Last week the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC) hosted a gathering of First Nations thought leaders from Australia and overseas for the National Indigenous Disaster Resilience (NIDR) Gathering.
Held every two years, the NIDR Gathering brought together Indigenous and non-Indigenous people working in land and resource management, health and human services, and emergency management, response and recovery.
The goal of the gathering was to highlight First Nations approaches and perspectives on how communities and Country recover from and respond to natural disasters, drawing on knowledge gained through tens of thousands of years of observation and practice.
With more than 300 people attending the three-day event, many from outside East Gippsland, the gathering also demonstrated the capacity of GLaWAC’s new Wangun Amphitheatre to attract large conferences to the region and the positive economic impact that could bring.
The NIDR Gathering was organised by Monash University in partnership with the Jagun Alliance, GLaWAC, Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust and East Gippsland Shire Council.
“Disasters do not impact infrastructure alone – they reshape people, relationships and the cultural fabric of place,” GLaWAC board chair Troy McDonald said in opening the gathering at the Wangun Amphitheatre.
“Roads, homes and services can be rebuilt with speed and precision, but community – the shared identity, memory and meaning that binds people together – recovers on a different timeline.”
In addition to two days of conference sessions at GLaWAC’s Kalimna campus, the NIDR Gathering also included a day of cultural workshops and on-Country excursions.
This included cultural tours of Raymond Island, Buchan Caves Reserve and the Gippsland Lakes led by GLaWAC staff and community members, as well as a day trip to Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust.
