and can create through their aims other problems, many of us seem lost, I really want a way that our people can find their way home

Depending on who we are, we can have very different understandings of our cultures and identities & don’t always know how to really learn about our culture. Even when we do know where we come from & have amazing Elders around us, due to colonisation, it is still difficult to find things out.

Whilst many of us are sharing & teaching culture, we tend to be doing this to improve organisations/ systems we live & work in, but we also need this personally.

This will need a solid business model, in other words eventually we will need money and resources to make this work,- right now, this stage is learning from you.

Some of the things I think are really important to this developing are:

•  All Australian First Nations people are welcome & have a right to learn deeply if they want to about their culture

•  All people are treated with dignity & respect

•  A focus on regeneration (of land, language) in all ways that cares for the natural world and all beings- that focuses on flourishing & healing

•  A place of care and learning, that is sacred

•  Whilst information/knowledge is accessible through different ways, the process of learning will take commitment- maybe multiple layers/stages of learning. This will of course will respect all Nations cultural business and be completely led by First Nations peoples on what is shared and what is not and with whom.

So the first step is a short survey for First Nations peoples, or parents, carers, teachers of First Nations children.

What do you think this could be & do for our people?

For Allies please join my mailing list for updates on the project and ways to connect in future (go to ‘About’ on this website & click for updates)

Whilst we are starting in SA, if you live outside of SA and are an Australian First Nations person please fill in the survey, there are no borders here, with enough interest maybe we can make the network bigger. Allies have also said to me how important this would be to all people and I agree, this would be important for all human beings, and it is really important to me that SA First Nations peoples are the primary focus first. Also there is so much work our people are already doing, I just wanted to be clear that we will tread with respect and ensure we yarn with all these people.

Finally, this is just the start and we hope to visit all SA Nations in the near future to yarn in person.

First Nations peoples, or parents, carers, teachers of First Nations children can access the survey here