Connecting cultures, people and Country

Ella Noah Bancroft is the CEO Founder and a Director of The Returning. She explains, ‘We founded The Returning with a deep desire to bring people back into right relationship with Country, community and self and we have seen the healing that occurs by bringing humans back to the natural world to immerse in the waters, sit on Country and be in community.’ 

The Returning incorporated with ORIC in 2021.

Caring for Country as Country cares for us

The Returning has helped more than 1,500 single mothers, families and other First Nations people through its programs. Nature and Country are key. In all their programs, people separate from the pressures of modern life by immersing themselves in the bushland and connecting to Country. Participants are encouraged to take care of the land and leave as little waste as possible. Participants are told about the ‘leave no trace’ principle and are encouraged to bring their own utensils, bowls, cups and plates to the programs to encourage waste-free living. 

‘We pride ourselves in running waste free and leave no trace programs, to encourage our participants to continue to care for Country after they return home and to be mindful of waste, consumption and our personal footprints,’ says Ella. 

Economic empowerment

As well as creating new pathways to connect with the natural world, The Returning has created employment opportunities for its 3 permanent part-time employees to move to full time work with the corporation. 

‘We have also engaged over 30 cultural workers, artists, elders and community leaders as contracted employees in our programs,’ says Ella.

An all-First Nations women team operates and manages The Returning. Ella has been working with First Nations young people for more than 18 years. She has been a mentor to many people and now shares her knowledge through the corporation. The Returning’s other directors, Bronwyn Bancroft, Kirilly Dawn, Steffi Davis and Sophie Willing, all share a strong passion for reconciliation, and healing and wellness through First Nations culture. Whether through art, dance, song, movement or learning, each woman brings a wealth of knowledge to the corporation. 

The female-led team offers deep connection, expertise and personal experiences in their postpartum programs for mothers. They’re able to offer a personalised, wrap-around service that is trauma-informed and culturally holistic. 

The Returning currently has 6 programs:

• The Gathering – 250 women over 3 days out on Country, one per year
• Culture Camp – 50 to 60 men, women, elders and children out on Country for 5 days and 4 nights
• Health retreats for under-resourced mob – 2 per year
• Postpartum food and baby supplies program – 45 woman per year supported, running 10 months of the year
• Postpartum health retreat for mothers
• Bulaan Dalang Galii Naa Gan Ngaa Leen Duu – arts and culture 12-month residency for regional Indigenous artists.

As a small charity The Returning relies on people attending their programs and making donations. 

‘The Returning is a charity that provides support for mothers and for Indigenous peoples,’ Ella says. 

‘Our charity also starts our work right here within the team we have created. We pride ourselves on hiring mothers and Indigenous women above all and creating safe spaces for mothers and mob to work closely with community, while ensuring they are supported economically.’

Ella explains they have also hired young cultural, health and wellness facilitators and Elders such as, ‘the wake-up time women, who come and teach our community our ancestral weavings. We also invite traditional owners and custodians to attend and do welcomes and be a part of our program.

‘Aunty Rose Walker supports us with our postpartum program and we engage many other Elders by running health retreats for them.’ 

The Returning provides work experience and volunteer opportunities for the local First Nations community. The team creates a healthy and inclusive environment for First Nations people and encourages cultural learning and sharing.

‘The Returning believes in shared leadership models and we are creating new ways/old ways of being in the world, ensuring we all feel heard and seen and moving away from outdated hierarchy models of running businesses,’ says Ella. 

‘The Returning works as a circular business model where our program managers take power and control over their programs and allowing shared leadership and the dissolving of hierarchy systems as we know it. 

‘Our structures are informed by our lived experience as Indigenous women and what we have seen, heard and felt from the dominant culture on what not to do. We hope to inform our decisions based on community care and need and we strive to remove structures of powering over and control that have impacted not only our communities but also our natural world since colonial contact. 

‘We are returning to the circular structure of shared power here at The Returning. We the women led and lead together, not one in front but all moving together as one.’

Strong values that cross cultures 

Family, community and understanding are among The Returning’s fundamental values. The team promotes that no one ‘owns’ Country, but that everyone is part of it and should treat it with respect.

Older members of the community hold knowledge and experience and deserve to be acknowledged and honoured. The Returning’s Culture Camp extends these values into the hearts and minds of those who attend their programs to help with their healing and connection to each other. 

The Culture Camp welcomes people from all backgrounds to experience a revitalising 5-day camp out on Country. It’s The Returning’s most popular program, inviting people to learn to reconnect with themselves through the land and aspects of culture.

A new lease on life

Throughout its work The Returning has a goal to make people feel rejuvenated through a reconnection with culture and Country. First Nations and non-First Nations peoples are connecting with each other, themselves and the natural world they belong to. 

Ella reminds us, ‘The Returning operates in a time when finding a sense of community and love for who we are and the people around us is becoming increasingly harder to achieve. But with a holistic blend of culture and health approaches, people are getting there in a natural, fun and educational way.’