Ngurra Kurlu Our Home

This country is strong and will remain strong for us. It is alive in spirit. Country always welcomes us and reminds us that we are family. We have the responsibility to look after our father’s and mother’s country by following the Law. We don’t make the Law; our Law is handed down from generation to generation.
Country is there for us to live on and use and we are there for it. It’s a strong belief that we should hunt and look around country, walk on the same ground and remember it. This country is us … we love this country.
We were born and grew up in this country. We were taught on country and we want to teach our young ones too. When we pass on, our children can hold country strong, like we do now.
This IPA is for us. It gives us a better chance to look after country and people, and pass our connections on. It’s been a long time since we’ve walked the country. This IPA gives us the opportunity to go back, remember, and use it. It also helps our young people become more knowledgeable. We have rangers learning both Yapa and Kardiya ways of managing country. It’s good for our young people to look after country; it’s their country too.
Translated by Valerie Napanangka Patterson and Annette Nampijinpa Patrick

Northern Tanami Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) committee members directed the CLC to re-imagine their IPA Plan of Management, an English-heavy guide book for looking after the IPA. The brief was to create a lush digital resource using spoken Warlpiri that could be accessed both online and offline to mirror the content of the management plan and be navigated through voice commands. The CLC’s hope is that the IPA digital storybooks will help all Warlpiri – from elders to school children – to better understand and support the work to keep country healthy and culture strong. The CLC has made digital storybooks for both the Southern Tanami and the Northern Tanami IPAs. See www.ngurra.org and www.walyalku.org.au