Spotlight on

In two decades, DJAARA, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DDWCAC) has grown from a small corporation into a multi-million-dollar organisation with multiple enterprises. Good governance has been essential to this growth. Today, the Dja Dja Wurrung Group – DJAARA and its expanding Dja Dja Wurrung Enterprises – delivers employment and economic benefits to Dja Dja Wurrung People in Victoria while meeting DJAARA’s goals to care for Country.

Each Monday, Voice of Hope Aboriginal Corporation welcomes up to 40 First Nations women to a healing workshop. It’s a chance to yarn, heal and create connections, with the goal of returning to community strong after prison. 

Voice of Hope embodies an ambition by founder Lorraine Pryor: to provide a wrap-around service for incarcerated women and sistergirls to have ‘hope for when they are released’. It’s a response to Lorraine seeing a need for Aboriginal women-led services in the justice system – services grounded in culture and women’s business.

In 2013, Elders in Canberra came together over a shared concern about the services provided to First Nations people leaving prison. The community wanted returning members to have stronger, more culturally responsive support. They wanted people to feel safe so they could learn, work, form connections and, as a result, not reoffend. 

So they took the lead on making it happen. 

Family and community are always welcome at Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre. It’s an open space where visitors drop in to view exhibitions and talk to staff. Staff and community members bring children to play and be involved.

It’s a place for sharing knowledge, connecting between generations and forming partnerships with people who aim for better outcomes in Deniliquin, NSW.

An idea to build an inclusive cricket carnival sparked a corporation’s journey to support overall community wellbeing through sport. The carnival was set up to bring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of all ages together: to have fun, be healthy and be together, in honour of living legend, Stan Alberts. Ten years on, and it has become a feeder to professional leagues and a networking opportunity for sporting organisations as teams of under 7s up to Masters converge on the town of Rockhampton in Queensland.

Young people are invited to go out on Country for ‘horse culture healing’ and ‘bush adventure therapy’.

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.

Walbunja man Wally Stewart and a board of Yuin Traditional Owners are taking opportunities for Joonga to go even further. But handling the fast and large growth has been a challenge. Strong relationships and constant communication have been key to keeping up with the speed of expansion and project delivery. 

From making ripples to managing waves

Through increasing its capabilities, Joonga (which means ‘octopus’ in Walbunja language) has its sights firmly set on a sustainable economy for saltwater people.