The six Noongar Seasons have been a part of Aboriginal life in the South-West of Western Australia for thousands of years.

Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang represent a timetable of the way nature will behave. The acknowledgement runs deeply through Indigenous culture and is now guiding the Aboriginal-led reconciliation movement Danjoo Koorliny, Walking Together Towards 2029 and Beyond.

Hosted by UWA’s Centre for Social Impact, the bold, long-term change initiative described as ‘a platform for conversation and change’ officially began in 2021 in Kambarang, the second spring and season of birth in the Noongar seasons.

The first milestone on this road is 2029 (200 years of colonisation in Perth), but the project will go far beyond Western Australia’s bicentenary, say its designers and co-directors Emeritus Professor Colleen Hayward AM, Carol Innes AM, Dr Noel Nannup OAM and Dr Richard Walley OAM.

^{(left to right) Danjoo Koorliny co-directors Dr Richard Walley, Emeritus Professor Colleen Hayward AM, Carol Innes AM and Dr Noel Nannup OAM.}

They argue that appropriate and effective solutions are needed to bring about wide-scale changes to reverse the effects of colonisation on Indigenous life and should work across four key pillars of society — social, cultural, environmental and economic.

Reinvigorating Aboriginal-led arts and cultural events in our communities and uplifting Aboriginal land-management practices to support the restoration of degraded lands and waterways while teaching communities about their responsibility to ‘care for everything’, are priorities.

As are supporting individuals, families and communities to live with a sense of social wellbeing by reversing the effects of racism, historical injustice and intergenerational trauma, and creating economic independence by supporting Aboriginal businesses and increasing employment opportunities.

“We’ve always been an add-on, and an after-thought, but this is an Aboriginal-led movement with our voices front and centre,” Dr Nannup says. “Our focus is on 2029 at this stage, however we have the potential to go way beyond this because this is about being a person, a human being.

“Danjoo Koorliny instils a collective responsibility in people’s minds and hearts to care for everything. Everyone has a piece of the pathway to the future — we each need to polish our own part and put it together to form a collective path to go forward.”

The project recently received a second grant from Lotterywest, to assist in its work, with the additional funding enabling resourcing and project staff to support a range of work including community engagement and connection activities, knowledge transfer and cultural exchange.

“While the causes are many, varying from environmental, cultural, social and the arts, the most important part is that it’s for the common good of all of us,” Dr Walley says.

“That’s people, plant, animal and place. Danjoo Koorliny is a collection of people who are sitting down, standing together, walking around and collecting stories, processes, programs, so that we can get action, outcomes and change to take us from where we are today, into the future.

“Particularly looking at what’s going to happen in 2029 because that’s going to be a time to see how far we, as a state, have come.”

Ms Innes says that by elevating Aboriginal culture, values and leadership and walking together with a collective of changemakers, genuine change is possible.

“We’ve had investment and support from a number of people in leadership roles and we’ve brought government agencies into the space, to help provide a direction for the future, but there’s one very important ingredient and that’s spirituality,” she says.

“We’ve had investment and support from a number of people in leadership roles and we’ve brought government agencies into the space, to help provide a direction for the future, but there’s one very important ingredient and that’s spirituality,” she says.

“This land has a spirit. We build our environment on the six seasons, and we hold the space through the spiritual connection of knowing and of caring for each other. It’s interwoven into everything that we do. Never underestimate the power of spirituality.”

For more information on Danjoo Koorliny and to get involved, see:danjookoorliny.com