Yandaarra
Gumbaynggirr-led Research Collaboration
“We see Yandaarra as binding beings together, living the protocols of Maangun, the Law, of the Dreaming. We see Yandaarra, our research, as a recreation story. It’s about remembering what was and is as part of re-creating, rebinding, remaking protocols as we honour Elders and custodians, human/non-human, past, present and future.”
Yandaarra, 2018
In Gumbaynggirr language, Yandaarra means “to shift camp together.” As Yandaarra, we walk together, shift camp together, and live and work in, with and as Country. We are at a point where a radical shift is necessary, to learn how to better live on and with Mother Earth. When this shifting happens, it needs to occur on many different levels: in our lives, our dreams, our work, our homes and our families, and through broader structures that can allow a genuinely respectful coming together.
Yandaarra is a collaboration led by Gumbaynggirr Jagun co-founder, Aunty Shaa Smith under the guidance of the Old Fellas and Gumbaynggirr Country with her daughter Neeyan Smith. Yandaarra includes non-Gumbaynggirr academics Sarah Wright, Paul Hodge and Lara Daley from the University of Newcastle and the Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance as partners.
We come together as Yandaarra to build and research a better understanding of what a Gumbaynggirr-led “caring for Country” might look like today. This involves the collaborative development and trialling of resources and protocols to help support natural resource management organisations to attend more deeply to Indigenous ideas of Country, and to Country itself. Protocols are ways of doing and being with Gumbaynggirr Country that are guided and supported by Gumbaynggirr lore/law, the fundamental lore/law of Gumbaynggirr Country. This lore/law is about living in harmony and being as one.
This research collaboration requires us to know our place and our different histories as Gumbaynggirr and non-Gumbaynggirr people living and working on unceded land. Our focus in Yandaarra is to learn to care for Country and ourselves from a Gumbaynggirr perspective.
Workshops
Two Sisters Workshop: (2016)
Held in 2016, Yandaarras first initial start-up began as a Pilot Project. Three day, two night workshops were held in Bellingen and Mylestom NSW, where participants initiated in ceremony. This ceremony involved, sitting in circle around fire, walking, swimming, gathering food on country, song, story and talking-up what a Gumbaynggirr-led caring for country practice might look like. Building relationship with country and each other is necessary during these workshops and participating in ceremony, that Auny Shaa Facilitates, provides an opportunity to connect with the earth and each other through the gateway of Gumbaynggirr Dreaming.
The Wijiirrjagi Workshop: (2016)
The Wijiirrjagi Workshop took place at Thora, NSW and acted as a follow up from the Two Sisters Workshop held at Mylestom, NSW. Through Aunty Shaas facilitation she guided the participants through a healing process around Trauma of colonisation. This was a necessary process to begin participants on their journey of self growth in order to begin building relationship with each other and country. Ceremony was held in the form of sitting in circle around the fire and deep, personal conversations were carried out.
The Gaarrawaygam Workshop: (2017)
The Gaarrawaygam Workshop took place at The Golden Hole, NSW. The Golden Hole is the largest Midden site in the Southern Hemisphere and is located at Stuarts Point, NSW. This workshop was a time for the Local people of Stuarts Point - Ngambaa, Gumbaynggirr people, to share their way of being on country and to play a part in the discussion around the importance of using and sharing Gumbaynggirr protocols/processes in the way we care for country and each other. Ceremony was held around the fire where participants gathered bush tucker and ate together, and through a yarning circle.
The Dunggirr Dreaming Workshop: (2018)
Dunggiidu ngiyaanya ganggaadi (Heed the Call of Dunggirr, Koala) planting ceremony was a gathering and yarn, and a tree planting, that took place in November and December, 2018 connecting three places on Gumbaynggirr Country: North Farm, Scotts Head and Yarriabini. Heeding the call, Yandaarra, the Jaliigirr Biodiversity Alliance of NRM practitioners, Bellingen Landcare and local landholders came together at North Farm, a property just outside of Bellingen on the mid-north coast of NSW. Calling in ceremony and the Old Fellas, connecting the eucalyptus tree planting for improved Dunggirr habitat to the Dunggirr creation story, Aunty Shaa invited those present to connect and belong in place, in and on Gumbaynggirr Country, in new ways.
The Dunggirr kids day (2019)
Yandaarra held a kids day that brought together Gumbaynggirr and non- Gumbaynggir families, ancestors, sea and sky Country and multiple non-human beings such as the Koala and Whale. The aim of the day was to hold an intercultural and intergenerational storytelling and ceremony day. The day involved 13 people, including Gumbaynggirr custodians who led the day’s planning, preparation and activities. The ages of the group were from 6 to 60 years old. The day included children’s sand play and creative expression to ‘say hello to Country’ (Scott’s Head); yarning led by Aunty Shaa Smith (Scott’s Head); cooking around the fire and sharing food as ceremony (Yarriabini); creating a gateway connecting dreaming times out of bamboo for ceremony (Yarriabini); and ‘Dunggirr, Koala, Brothers and the Caring Song of the Whale’ Storytelling and ceremony (Yarriabini).
Publications
Books:
Smith S., Smith N., Marshall, H., Wright S., Daley L., and Hodge P. (2022) The Dunggiirr Brothers and the Caring Song of the Whale, Allen & Unwin, Melbourne, Vic.
Academic Articles:
Yandaarra including Smith S., Smith N., Hodge P., Daley L., and Wright S. (2022) ‘Ngurrajili ‘continued giving’: coming together around yuraal, food, as decolonising practice’ in Vegan Geographies: Spaces Beyond Violence, Ethics Beyond Speciesism (eds.) Hodge, P., McGregor, A., Springer S., Véron, O., and White, R.J., Lantern Publishing & Media, Brooklyn, NY.
Smith, A. S., Marshall, U. B., Smith, N., Wright, S., Daley, L., & Hodge, P. (2022) Ethics and consent in more‐than‐human research: Some considerations from/with/as Gumbaynggirr Country, Australia. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers.
Smith, A. S., Smith, N., Daley, L., Wright, S., & Hodge, P. (2021). Creation, destruction, and COVID‐19: Heeding the call of country, bringing things into balance. Geographical Research.
Smith, A. S., Smith, N., Wright, S., Hodge, P., & Daley, L. (2021). Yandaarra is living protocol. Social & Cultural Geography, 21(7), 940-961.
Smith AS, Yandaarra, Smith N, Wright S, Hodge P, Daley L (2019) Caring for Country, Shifting Camp Landscape Architecture, Australia Issue 162 (May): 38-40
Reports:
Dunggiidu ngiyaanya ganggaadi, Heed the call of Dunggirr, Koala: Reflections and Learnings
Smith AS, Smith N, Wright S, Hodge P, Daley L
2019. Gumbaynggirr Jagun, Valla Beach, NSW. 1-45
‘Case Study 2’ - Dunggiidu ngiyaanya ganggaadi (Heed the Call of Dunggirr, Koala)
Smith, Aunty Shaa, Smith, Neeyan, Hodge, Paul, Wright, Sarah & Daley, Lara (in Press) In Our Knowledge Our Way Guidelines (eds.) CSIRO/NAILSM. 30-32.
‘Case Study 3’ - Listening, slowing down, attending to Gumbaynggirr Country, Country speaks
Smith, Aunty Shaa, Smith, Neeyan, Hodge, Paul, Wright, Sarah & Daley, Lara (in Press) In Our Knowledge Our Way Guidelines (eds.) CSIRO/NAILSM. 41-45.
Other Publications:
Smith S., Smith N., Marshall, H., Wright S., Daley L., and Hodge P. (2022) The Dunggirr Brothers & the Caring Song of the Whale Teacher’s Notes, Allen & Unwin, Melbourne, Vic.
Conference Papers:
Ngurrajili ‘continued giving’: coming together around yirraal, food, as decolonising practice
Yandaarra, Smith AS, Smith N, Wright S, Hodge P, Daley L
New Zealand Geographical Society and the Institute of Australian Geographers: Creative Conversations, Constructive Connections, The University of Auckland, 11 Jul 2018 - 14 Jul 2018. https://www.iag.org.au/client_images/2092803.pdf.
Institute of Australian Geographers. 2018
Dunggiidu Ngiyaanya Ganggaadi, Koala Calling Us Mob
Smith AS, Marshall UB, Smith N, Wright S, Daley L, Hodge P
NAISA, Aotearoa/New Zealand, 26 Jun 2019 - 29 Jun 2019. https://naisa2019.waikato.ac.nz/media/1613/naisa-booklet-web-version.pdf. NAISA. 2019
Find out more
If you would like to hear more about Yandaarra’s Work or be apart of future workshops, please contact Gumbaynggirr Jagun.
