2020 Benefitting Society Finalist: Macquarie University - Australia

Macquarie University - Yanama budyari gumada – walking with good spirit on Darug Country, western Sydney 

The Yanama budyari gumada ‘walk with good spirit’ research collective is based on Darug Country, at Yellomundee Regional Park, Western Sydney. Led by Indigenous Darug custodian Uncle Lexodious Dadd, and involving NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and researchers and students from Newcastle and Macquarie universities, together we run the Darug Caring-as-Country project. We work hard to rekindle Indigenous ‘Caring-as-Country’ mechanisms on national parks estate, and have facilitated 17 Darug cultural camps between 2016-2019, enabling 450+ people to enhance environmental stewardship of Yellomundee by connecting deeply with Darug Country, culture, knowledge and language. We share our important collaborative learnings widely, through documentary film, research publications, policy interactions, and social media. 

Top three learnings: 

1. Communities are keen to connect with local Indigenous peoples, knowledges and cultures, and with institutions who work respectfully to facilitate these connections for enhanced sustainability.  
2. Our Darug Caring-as-Country project acknowledges Australian cities as Indigenous Country, enabling new ideas, practices and processes around urban conservation management and sustainability challenges to emerge. 
3. Our ‘Stringybark Rope Model of Cross-cultural Collaboration’ enables other groups to learn from our experiences of learning deeply and carefully together for more sustainable futures.