Cultural Actions: Sustaining Aboriginal Lives

Leader: Dr Anne Poelina, Doctor of Philosophy (Health Sciences)
Location: Fitzroy River Catchment
Dates: 2019 – 2021
Team members: Professor Stephen Muecke, Doctor Sandra Wooltorton, Professor Sandy Toussaint

Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council Launch at Parliament House, Perth, June 19, 2018. Permission granted from Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council for its use: A. Poelina, 2019.

The project identifies ‘knowledge gathering and sharing’ to strengthen capacity for sustainable life and sustainable development for Indigenous people and their communities along the entire length of the Mardoowarra Fitzroy River Catchment. The project develops’ a cultural health and wellbeing paradigm that enables all peoples to understand and frame actions for change at all levels. This strength-based approach is designed to enable Indigenousl Australians to participate in new economies grounded in natural and cultural assets.

This PhD candidature is supported by the Knights of the Southern Cross Western Australia

  • Publications

    • Poelina, A., Brueckner, M., & McDuffie, M. (2020). For the greater good? Questioning the social licence of extractive-led development in Western Australia's Martuwarra Fitzroy River region. The Extractive Industries and Society. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.10.010
    • Poelina, A., Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., White, P., Aniere, C., Guimond, L., & Horwitz, P. (2020). A pedagogy for becoming family with place. Paper presented at the Australian Association for Environmental Education Virtual One Day Conference, Online. https://video.deakin.edu.au/media/t/1_8g2aptbm
    • Poelina, A., Wooltorton, S., Harben, S., Collard, L., Horwitz, P., & Palmer, D. (2020). Feeling and hearing Country. PAN: Philosophy Activism Nature(15).
    • RiverofLife Martuwarra, Poelina, A., Alexander, J., & Samnakay, N. (2020). A conservation and management plan for the National Heritage listed Fitzroy River Catchment Estate (No. 1). Retrieved from Broome, Australia: Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, Nulungu Research Institute, The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://doi.org/10.32613/nrp/2020.4
    • RiverOfLife Martuwarra, McDuffie, M., & Poelina, A. (2020). Martuwarra Country: A historical perspective (1838-present). Retrieved from Broome, Australia: Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council; Nulungu Research Institute, The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://doi.org/10.32613/nrp/2020.5
    • Marshall, M., Wooltorton, S., Golson, K., Dwyer, A., Kennedy, G., Albert, U., Morgan, M., Guimond, L., Poelina, A., & Sullivan, P. (2020). Notes d'actualite: Réactions à la pandémie de la COVID-19 dans les communautés aborigènes de la région des Kimberley en Australie-Occidentale. Organisations & Territoires, 29(2), 163-170. doi:10.1522/revueot.v29n2.1168
    • Redvers, N., Poelina, A., Schultz, C., Kobei, D. M., Githaiga, C., Perdrisat, M., . . . Blondin, B. s. (2020). Indigenous natural and first law in planetary health. Challenges 11(29). doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/challe11020029
    • Wooltorton, S., Poelina, A., Collard, L., Horwitz, P., Harben, S., & Palmer, D. (2020). Becoming family with place. Resurgence & ecologist, 322(September/October), 34-35. Retrieved from https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article5596-becoming-family-with-place.html
    • Martuwarra RiverOfLife, Poelina, A., Bagnall, D., & Lin, M. (2020). Recognizing the Martuwarra’s First Law Right to Life as a Living Ancestral Being. Transnational Environmental Law, 9(3), pp. 541-568. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2047102520000163
    • Wooltorton, S., Collard, L., Poelina, A., & Palmer, D. (2020). Sharing a place-based indigenous methodology and learnings. Environmental Education Research, 26(7), pp. 917-934. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2020.1773407
    • Poelina, A. (2020). A Coalition of Hope! A Regional Governance Approach to Indigenous Australian Cultural Wellbeing. In A. Campbell, M. Duffy & B. Edmondson, (Eds.). Located Research: Regional places, transitions and challenges, pp. 153-180Palgrave Macmillan: Singapore. Part of DOI: 10.1007/978-981-32-9694-7
    • Wooltorton, S., Poelina, A., Collard, L., Horwitz, P., Harben, S., Palmer, D., . . . Aniere, C. (2019). Living into Indigenous landscapes: Learning for regenerative futures. Ozee News: Newsletter of the Australian Association for Environmental Education Inc, 149(December), 9.
    • Poelina, A. (2019). A Coalition of Hope! A Regional Governance Approach to Indigenous Australian Cultural Wellbeing. In A. Campbell, M. Duffy, & B. Edmondson (Eds.), Located research: regional places, transitions and challenges (pp. 153–180). Singapore:: Palgrave McMillan.
    • Poelina, A., Taylor, K., & Perdrisat, I. (2019), Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council: an Indigenous cultural approach to collaborative water governance. Australasian Journal of Environmental Management. 26(3), 236-254. https://doi.org/10.1080/14486563.2019.1651226
    • McDuffie, M., & Poelina, A. (2019). Nyikina Collaborative Filmmaking in the Kimberley: ‘Learning to Listen with Your Eyes, and See with Your Ears’. In P. Morrissey & C. Healy. (Eds). Reading the Country: 30 Years On. Sydney: University of Technology Sydney ePress. pp. 229-238. https://doi.org/10.5130/978-0-6481242-2-1.t
    • Wooltorton, S., Toussaint, S., Poelina, A., Jennings, A., Muecke, S., Kenneally, K., Remond, J., Schripf, A., & Stredwick, L. (2019). Kimberley Transitions, Collaborating to Care for Our Common Home: Beginnings … Nulungu Research Paper No. 2. Broome: Nulungu Research Institute. Available online:
    • Heiner, M., Hinchley, D., Fitzsimmons, J., Weisenberger, F., Bergmann, W., McMahon, T., Milgin, J., Nardea, L., Oaskleaf, J., Parriman, D., Poelina, A., Watson, H., Watson, K., & Kiesecker, J. (2019). Moving from reactive to productive development planning to conserve Indigenous community and biodiversity values. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. 73, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2018.09.002
    • Poelina, A. (2019). Country.In A. Kothari, A. Salleh, A. Escobar,F. Demaria, & A. Acosta. (Eds.). Pluriverse: a post-development dictionary, pp. 142-145. New Delhi, India: Tulika Books.
    • Poelina, A. and Nordensvard, J., 2017 Sustainable Luxury Tourism, Indigenous communities and governance in M.A. Gardetti and S.S. Muthu (editors) Handbook on Sustainable Luxury, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation, Springer.
    • Poelina, A. 2017, Protecting the River of Life, in Australia Vatican Museums Ethnological Collection, Aigner, K. (Editor), Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
    • Lim, M., Poelina, A., and Bagnall, D., 2017, ‘Can the Fitzroy River Declaration Ensure the Realisation of the First Law of the River and Secure Sustainable and Equitable Futures for the West Kimberley’, 32 Australian Environment Review.
    • Taylor, KS, Moggridge, BJ & Poelina, A, 2017, ‘Australian Indigenous Water Policy and the impacts of the ever-changing political cycle’, Australasian Journal of Water Resources, vol. 21, no. 1. Available online.

Real-life research projects

Acknowledgement of Country

The Nulungu Research Institute is located on Yawuru land, encompassing the coastal town of Broome. Aboriginal saltwater, river and desert language groups across the Kimberley sustain intergenerational cultural, intellectual and social affiliations over time. Kimberley Transitions researchers and associates pay respect to the Yawuru and other Kimberley cultural custodians - to past, present and future generations. Knowledge and expertise, evident throughout the Kimberley – the place Aboriginal women, men, children and others call home – is vital to the sustainability of all people and places. That Kimberley Transitions can be part of this ongoing process underpins the Project's aims and ethos.