Indigenous people are the world’s great survivors. In the face of land theft, climate change and genuine attempts to bring about extinction, Indigenous populations across the globe persevere. The resilience and adaptability of these populations are increasingly providing vital lessons in survival for all – how would embracing Indigenous culture and ways of thinking help Australia survive the impacts of climate catastrophe?

Featuring
Uncle Larry Walsh, Taungurung elder / Storyteller
Allara Briggs Pattison, Yorta Yorta musician, composer and climate justice activist
Claire G. Coleman, Wirlomin Noongar Writer
Rosie Kalina, Wemba Wemba and Gunditjmara Visual Artist

Uncle Larry Walsh is a local Aboriginal cultural leader and storyteller. He particularly loves working with the younger generation as he sees them as the torch-bearers of the future. Inspired by his local Aboriginal community, plus his own Kulin ancestral blood connections to his country, Uncle is one of the only senior Elders in Melbourne who focuses specifically on storytelling, ensuring the cultural continuity of his ancient oral traditions. Uncle Larry sees his focus being on the oral tradition, the story – as an important expression and make-up of Aboriginal culture. He wishes to display that Aboriginal people live as much in the modern world as intimately as they are connected to their past.

Allara Briggs Pattison is a creative entrepreneur whose Yorta Yorta culture inspires her work on every level. A skilled musician and composer, she completed a Bachelor of Applied Music Performance at Box Hill Institute in 2015. A passionate carer for country she then completed a diploma of Wayapa Wuurrk in late 2016. Wayapa means Connect Country and is a narrative-based modality or meditation which shares ancient wisdom and knowledge focusing on mindfulness as a means to healing the Earth, simultaneously, healing ourselves. Directly connected to that was Allara’s fluctuating volunteer roles with Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network since 2016, the same year which she began developing a documentary Beautiful Sunshine, a film sharing Allara’s personal journey about exploring connection to family, country and culture. In each aspect of her work and home life Allara strives to create space for cultural, spiritual and environmental healing on a global scale.

Claire G. Coleman is a Wirlomin Noongar woman whose ancestral country is in the South Coast of Western Australia.  Her debut novel Terra Nullius, published in Australia and the USA, written on a second-hand iPad in a caravan, has won the Norma K. Hemming Award and a black&write fellowship and was Shortlisted for the Stella Prize and an Aurealis Award. She has written essay, short fiction, reportage, opinion, criticism and poetry for publication on multiple national and international platforms and is a popular speaker and storyteller.  The Old Lie is her second novel.

The Future is Indigenous: Cultural change to survive a climate change world is a session of the North Melbourne School of Displacement

Other sessions:

Sat 31 Aug
10.30am Over our heads: Housing and homelessness
1.30pm Lost for words: Displacement through enforced and prioritised language

Sun 1 Sep
10.30am In a strange land: How does culture survive when you can’t go home
1.30pm A billycan, a crowbar and an axe: Indigenous survival techniques for the apocalypse

Tue 3 Sep
6pm Not a drop to drink: Aqua nullius and global warming, securing First Nations water rights