"In An Open-air Courtroom Set Up In A Nature Reserve In Western NSW, A Four-nation Clan Has Secured One

abc.net.au

Native title claim spanning 95,000 square kilometres recognised by Federal Court in Western NSW

In an open-air courtroom set up in a nature reserve at Cobar, families from the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan peoples secure

"In an open-air courtroom set up in a nature reserve in Western NSW, a four-nation clan has secured one of the largest native title claims in the region's history. 

Far from the four walls and formalities of a federal courtroom, Justice Melissa Perry delivered her determination at Newey Reserve in Cobar on Wednesday, recognising the native title rights of the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan peoples.

The decision marks the successful end of a 12-year legal battle that began in 2012.

The claim covers more than 95,000 square kilometres of land and water from the Barwon River in the north, to the Lachlan River in the south, the Castlereagh River in the east and Ivanhoe to the west. 

It recognises native title rights including the right to hunt, fish and gather resources, the right to access and camp on land and right to protect places of cultural and spiritual importance.

A legacy for future custodians 

Aunty Elaine Ohlsen, a Ngiyampaa Elder from Cobar and one of the original applicants, said the decision brought her "mixed emotions".

"I just persevered," she said.

"We've been through a lot of trials and tribulations to get here, but I'm someone who won't give up fighting for our people."

"These sorts of things need to happen all the time, because we need to know who we are and where we come from and where we are in this country."

Aunty Elaine hopes the determination will inspire future generations to continue their ancestors' legacy.

"Hopefully, this will encourage them to stay connected to their country, heritage, and culture, and to carry on the hard work we've done," she said.

Vision for the future

Wangaaypuwan man and claim applicant John Shipp recently camped on country with four generations of his family.

He said the recognition of native title meant they could continue to do so without fear of being moved on.

"It's just those little things that give us our connection back to our land, our heritage, our culture," he said.

The native title holders have now formed the Ngemba, Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan Wayilwan Aboriginal Corporation (NNWW Corporation) to manage their rights.

As a director of the NNWW Corporation, Mr Shipp sees the determination as the beginning of a new chapter...

As for Mr Shipp's message to other Indigenous groups fighting for recognition?

"Keep going — it's getting better, it's getting shorter, it's happening, just keep going," he said."

-via ABC News Australia, August 14, 2024

Empire, imperialism, colonialism, capitalism…these structures CANNOT survive anywhere where almost any kind of relationship thrives.

You cannot have an authentic self.

You have a pre-approved self PRESCRIBED to you, and any attempt to deviate from the "self" that you are assigned is continuously policed and punished.

Your connection to the land is continuously denied and sabotaged -- precisely so that people can't survive and take care of themselves via collaborative subsistence.

Every oppressor and abuser demands that you be dependent on them, so that they can continue to oppress and abuse you. And, even if they sweetly insist that they will allow you to have some freedoms; they will simultaneously make sure to sabotage and gaslight you until you're in a position where you can't care for yourself anyway: a process that infantilizes and enslaves human beings into the structure of unequal power that they crave.

Your connection to others is constantly policed.

We see how various media outlets and social media platforms attempt to control conversations, muddy narratives, use algorithms to funnel people into more right-leaning content; and, even force people to change the terminologies they use; to absurd effect (unalive, grape, etc).

We see in the pages of Project 2025 how desperate the old guard of western hierarchy are, to regain full control of people's connections to each other, by denying people any options about how they live, with whom, to what end, and under what circumstances.

It's not wrong to not need to be "saved" or "chosen" by a god.

You don't need a god to follow good morals.

And you don't need a god in order to live a good life.

Humans evolved to thrive when they have good connections with:

1.) Themselves (i.e., they come to know and understand and accept themselves as human beings);

2.) Their Environment (i.e., they spend time in, and, if they so choose, nurture and do a bit of tending in the natural landscape that they call home); and,

3.) Their Community (i.e., maintain authentic, mutually-consensual, and close ties to family, friends, and/or other members of their community: building and becoming part of the interconnected support networks that help their communities to function and thrive).

We have sentience apart from these foundational human wants and needs; so we get to choose to pursue skills, crafts, fields of knowledge; and personal or communal goals that appeal to us and that make us happy...but aside from choosing that purpose voluntarily for ourselves, what is wrong with just living a good life and loving and caring for and helping the people and the lands around you in whatever little ways you like?

Why is that not enough?

Does everyone really have to have an overblown 'Chosen One' complex in order to be worth anything?

Because all those little ways of being can add up to something immensely beautiful and satisfying... provided, of course, that the current systems in which we live aren't actively preventing, undoing, and sabotaging our connections to them.

Tatler Asia

From mycelium floors to fruit peel lamps: The sustainable materials shaping eco-friendly design

From bio-based flooring to recycled fruit lamps, these eco-friendly designers are embracing innovative sustainable materials around the worl

When we think of sustainable materials, bamboo, cork, recycled stone and reclaimed teak often come to mind. These building and surface materials are used extensively in both residential and commercial projects, enough to solidify them as the eco-friendly future of established architectural practices.

But what if we went even further? Creative and experimental designers worldwide are embracing much more unusual sustainable materials in a wide range of projects, be these sturdy floorboards and insulating panels, or small-scale decorative elements such as lamps, trays, vases and other furnishings. With designs hailing from Singapore and Indonesia, as well as distant studios in Italy and Palestine, here are the materials of tomorrow.

Mogu’s mycelium floor tiles

Mushroom filaments may not seem like the sturdiest base for hardwearing floors, but the Italian designers behind Mogu would argue otherwise. Transformed into resilient tiles appropriate for luxury residences and even commercial spaces, the mycelium structure is topped with a layer of bio-based resin, granting it resistance to scratches and abrasions rivalling traditional flooring materials.

Orange peel and pine needles make up the sustainable lampshades by Caracara Collective

Turning orange peel into useable furnishings and décor pieces is no small feat, yet the people behind the circularity-focused Caracara Collective in Finland have mastered this singular art. Inspired by the abundance of the natural, inherently sustainable materials around them, the designers created a series of lampshades made of orange peel, as well as pine needles from discarded Christmas trees.

As the collective puts it: “It takes around 20 squeezed oranges to create one lampshade. In other words, each lampshade is the by-product of someone drinking two litres of orange juice.”

Markos Design’s Ostra lamp, made of discarded oyster shells

Discarded oyster shells are similarly repurposed on the island of Cyprus, transformed by Markos Design into Ostra, a ceramic-like biomaterial. Ostra is worked into statement lamp designs, naturally hardwearing thanks to the oysters’ high concentration of calcium carbonate, which also lends cement and concrete considerable strength.