Changing Lives in a Changing World – recognising and respecting foundations of Indigenous community resilience
The Bushfires and Natural Hazards CRC is supporting the investigation of Indigenous driven interests and initiatives in building community resilience as a foundation for more effective relationships with Emergency Management agencies. Indigenous culture and society is central to the future development of North Australia. Although the physical assets are easily recognised – land and sea, pristine environments, biodiversity, minerals, fishing resources, places for tourism etc. – the social and cultural assets of the people who belong there and who are defined by their land and sea are not so easily recognised. The many layers of paternal governance and agency superimposed over Indigenous customary estate-based social organisation have eroded local authority and control over recent generations. Despite this, persistent expressions of resilience abound, often obscured from and unrecognised in ‘top-down’ service delivery and higher order policy settings.