Regenerative Songlines

Acknowledgement of Country

“… Regenerative Songlines Australia acknowledges that the sovereignty of the First Nations peoples of the continent now known as Australia was never ceded by treaty nor in any other way. Regenerative Songlines Australia acknowledges and respects First Nations peoples’ laws and ecologically sustainable custodianship of Australia over tens of thousands of years through land and sea management practices that continue today.”

Visit the Regenerative Songlines website which will be officially launched in NAIDOC week 2021.

First Law & the Martuwarra Fitzroy River

The RegenNarration · 84. Regenerative Songlines: Film, First Law & the Martuwarra Fitzroy River, with Dr Anne Poelina

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The following text is an excerpt of the post which first appeared in the Regen Narration website on the 24th May 2021.

“… This special episode departs from the usual schedule, as there’s a particularly pressing aspect to this one. Dr. Anne Poelina is a Nyikina Warrwa (Indigenous Australian) woman who belongs to the Mardoowarra, the lower Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. She is also Chair of the esteemed Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council.”

“… When Anne and I last spoke for the podcast, in Broome a few years ago, I said this: “if anywhere epitomizes the critical time we’re in, it’s in the spectacular cultural and natural landscapes of her homeland. Almost incredibly, there are 40,000+ fracking wells slated for this area, along with the damming of the Fitzroy River, and more ‘old-model’ industrial agriculture. Yet the next economy is also in tow here, and this is where Anne is currently focusing her extraordinary breadth of cross-cultural knowledge and experience.”

“This is why we’re trying to encourage our fellow Australians, our brothers and sisters out there, to get to know where you live, because it’s place-based. The land is alive, the rivers are alive, the living systems are alive, the birds and the fish - everything communicates. Don’t see yourself as a human being as elitist and above other living systems. This is the gift of Indigenous People across the world, saying we want you, because your DNA is embedded here. We want you to get to know your country, to feel your country, to heal your country, because it’s all our country.”

Dr. Anne Poelina

TEDxPerth Countdown

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Dr Anne Poelina

“Indigenous scientist, human and earth rights activist”

25 November, State Reception Centre, Kings Park, Perth Western Australia.

TEDxPerth Countdown: WA Climate Leadership Summit will bring together 200 of WA’s most active and influential leaders in the race to a carbon neutral WA. TEDxPerth is a great opportunity for the WA to kickstart emissions reduction. This is an opening for Indigenous leaders and scientist to share “Climate change mitigation will only succeed if grounded in Indigenous and collective wisdom”! (Dr Anne Poelina).

You can apply to be in the curated audience at www.tedxperth.org/register.

Spaces are extremely limited.

Beyond Sustainability

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‘Beyond Sustainability: Imagining a Regenerative Future’ is part of the Education City Speaker Series featuring Dr. Anne Poelina who will be a panellist at the event.

“With a focus on highlighting the big ideas shaping our world today, Education City Speaker Series provides a platform for our community to have captivating conversations with passionate thought leaders and changemakers from all over the world.”

“In our next edition of the Education City Speaker Series, we're going to explore how regenerative development and design offers us a pathway to move beyond ‘sustainability’ and toward solutions that can reverse global warming and restore the health of our planet for generations to come.

Regenerative development has its roots in the indigenous cultures of the world, and we are bringing together some of the world’s prominent experts in this field to discuss how blending ancient wisdom and modern science can help to shape a brighter future for all life on our planet.

The event is titled ‘Beyond Sustainability: Imagining a Regenerative Future’ and will be moderated by Jason Twill, Director, World Cup Master Program, Qatar Foundation”

Read more at https://www.qf.org.qa/education-city-speaker-series#section-1

The full recording for this event is located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q9V1GTkw8c&feature=youtu.be

Lets Talk Biodiversity

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Dr Anne Poelina presented recently at the ‘Architects Declare’ movement online Webinar 004 - Climate and Biodiversity Emergency, speaking alongside guests Professor Sarah Bekessy and Ann McGregor.

“this is quite timely in regards to inviting a traditional owner, such as myself, to bring this conversation into this space, because what we're saying is that in a time of this global emergency, where climate change is quickly spiraling into climate chaos, what we are needing to do is bring in collective wisdom in terms of being able to one, rightsize the planet, but to look at the complexity of what we are dealing with. So in our world, we have a concept of collective wisdom, a system Allodial title, which means the absence of Law, the opportunity to bring in a wide range of different indigenous science, which a lot of people call it, 'traditional knowledge'. But as the first people of this land, who have been the first farmers, the first architects, the first engineers, all of these sorts of forms of science, I think there's a great opportunity to not only, in this time, globally, to think that Black Lives Matter, but indigenous wisdom does too.”

Dr. Anne Poelina

Access the online video here - https://youtu.be/C-LYZQ5a9Kg

My Hero Finalist

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The following message was received through Facebook from Mark Pearce at Balangara Films.

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'Looking After Our Spirit' starring Anne Poelina has been selected as a finalist in the 2020 MY HERO International Film Festival! Here's a comment from the judges:

"We admire the passion and commitment displayed by Dr. Anne Poelina in your film to make the world a better place. We appreciate your efforts to bring these important stories to life through film."

Anne continues to protect country in the magnificent Kimberley region of Western Australia. Thanks for being who you are Anne and sharing your knowledge with us. Gratitude to you and your family.

The My Hero festival is part of the non-profit educational organization, The MY HERO Project, with a mission to celebrate the best of humanity. Film are accessed by teachers and students around the world who gain inspiration, hope and knowledge. The films also link to the heroic organizations that the films are about, so that our audience can learn more about the important work they are doing.

Winners will be announced before the end of the year.

The Wilderness Society

The Wilderness Society WA

Save The Kimberley

Thanks also to Glen Klatovsky and Maritza Schafer for making this film possible, cinematographers Nick Hayward, Christian Fletcher, Michael Fletcher Fletcher, and Magali McDuffie , colourist, Miles Bennet and all the 'Families of Broome' cast .

Congrats all!

Always Was, Always Will Be the Mardoowarra Fitzroy River of Life

To celebrate NAIDOC Week 2020 Dr Anne Poelina’s film (35mins) ‘Mardoowarra River: Always Was, Always Will Be’, and presentation will be shared with those who join her as she imparts her insights and experience as a global Indigenous water rights and environmental justice advocate.

This NAIDOC week webinar builds off the successful launch of the Our Knowledge Our Way in caring for Country: Indigenous-led approaches to strengthening and sharing our knowledge for land and sea management. Dr Poelina is a co-author of these guidelines and is featured in the case study “Showing and sharing knowledge in the Fitzroy River Catchment: Codeveloped case study.

Read more about this event - https://events.csiro.au/Events/2020/October/13/Mardoowarra-River-Always-Was-Always-Will-Be

How Indigenous knowledge can help Australia build resilience to climate change

Photo courtesy of Inkline

‘In Western Australia’s remote northern region of The Kimberley, Indigenous seasonal and ecological knowledge is playing a crucial role in building resilience to climate change.’

“In May, the barramundi used to swim upstream but now, there are none to be seen. Octopi that once turned green to announce the coming spring now remain blue. The low humdrum buzz of the dragonfly indicates the salmon will be biting. Yet every year, the dragonflies are appearing later in the seasons.”

“For Anne Dwyer, a Karrajarri woman and traditional land owner, these occurrences are sure signs of climate change. Dwyer, who works with western scientists to combine Indigenous knowledge and customary practices, uses this combination as complimentary science to mitigate climate issues in remote areas of The Kimberly in Western Australia.” 

“In the neighbouring Indigenous nation, Dr. Anne Poelina, a woman of Martuwarra and a traditional land owner, also tirelessly advocates for the Martuwarra River Country. Together, they are ‘Caring for Country,’ a phrase used for the traditional management of land and sea by Indigenous Australians.”

Read more -  https://the-inkline.com/2020/10/12/how-indigenous-knowledge-can-help-australia-build-resilience-to-climate-change/

The Sustainability Agenda

“In this, the 100th episode of the Sustainability Agenda, we speak to Dr Anne Poelina an indigenous Australian academic and human and earth rights activist. Dr Poelina explains her role as a “Yimardoowarra marnin,” which, translated from the Nyikina language, means “a woman who belongs to the Martuwarra River,” in Western Australia. Dr Poelina discusses what she calls “first law,” the Aboriginal peoples’ customary law covering the rules for living in coexistence with nature, the rules of conduct that holds together and bonds a civil society, the principles of an ethics of care. She talks about the indigenous cultural approach to collaborative water governance underlying the legal work that she is spearheading to make sure that the development of the Fitzroy River does not lead to the mistakes made in the development of the Murray-Darling river.”

Read more - http://thesustainabilityagenda.com/episode-100-interview-anne-poelina-indigenous-australian-nyikina-traditional-custodian/

OzWater2020 Online

Screenshot: OzWater 2020

Keynote Presentation 8

Thursday 25th June
(Day 8, Week 4)

2.10pm – 3.00pm

Screenshot: OzWater 2020

Dr Anne Poelina, Managing Director of Madjulla Inc., Chair of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, is a Nyikina Warrwa Traditional Owner and a guardian of the Mardoowarra, Lower Fitzroy River in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. 

Dr Poelina’s life career includes Indigenous, human, and environmental justice and advocacy spans four decades of achievements; Master Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Master Education, Master Arts (Indigenous Social Policy), Doctor of Philosophy & Doctor of Philosophy (Health Science) Scholar. Peter Cullen Fellow (2011), Laureate Women’s World Summit Foundation (Geneva) (2017). Adjunct Senior Research Fellow the University of Notre Dame (Nulungu Institute of Research) and Visiting Research Fellow, Australian National University. 

Her current work explores the entrepreneurial ‘New Economy’ opportunities for Indigenous people along the National Heritage Listed Fitzroy River, in relation to green collar jobs in diverse, science, culture, heritage and conservation economies with a focus in 2020 on Indigenous Water Valuation and Resilient Decision-making.  

Dr Poelina’s keynote address will be unique in it’s presentation and will start with a short introduction, followed by the sharing of a film ‘Voices for the Martuwarra’, concluding with an opportunity for questions and sharing with the audience regarding the Martuwarra Fitzroy River and where to next with water leadership and governance of the National Heritage Listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River.

Voices for the Martuwarra is a collaborative documentary featuring interviews with members of the Martuwarra Fitzroy River (MFR) Council. Through breathtaking visuals of the Martuwarra, Fitzroy River, and engaging interviews with diverse Traditional Owners, the film traces the creation of the MFR Council, which was established in 2018 to give a political voice to Traditional Owners of the Fitzroy River Region amidst extensive development plans earmarked for the Kimberley in the mining and agricultural sectors. Since its inception the MFR Council has attracted the attention of leading scientists and researchers, both in Australia and internationally, through its ability to bring together the majority of Traditional Owner groups from the region, and spearheading collaborative, cutting-edge research into various domains: First Law, culture, science, history, economy and development.

The MFR Council believes rivers are the lifeblood of our Nation, and is focused on protecting their sacred National Heritage Listed Fitzroy River’s Right To Life from proposed invasive developments. Giving voice to many Kimberley Traditional Owners, the film depicts the profound and complex inter-relatedness between culture, Country, Living Waters and people. As a call for action, it also reminds audiences of the reasons why, in the age of the Anthropocene and Climate Emergency, it is more important than ever to listen to Indigenous voices, as they hold solutions for the future of humanity and of our planet.

Visit the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council website

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