Culture, Country and Language

Culture Country and Language connects our kinship systems Kimberley wide. Our languages describe the cultural concepts that help shaped who we are. This includes the responsibilities and obligations for our country. Kimberley people are all of the relationships that bind everyone together, our human and non-human connections include totems and other species comprises the value of Country, our oceans, river and desert terrestrials and all eco systems. The term Country encompasses the physical spiritual and cultural meaning of lands. People are a natural resource and are considered to be part of our Culture Country and Language. These themes bring together all of Nulungu activities including our teaching and learning and all of our research.

Within all of our research, we work with Traditional Owners, Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) we seek to support integrated and holistic programs which support cultural maintenance, revitalisation and rejuvenation. Through the use of Aboriginal language to share narrative and knowledge, our research outputs are at times non-traditional (performance, music, storytelling, artistic) and varied. This is reflected in the additional support our applied research provides to Aboriginal cultural artistic practices and protocols on remote Country, as well as supporting, celebrating and promoting Aboriginal traditional and contemporary performance throughout the region and beyond. Culture Country and Language is inherently connected and a key component of Nulungu research.

Culture, Country and Language research

  • ARC-funded Native Mounted Police Project
  • Burrungkuy Cultural Conservation Management Plan (Kakadu National Park)
  • Bunuba Cultural Caretakers Project
  • Wanjina oden barnja mirndi (Jilariba [Munja] Rock Art Project)
  • Uunguu Rock Art Site Management Project

Post Graduate and Doctoral Researchers Working in the Broad Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing Space

  • Bobbie Chew Bigby
  • Richard Meister

Previous Projects

  • Youth Culture Camps Evaluation
    Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC)
  • Women’s Cultural Artistic Practices at the 2017 Jalalay KALACC Regional Cultural Festival
    Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC)
  • Marnda Gardairri (Indigenous Ranger Rock Art Forum 2017)
    Murujuga Rangers and Murujuga Land and Sea Unit, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation
  • Investigating use of non-invasive techniques to assess durability of rock art conservation intervention strategies
    Kakadu National Park
  • Climate Change and Adaptation on Karajarri Country, Bidyadanga Community and ‘Pukarrikarra’ places
    Karajarri Traditional Lands Association (KTLA); The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS); The University of Melbourne
  • Cultural Natural Resource Management (CNRM) Feasibility Study 2015
    Kimberley Development Commission