45 / 80
years of Working on Country, frog,
bird and fish species returned
to the land and waters
. 29Those
involved say it makes them ‘who
they are’, since as with language,
regaining country is a means
of reinforcing identity. Derek is
motivated by changes in young
people’s perceptions of their future:
Over time, the imprint of
Ngarrindjeri on the landscape
has been fading, but we’re
trying to reinvigorate that.
You can tell the difference: we
now see people taking much
more care of country, hunting,
doing things they wouldn’t
otherwise have done.
We see a change in character.
If you put time into it, young
people take this up and grow.
You get a lot of satisfaction
from that, there’s no doubt
about it. There’s some
rascals, no doubt about that!
But reinvigorating connection
to country is good for
anybody. When they know
who they are, and where
they’re from, it opens up a
whole realm of possibility for
who they want to be.
Derek sees Kevin Kropinyeri
Junior, a Jawun Emerging Leaders
program participant in 2017,
reaching for a brighter future:
Kevin was a city boy doing all
the city things. He could have
drifted into being a rascal but
he came the other way. He
came back home and got back
involved. Now he manages
our nurseries and is growing in
confidence and knowledge and
understanding. We’re keen to
marry culture with science and
technical know-how, for things
like propagation. Kev took
the opportunity to learn and
develop. He now has a Diploma
of Conservation and Land
Management, and I suspect he’ll
go on to study environmental
science. He’s a good lad.
Kevin himself is excited about his
work and what it means:
This job means a whole lot
to me—it gives me direction,
and is an opportunity not just
for me but for all the other
guys on the ground.
The vision of a lot of people
has led to this. The support of
a lot of people, including the
men I work with and leaders
and mentors like Derek, has
paved the way for this.
When I think about it, it’s a
big thing I’m doing but it’s
doing what I know and what
I’m passionate about and
love. Culture will always be
important. We know who we
are and where we come from.
We speak our language,
we have plans as a nation
and a building nation. So
we put things in place like
commercialisation, to create
sustainability. We know it
takes hard work and success
doesn’t come overnight, but
we’re very prepared for that.
I want my children to be
working alongside me. I
want to show them what
I’ve learned. I want to teach
them about people like
Uncle Derek, to pass that
knowledge and those stories
down. We don’t know where
we’re going until we know
where we’ve come from.
Jawun will continue to support
Kevin through Emerging Leaders,
and Ngopamuldi and the
Ngarrindjeri Nation through its
secondment program and other
opportunities to build capacity
and connections. Through this,
Derek says, Ngopamuldi hopes to
further advance an Indigenous-led
empowerment agenda:
Jawun secondees have
enabled real growth—in our
staff and for Kevin. We’ve
been very fortunate, it’s
gold for us. They’re also
good people. We hope they
get something out of it
too—like a benefit to them
professionally, the chance to
understand, the connection—
and we understand they do.
It gets quite emotional on
both sides, there can be a
few tears on both sides.
Derek has his eye on the future
for successive generations of
Ngarrindjeri people. He hopes
eventually to retire to an advisory
role, to let young people like Kevin
grow into leadership positions and
set the course for the organisation
and the Ngarrindjeri Nation.
Kevin Kropinyeri.
Photo: Sally Knight
3. ACCELERATING INDIGENOUS-LED ENTERPRISE 45