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Beyond Archiving: Activating language and cultural property through indigenous practice
Conference presentation

Beyond Archiving: Activating language and cultural property through indigenous practice

Kylie Day, Thomas Dick, Aimee Andersen, Jenelle Benson and Dhinawan William Baker
ATSIMA 2025 Conference: Our Language, Our Strength, 5th (Lunawuni (Bruny Island), Lutruwita (Tasmania), 01/10/2025–03/10/2025)
03/10/2025

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Abstract

Language is a cultural property, deeply intertwined with identity, knowledge systems, and ecological relationships. This presentation drew on the Stories Behind the Fishing Net – Sitting with the Aunties project, which revitalised Bundjalung net-making traditions, reinforcing the relational, embodied nature of Indigenous knowledge. Weaving a net, like speaking and maintaining language, asserted cultural sovereignty and facilitated intergenerational knowledge transfer. This work examined how Indigenous governance, kinship, and storytelling persisted despite ongoing colonial disruptions. Findings from the project highlighted the need to move beyond Western cultural governance models toward frameworks recognising Indigenous ways of knowing as dynamic and lived. The Symbiocene provided a lens for understanding these relationships, framing net-making as a metaphor for interconnectedness between people, Country, and community. Bundjalung Elders and participants renewed knowledge through action: weaving, yarning, harvesting, and processing. This presentation argues that cultural property, like language, could not simply be archived but needs continual activation. By centring Indigenous epistemologies in education, research, and governance, we voice Indigenous self-determination, ensuring cultural knowledge remains a living force of strength, resilience, and renewal.

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