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Derek Walker grew up in Raukkan,
South Australia, a Ngarrindjeri boy
firmly connected to culture. His
father took him and his siblings on
country ‘every chance he could’, to
hunt, learn and understand
ruwe
,
the Ngarrindjeri concept of land
and all living things associated
with it. Derek left his community
to study agriculture, but after
graduating was drawn back home.
When you’re connected to
country, it never leaves you.
In 2004, Derek and his son started
Ngopamuldi Aboriginal Corporation,
aligned with the Ngarrindjeri Nation
(see Section 4.3) and motivated by
the need to create economically
viable opportunities for Ngarrindjeri
people to sustainably manage their
own country.
There just wasn’t a link
between land care and
people—i.e. jobs.
Working on Country was
Ngopamuldi’s first land care
program, employing and
training rangers to rehabilitate
Derek Walker, Ngopamuldi Aboriginal
Corporation—jobs for a nation
CASE STUDY
Derek Walker.
Photo: Sara Coen, 40 Stories
damaged native environments,
use traditional cultural land
management practices and protect
culturally sensitive sites. Of the
15 full-time Working on Country
employees, who are Ngarrindjeri
men and women of various ages,
each has achieved a vocational
education and training qualification
since their employment began: a
diploma or a Certificate III or IV.
Ngopamuldi delivers an Aboriginal
Learning on Country program for
community members in South
Australia to gain TAFE-accredited
training in land and conservation
management practices. It also
runs awareness sessions and
paid apprenticeships for school
students in Raukkan.
Any opportunity to work
on country, at home,
is significant. From a
Ngarrindjeri perspective,
being connected to a
particular place is incredibly
important. We have a word
for land, that’s
ruwe
; it’s
everything—trees, plants,
animals, and connectedness
between us and all the
elements. Doing work that
rehabilitates and remediates
our country is gold for us.
There’s a lot of competing
noise for young people, so
what we want to do is present
to them, ‘This is who we
are, and who you are, and
this is the opportunity to
be involved in this’. Lots of
people who’ve come and got
involved have had a tough
start in life, and this has
been an opportunity to be
consistent, get some work,
improve their lot, and catch
the vision of what it is to be
involved in the work we do—
not just land management
but care of country, and
connection to the cultural
value attached to that.
Ngopamuldi also has around
30 Indigenous employees working
as carpenters, electricians, and
technicians—including on the
National Broadband Network
rollout by infrastructure company
Fulton Hogan, as part of a Kungun
Ngarrindjeri Yunnan (‘Listening
to Ngarrindjeri People Talking’)
Agreement negotiated with the
Ngarrindjeri Nation
. 28The rangers and community are
proud that the land care work is
making a difference—in the first
44 JAWUN
2017 LEARNINGS AND INSIGHTS