Caring for Country

“For Indigenous people, caring for Country is an obligation and an honour. In caring for Country, Indigenous Australians draw on laws, knowledge and customs that have been inherited from ancestors and ancestral beings, to ensure the continued health of lands and seas with which they have a traditional attachment or relationship.

This is a reciprocal relationship, whereby land is understood to become wild or sick if not managed by its people, and in turn individuals and communities suffer without a maintained connection to Country.

It is well understood by Indigenous people that if you ‘look after Country, Country will look after you’. As caring for Country is embedded in cultural heritage, it includes caring for culture: stories, songlines, language and connection to Country.”

Terri Janke et al (2021) Indigenous Chapter in: Australia State of Environment 2021

Image: Murrandoo Yanner watching fires he started as part of a controlled burn for land management, Burketown, 2020. Courtesy: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.