During the first week of September 2023, over 200 women involved in caring for Country across the Northern Territory came together as one united voice on Limilngan-Wulna Country. This was the fourth Strong Women for Healthy Country forum.
December 4th, 2023
Arnhem Land
Mimal Land Management Aboriginal CorporationWarddeken Land Management Limited
In 2019, women from the Mimal Land Management area invited other women to come together to share and support one another. This was the first Forum and the start of a movement. Since then, this growing collective of women have developed their own vision, strategy and governance to enhance the role of women in creating a better future for themselves, their communities, culture and homelands. Their vision is for strong Indigenous women of the Northern Territory to stand united as one strong voice, with a network that gives equal power to the rights of all members.
At the 2023 Forum, work began in earnest to achieve the strategy established during the previous Forum through advocacy, collaboration and communication. This includes a range of activities aimed at placing Indigenous women in control of the network as an independent organisation, establishing more opportunities for connection and development throughout the year and beyond the Northern Territory, and providing accessible and consistent leadership and wellbeing support to all members.
‘I hope you ladies become strong, confident leaders, continuing to work together. The best of the best is strong women’ - Annette Miller, Traditional Owner of Bigedi, Mimal Director, KKT Alternate Director
The week-long Forum was hosted by Padakul Aboriginal Cultural Tours and began with a smoking and cleansing ceremony. Each day featured morning yarning circles, workshops to support land and cultural management, spaces for discussing personal and professional development and challenges, workshops on the management and future of the Strong Women for Healthy Country network, and sessions for practicing women’s art and culture. It was a fantastic opportunity for women to connect with other ranger programs, engage with the knowledge of Elders, grow their confidence and progress towards the incorporation of their Network.
For example, a ranger from Mimal was able to share her knowledge and training from a recent accreditation in Site Survey using Drones. She stepped up to host a workshop teaching other women rangers how to use drones to monitor the health of different sites across their management areas. Other workshop topics included: Weed Management, Bush Medicine, Women's Spaces in the Workplace, Physical Violence, Planning Exchange Programs and many more. Beyond the workshops, women strengthened and celebrated their invaluable connections to one another and to their culture through dance, song, fibre art and painting.
Mimal women rangers at the Forum
A powerful moment at the end of each Forum is when women have the opportunity to step up to the responsibilities of being a Message Stick member, supporting the whole network.
As a self-elected representative body, the Message Sticks gather every two months to make decisions on behalf of the network. There were many ideas and initiatives tabled at the Forum, so the Message Sticks are now busy helping to put these into action and continuing work towards the Network goals throughout the year. This includes ambitions to facilitate work exchanges, create best practice guides, secure women’s training and support for self-advocacy, host communications platforms and tools, advocate for dedicated women’s spaces in communities, support Indigenous women working as mentors and support regional healing workshops.
If you would like to support this work, please get in touch with us at mail@kkt.org.au.
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