Amplifying the voices of First Nations women caring for Country  — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. Themed Presentation: Sharing Stories
  3. Amplifying the voices of First Nations women caring for Country 

Amplifying the voices of First Nations women caring for Country  (119320)

Ann White 1 , M Austral 2 , Andrea Andrews 3 , Vanessa Murray 4 , Gennivea Aplin 5 , Bianca McNeair 6 , Rosanna Goslett-King 6 , Ree Jordan 7 , Miriam Yates 7 , Terrance Fitzsimmons 7 , Romola Stewart 6 , Katherine van Wezel 1 , Victor Callan 7
  1. Strong Women for Healthy Country Network, Nightcliff, NORTHERN TERRITORY, Australia
  2. Tiwi Rangers, Tiwi Resources, Milikapiti, Northern Territory, Australia
  3. Banatjarl Strongbala Wimun Grup, Jawoyn Association Aboriginal Corporation, Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia
  4. Mimal Land Management Aboriginal Corporation, Weemol, Northern Territory, Australia
  5. Waanyi-Garawa Rangers, Northern Land Council, Borroloola, Northern Territory, Australia
  6. WWF-Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
  7. School of Business, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
The Strong Women for Healthy Country Network brings together women caring for salt water, fresh water, and desert Country across the Northern Territory.  Together they gather, share knowledge, and collectively advocate for each other and their Country.    One of the strategic priorities of this network is to reach out to women caring for Country beyond the Northern Territory, and identify opportunities to work together to make women’s voices heard on a national level. In 2023, the Strong Women for Healthy Country Network partnered with the University of Queensland's School of Business and WWF-Australia, on a research project looking at ways to support the leadership and advocacy of women caring for Country.   Together, these partners formed a research team. Our team is made up of rangers, support staff, and academics, and includes both First Nations and non-Indigenous collaborators from the Strong Women for Healthy Country Network, the University of Queensland’s School of Business, and WWF-Australia. As a team we showed each other different ways to share, understand, and create knowledge. Together we co-designed our research approach and purpose: “We are hard to ignore when we stand united with big mob voices. Together we can show the world that caring for Country is a cultural practice: we need to be strong in our culture to care for Country.”   Over the past two years, we have facilitated six yarning circles and conducted 88 digitally recorded interviews with women participating in Strong Women for Healthy Country Forums. We also met in person three times to analyse our data. By looking at the stories, insights, and experiences strong women shared with us, we built our understanding of First Nations women’s leadership, and the need for National forums and networks. We also started identifying barriers to women caring for Country and their advocacy. Our next steps are to work with women caring for Country across Australia to identify new leadership pathways and advocacy strategies.   In this presentation, First Nations women from our team share key learnings and reflections from our research so far, as well as opportunities for women caring for Country join us in our work.  
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