Sustainability

Art Competition Winners Announced Next Issue

Thank you again to all the students who have entered their art pieces from last Term's Art Competition. We are still waiting for more entries to arrive. We will push out another reminder on Compass. Once all entries have been brought in the final decision will be made. We thank you for your patience. Stay tuned for next week. 

Indigenous Sustainability

With NAIDOC week approaching it is important our community understands the native sustainable practices. 

South Melbourne Primary school acknowledges the traditional owners of this land.

Indigenous Australians have been on the land since the beginning. The earliest scientific evidence of Indigenous occupation dates back over 60,000 years. At the time of European invasion there were an approximate 950,000 Aboriginal people living in the country.

The lives of Indigenous Australians today are affected by what has happened to Indigenous peoples and their ancestors over the past 230 years since Europeans arrived.

Aboriginal people have been practising environmental sustainability for tens of thousands of years.

Aboriginal Sustainability Practices

At a time when the world is preoccupied with climate change, some of Australia's Indigenous leaders are coming together to swap notes on how Aborigines have successfully practised environmental sustainability for tens of thousands of years.

If you look at how natural resource management is structured in the mainstream community, scientists and land managers such as your farmers and that talk about environmental management systems, but in the Aboriginal context they talk about caring for country.

In what ways do these traditional ways of managing the land differ from the mainstream community's methods and views?

Australians can draw on some of Indigenous peoples practices through their traditional knowledge of land:

• The seasons and how they would have used the land through the seasons of each year.
• Having connection to sites of significance, maintaining those sites of significance, whether it be waterways or just country in general. For example a waterway that has a special significance regarding some of their birthing practices from their women.
• But given the tenure of the land now, Indigenous people have to negotiate and consult with other land managers, such as our State governments and also our pastoralists and our farmers.
• Collective responsibility for tending the land and using only that which is needed for sustenance.
• Interconnectedness and interdependence of all life forms — humankind, flora and fauna, and all that exists on the Earth.
• The concept of sustainability is not new to Aboriginal people; they are very aware of the growing need for all humans to show greater respect for the environment — respect for Mother Earth — if we are to continue to coexist in this world.
• Each State and Territory within Australia has a cultural heritage legislation which protects sites of significance, but they also recognise cultural heritage on land. So if there are certain developments, developers need to consult with the traditional owners of that land, seeking their advice on cultural heritage.