When: Thursday 10 September, 7.30 pm
Where: Seniors Village Hub, North Room, on the southern side of the Harris Farm and Woolworths carpark
Speaker: Associate Professor Emilie Ens leads the Cross-cultural Ecology, Education and Restoration Group at Macquarie University, Sydney. She is the co-founder of the Wuyagiba Bush Uni, southeast Arnhem Land. Emilie is also an Australian Research Council Future Fellow exploring biocultural restoration of native edible root grounds. Emilie grew up at Bilpin, forged her early career in weed ecology and bush regeneration. She has since spent 20 years working with Aboriginal ranger groups in remote Arnhem Land to advance cross-cultural approaches to conservation. Having moved to Byng Emilie is now exploring new opportunities to combine Western science with the knowledge and values of local and Indigenous land custodians to care for Country. Emilie is also a Field Nats member.
Details:
Biocultural restoration is emerging in international to local dialogues as a practical way to simultaneously restore environments and Indigenous cultural knowledge systems and values. Australia has a shocking record of species decline and Aboriginal cultural impacts since European colonisation only 238 years ago. Over the last 20 years, Emilie has worked with Aboriginal groups and Elders across Australia to explore how we can work together to conserve our unique environments and species while also supporting the maintenance and/or revitalisation of Aboriginal languages, knowledge, and cultural responsibilities for Country.
In this talk Emilie will describe some of this work: from remote Arnhem Land to the epicentre of European colonisation in Sydney (Dharug Ngurra), with some initial thoughts about how we can also ignite biocultural approaches in the Central West, to create uniquely Australian ways of caring for Country.
Emilie (centre) with Yolŋu colleagues Djuna Wunuŋmurra (right) and Milirripin Gumana (Djuna’s daughter) on the Gurrumuru coastal floodplain in northeast Arnhem Land. Combining Western and Yolŋu science to assess the impact of pigs, buffalo, and sea level rise on traditional staple food, räkay (Eleocharis dulcis), also known as water chestnut. Photo Oscar Jones.