1. POLS: 30028: Oncountry Learning 2016
School of Social & Political Science,
University of Melbourne
Introductory Lecture and Overview of
Yorta Yorta culture, history and connections
with Study Region

2. Yorta Yorta Occupation of Barmah-Millewa Forest Wetlands
B-M is in the heartland of Yorta Yorta Nation-Ancestral Land & Waters
Yorta Yorta committed to protecting Forest Welands-is the keeping place of their cultural heritage.
Joint Management under handback/leaseback of Barmah-Millewa will ensure continuity of natural & cultural values.

3. Ramsar Convention & China, Japan Migratory Bird Agreements (Ramsar comes under UNESCO which is a specialised agency of the UN System
Barmah Moira Lakes, protected under Ramsar Convention (The signing of the Convention took place in 1971 in the small Iranian town of Ramsar (since then, it has taken the common name of the Ramsar Convention).
China & Japan Migratory Birds Agreement: (CAMBA,1986 & JAMBA,1974,) Agreement on international cooperation for the conservation of migratory species & for the protection of specific habitats. Great Egret & White-bellied Sea-eagle (two birds BM listed).
Other birds are Rainbow Bee-eater, Cattle Egret, Greenshank, Glossy Ibis, White- throated Needletail, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Latham's Snipe, Red-necked Stint, Fork- tailed Swift and Caspian Tern (DCE 1992).
White Breasted Sea Eagle
Great Egret
Japan, 2008

4. Yorta Yorta Occupation
Timeline & Evidence of prior occupation

6. Timeline & Indigenous Occupation
Last two centuries (non-Indigenous occupation) dominates the timeline & the intensity of change that has taken place.
Adaption, cultural continuity & survival, is outcome that needs to be recognised.

7. Cultural Heritage: A Living Heritage
Mural of Biami Rainbow Serpent, Dharnya Centre

8. Stratigraphy(timeline) of Occupation Sites Mounds & Middens
Recent
Oldest
Timeline of Occupation

9. Cultural Heritage Values: Scarred Trees

10. Mound Sites: Barmah State Park
Lagoon& Natural Food Storage System, Barmah Forest

11. CULTURAL CONTINUITY THROUGH
Community, Art, Music, Theatre, Dance & Sport

12. Cummera & Maloga Heritage
Lynch Cooper World Champion, 1930s
Maloga:
Sir Doug Nichols
Cummeragunja: 1889-Present
Aboriginal Leaders 1930s

13. Cultural Continuity in the Yorta Yorta way
Yanagai Yanagai
Play, 2006
Andrea James
Cultural Continuity in the Yorta Yorta way
Wally & Sony Cooper: Yorta Yorta Dance Group
Lin Onus, Jimmy’s Billabong
Barmah Lake, Yorta Yorta country
Yorta Yorta artist Lin Onus ( ) spent much of his life bridging the gap between urban and traditional, art forms. He had a deep social conscience & his work has inspired a new generation of young Indigenous artists from south-eastern Australia.
Lou Bennet & Tiddas
Debra Cheetam
Pecan Summer Opera
Jimmy Little

14. The Cummera Walk Off, 1939
In 1939, the first mass strike of Aboriginal people in this country occurred – the Cummeragunja Walk-off. Over 200 residents packed-up and left Cummeragunja in protest of the conditions and the oppressive management. They crossed the border from New South Wales into Victoria in contravention of the rules of the New South Wales Protection Board.
Supporters rallied behind the Walk-off, collecting food and provisions and transporting them up to the Murray River to the protestors.
The Cummeragunja Walk-off in particular brought changes to Aborigines Act of New South Wales in 1942-story here.

15. Day of Mourning Protest, 1938 led to The Cummera Walk-Off, 1939

16. From Cummera to the Flat, Mooroopna, 1939-1957

17. Rumbalara Aboriginal Coop
Major service delivery organisation in Region that began in the 1970s under the Whitlam Governments Self Determination policy.
Employs over 100 people and runs diversity of programs in health, housing, family care, and justice, aimed a ‘closing the gap’.

18. Cultural Continuity through Sport, Health & Education
Cummera
Footy
Team,1927
Academy of Sport Health & Education, Shepparton, 2005
(University of Melbourne)
Rumbalara Football & Netball Club, Shepparton
Oncountry Learning: Indigenous Studies visit to RFNC Uni of Melb,2005.

19. ACHIEVING JUSTICE VIA THE POLITICO - LEGAL PROCESS?
THE YORTA YORTA STRUGGLE

20. Yorta Yorta v State of Victoria & Ors, Trial (1996-1998)
Barriers to achieving land justice under Anglo legal system & way Mabo principles are being applied by the Courts, perverted the course of justice in the Yorta Yorta case.
Back to ‘Base Camp Politics’ - YY Agreement & BM Campaign.

21. Olney’s Test for Yorta Yorta Native Title ‘The Frozen in Time View of Aboriginal Culture’

22. Indigenous Land Management
A Holistic view of the relationship between Land and Natural Resource Management.

23. Holistic View of Land Management & Care
Indigenous wisdom throughout the world shares a common belief system that ‘all things are related’. What happens in one area sooner or later directly or indirectly impacts on other areas. The history of imported land uses vindicates this view
‘Yorta Yorta have a long tradition of caring for forest. They ‘see the forest & all of its encompassing features (including all living entities) from a holistic viewpoint’.
(Yorta Yorta Nations Inc, 1990).

24. Campaign for National Park & Joint Management

25. Dharnya Centre Withers, 1985-2016
Closed because of structural damage caused by white
ants and Government neglect, May, 2007-see Video
Online at,
See Paper on Dharnya Centre in readings online :

26. Apology-Wed, February
Ten years after the “Bringing Them Home Report”, the Federal Government made a formal apology to the Stolen Generations on Wednesday, 13th February 2008, committing itself to ‘Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage’.
Since the delivery of the apology, the ‘Indigenous Disadvantage Report’ of Reconciliation Australia, 2009, and the Productivity Commission Report, 2010, found that across virtually all indicators there are still wide gaps between Indigenous and other Australians’ and in almost all cases ‘the gaps’ have in fact increased as mainstream economic prosperity has accelerated away from that of Aboriginal Australia’(Productivity Commission (2009) Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators Canberra Productivity Commission).
Eight years down the track (2016) students can assess how far we've come and whether the gap has been closed, is the same, or is getting wider? Also important for critiquing disadvantage in Health indicators – see Closing the Gap Report, 11 Feb, 2015

27. PATHWAYS FOR FUTURE
A negotiated settlement between government & other parties, which recognises the Yorta Yorta as the traditional owners under a handback/leaseback arrangement and inalienable freehold title (see Models of Structures for Joint Management of NP’s in current BM Campaign research, 2004).

28. ‘Keeping it for the Future’
Old Dhungulla: Keep Her Flowin &
Keep the River Reds Growin
Maranooka & Thank you for your support for Yorta Yorta struggle
Lunch at Morning Glory and on Bus at 1pm for Site Visits & Story Lines