Background to the Yolŋu Knowledge Framework

A long long long long time ago our elders were like rangers, Yolŋu rangers, and they took care of our Country. They would look for food, they would follow the seasons and do fire management. They would care for the land, the sacred sites and the waterways and look after Country in this way. Yolŋu knew everything a long time ago, they held the law strong through ceremony and gurrutu. Us Yolŋu now, we are doing the same thing. Djäkami Wäŋwu (our Rangers) still care for this Country, we are the carers of the law.

Our elders from all the clan groups across Yolŋu Country came together more than 30 years ago to discuss how they would deal with and manage the impacts of Balanda, particularly illegal entry, desecrating sacred sites the introduction of weeds and feral animals on our Country. They established Dhimurru to manage the region in the north east of our land and sea Country and Yirralka to manage our homelands.

The Yolŋu Knowledge Framework brings Yirralka and Dhimurru together. The senior staff from our organisations have interviewed more than 40 of our most senior knowledge holders, from all the different clan groups, to learn from them and their vision for how Dhimurru and Yirralka can work together from a foundation of Yolŋu law.

Our elders have guided our thinking to develop some new directions for managing our Country, guiding us to look after Country in a way that prioritises our law, philosophies and processes. We live in a modern world and we need ngapaki tools to manage the issues that they have brought into our Country. But our vision and our work will always be based in our own law and responsibilities to Country.

Dhimurru and Yirralka have been working together to learn from our elders, to think carefully about how to reshape our work to honour our ancestors, our law, our responsibilities and our ways forward. This website details our new visions, directions, strategies and actions moving forward as we shift the formal recognition of us as rangers, to us as Djäkami Wäŋawu.