FAQs
This website is intended to showcase and celebrate First Nations cultures in the Milton Ulladulla area and surrounds, and connect people to local Aboriginal events, businesses, educational opportunities and important issues.
The website is hosted by Walking Together volunteers and intended as an online hub for local information. If you would like something included on this website, please reach out by email to admin@walkingtogether.au
What’s this website about?
Please email admin@walkingtogether.au
You’ll be added to the mailing list and kept up to date with opportunities to help out at or attend local events, information about local First Nations businesses, and relevant projects, etc. Please let us know if there’s anything specific you are wanting to get involved in.
There’s no minimum hours or level of input required - just do what you can!
How do I get involved?
When should I do a Welcome or Acknowledgement?
We should pay respects to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander custodians of Country on many occasions, not only with large gatherings but smaller ones too, in a website, email signature, place of business, at your home, on a bumper sticker on your car, or privately when you are feeling grounded and connected to Country.
Welcome to Country
Welcome to Country is an ancient Indigenous tradition that was practiced when one Indigenous community sought permission to enter or pass through another mob’s traditional land. The ceremony varied from mob to mob and would often take a lot of negotiation of terms surrounding the visitors stay.
Respect for this protocol shows your personal respect for the laws (or ‘lore’) that have been in place for many thousands of years in this Country. These are ancient laws from the oldest continuing cultures on Earth that can teach us all lessons about how to live well and live harmoniously together.
Aboriginal peoples are the “original owners” and it is important that this unique position of Aboriginal people is recognised and incorporated into local protocol to enable everyone to share in Aboriginal culture and facilitate better relationships between Aboriginal cultures and facilitate better relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities.
Acknowledgement of Country
Acknowledgements have become incorporated into Aboriginal lore in the past two centuries, thanks to First Nations leaders reminding non-Indigenous audiences of the sovereignty of this place.
While Acknowledgements are a relatively new cultural protocol, this does not mean they are less important. All cultures are constantly changing and evolving, and create new laws to fit new contexts. Aboriginal cultures have continuously evolved and continue to do so today.
Credit - Thank you to Murramarang -Walbunja Elder Uncle Vic Channell for providing relevant information and sharing his cultural knowledge.
The traditional owners or traditional custodians are to be approached to undertake the Welcome to Country ceremony. It is important to ensure that negotiations with the local Aboriginal community have occurred and that appropriate Aboriginal Elders are invited to undertake the ceremony. Remember: a welcome is performed only by a traditional custodian from the Country you are on.
It is important to understand that traditional boundaries were never like the hard lines on maps that we see today. For the past 250 years, colonisation has been imposing colonial borders on Country and undermining cultural protocols. [Read more… Whose Country am I on?]
Consult with local Aboriginal community to determine an appropriate person, for example:
Local Elders
Ulladulla Local Aboriginal Land Council
Wandarma Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG)
Walking Together
Go for it! Don’t be shy! It is powerful and enriching to receive a Welcome and share in the rich cultural knowledge of traditional custodians.
Who should do a Welcome?
Whose Country am I on?
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia is made up of many different groups, each with their own culture, customs, language and laws. As the world’s oldest surviving cultures, each continues to change and adapt.
In the Milton Ulladulla district, the traditional language is Dhurga and the main family groups identify as Murramarang and Budawang peoples of the Yuin nation.
The AIATSIS Map of Indigenous Australia is a good starting point for understanding whose Country you are on, but some areas are contested and it’s best to check with your local land council, elders, or First Nations-led organisations. This map attempts to represent the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia. It shows the general locations of larger groupings of people which may include clans, dialects or individual languages in a group. It used published resources from the eighteenth century-1994 and is not intended to be exact, nor the boundaries fixed.
How can I learn our local language?
You can now learn Dhurga and Dharawal at no cost through TAFE! This opportunity is open to all people, with priority given to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. The courses are popular and you may be placed on a waitlist. Please register your interest via the TAFE website and support the continuation of this incredibly important programs.
The Dhurga Language Dictionary (2020) can be purchased or borrowed from the library. You can read more about the process of Dhurga Language Revitalisation on the AIATSIS website, or hear Patricia Ellis, Kerry Boyenga and Waine Donovan talk about the journey.
Children’s books are a great way to practice language while sharing it with our young ones. For example:
Murramarang artist Leanne Brook published G is for gugunyal: A Dhurga alphabet book (2022) which helps new speakers pronounce the 24 sounds used in Dhurga language. You can listen to Aunty Trish Ellis read G is for gugunyal: A Dhurga alphabet book here.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation has published collections of poems and stories in Dhurga and English by students from Vincentia High School, such as ngayawanj bagan-nggul, ngayawanj barra barra-nggul (2024).
Uncle Noel Butler and Trish Butler’s children’s books and albums incorporating Dhurga, such as Way Away and When The Trees Disappeared.
Background
In Australia there are more than 250 Indigenous languages and around 800 dialects. Languages are living things that connect people to Country, culture and ancestors. The land gave birth to our language. Language and culture are inseparable.
Gambay has made the first Australian map that allows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities control over the way their languages are publicly represented. It showcases over 780 traditional language dialects. Most First Nations languages come from a single language family called Pama-Nyungan after the words for 'person' in the northeast (Pama) and southwest (Nyungan). Some parts of northwest WA and the NT, and Tasmania are non-Pama-Nyungan.
The Gambay website has Dhurga examples, including this video naming body parts in Dhurga.
Why are Aboriginal languages not commonly in use today?
Until the late twentieth century, government policies banned and discouraged First Nations people from speaking their languages. Governments forced many First Nations people to live on missions or reserves. Children were banned from speaking their mother tongue at school or in missions. Parents feared losing their children if they were ever heard speaking Language. Many children were stolen and forced to turn their back on their culture and grow up in white families or institutions.
Today, Indigenous language is protected in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UN DRIP). This document lays out the "minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world" (Article 43).
In the 2016 Census, 83.9% of 650,000 people who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander reported speaking only English at home. Only 9 First Languages had more than 1,000 speakers, mostly in central Australia like Pitjanjatnara. There were 8 Remote Indigenous Media Organisations in Australia by 2018, and 6 languages taught in Australian universities.
How can I be respectful and ethical when consulting with Aboriginal community?
Did you know, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are:
the oldest continuing societies on Earth
the most researched people on Earth
experiencing significant oppression, as the most incarcerated people on Earth surviving under colonial governments that continue to remove children, incarcerate children, and threaten Culture and Country
Unethical research can be burdensome and even harmful.
Ethical conduct is more than simply doing the right thing. It involves acting in the right spirit, out of an abiding respect and concern. Past AIATSIS Council Chair, Professor Michael McDaniel: “For me, it is yindyamarra, a Wiradjuri concept which means to act with honour and respect, wisdom, to go slowly and act responsibly, be gentle and polite and honest with each other, be careful of the words and actions you put out to the world and understand the impact they have.”
Tips for ethical consultation:
Respond to First Nations’ priorities. Avoid coming up with goals and plans in isolation or only seeking consultation on pre-conceived projects.
Respect Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination, which boils down to the idea “nothing about us without us”. This means Indigenous Peoples have the right to determine what and how activities are carried out in their communities. This includes rights “to maintain, control, protect and develop their cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, as well as the manifestations of their sciences, technologies and cultures, including human and genetic resources, seeds, medicines, knowledge of the properties of fauna and flora, oral traditions, literatures, designs, sports and traditional games and visual and performing arts. They also have the right to maintain, control, protect and develop their intellectual property over such cultural heritage, traditional knowledge, and traditional cultural expressions” (UNDRIP Article 31.1).
Recognise cultural uniqueness & diversity. On the other hand, generalisations & extrapolations can cause harm.
Obtain permissions, seek advice and guidance, and walk lightly on Country.
Understand impact and value: First Nations People should stand to benefit and not be disadvantaged. Aim to have a positive impact. Develop a shared understanding of risks to all.
What terms are OK to use and what terms should I avoid?
Quick Tips:
Go with how the person / group identifies
First Nations People(s)
Aboriginal People(s)
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (always capitalised)
Locally, use discretion and context to decide what is most appropriate. First Nations people often identify themselves by their Country or nation group such as Yuin, Murramarang, Budawang, Darug, Gandangarra, Tharawal, Wiradjuri, Bundjalung and so on.
Of course, many of these terms including ‘Indigenous’, ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Torres Strait Islander’ are colonial labels imposed on a range of people with diverse cultures and languages.
In NSW there are over 70 different Aboriginal language groups. Forced relocation of individuals and family groups has contributed to the current diversity within many communities. Many Aboriginal people identify with more than one community (NSWDET, 2008).
Aboriginal people often refer to each other by their nation name, and sometimes by boundary (state) name such as Koori, Murri, Nyoongar, Yolngu, Anangu and Palawa. Some Aboriginal people or groups may think it is inappropriate for a non-Aboriginal person to refer to them by their boundary name (eg. Koori, Murri) (NSWDOCS,2009).
Offensive terms that should NOT be used:
Don’t use acronyms such as ATSI, TI, TSI or abbreviations such as “Abos”
Don’t use ‘Aboriginals’ or ‘Aborigines’, instead use ‘Aboriginal People’ or ‘Aboriginal Peoples’
Do not comment on the colour of a person’s skin in reference to their Aboriginality. e.g. “they do not look Aboriginal”. Aboriginality is not defined by a person’s skin tone or where they live. Aboriginal people define themselves by their culture, not the colour of their skin. It is never appropriate to use terms like ‘full-blood’, ‘half-caste’, ‘quadroon’.
What's the story behind Shane Snelson's artwork used on the home page?
At the top of our home page (and pictured here) is an artwork by Shane Snelson, Yuwaalaraay Contemporary Aboriginal artist living Yugambeh Country in Qld. Follow him at www.instagram.com/shane_snelson_aboriginal_arts/
Shane Snelson has a beautiful, positive legacy in Ulladulla through his strong connections with youth and his cultural work in local schools.
This artwork tells the story of Ulladulla High School and its connection to the community it serves. It features all the feeder towns where our youth live, stretching from Manyana in the north to East Lynne in the south. The piece celebrates the importance of the ocean, lakes, and mountains, illustrating how these natural elements are deeply interconnected with the lives of students and the broader community. Central to the artwork is the symbolism of the running fish, inspired by Uncle Fred Carriage's teachings about “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” This concept connects past traditions, present experiences, and future aspirations. The colouring of the land represents the bush and acknowledges the diversity of the community, recognising that our young ones come from many cultural backgrounds, not limited to Murramarang or Budawang Country. At the heart of the image is a large meeting place symbolising Ulladulla High School—a central hub where students from all the towns gather to learn and grow together.