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Listening at Lismore: National Indigenous Disaster Resilience Gathering

A/Prof Jessica Weir (WSU) and Dr Kat Haynes (DCCEEW)

 


The NIDR Gathering was held over three beautiful days on the lands of the Widjable Wia-bal peoples of the Bundjalung Nation, on what is now the Lismore Showgrounds, with Aunty Thelma James and Uncle Gilbert Laurie welcoming us.

 

As this short film documents, Indigenous leaders were involved as conveners, hosts, presenters, participants and volunteers, including as guests from Great Turtle Island / Canada, Aotearoa / New Zealand, and Fiji. 

 

Sessions were held in open air marquees and outbuildings, providing a distinctly different atmosphere to the airconditioned conferences where many of us usually meet. With more of a festival feeling, the focus was on connection with each other and Country, buoyed by the sunlight, scenery, and cooling breeze.

 

The Gathering followed the inaugural NIDR Summit in Meanjin/Brisbane during 2023, and was held in Lismore to acknowledge this community’s 2022 flood experiences. Indigenous and community leaders gave keynotes, workshops and tours on their lived experienced of the flooding and the challenges they still face.

 

The Gathering had many of the elements a seasoned natural hazard conference attendee may expect, but it felt so very different. The Indigenous leadership prioritised the ethics of connection.

 

As one participant said: “I came here with a heaviness, but here I have been able to share this weight. We are all in this together. This Gathering doesn’t feel like a conference, and it’s given me the freedom to be a proud black woman, to be myself.”

 

The NIDR Gathering 2024 was organised by the Indigenous-led NIDR Program at Monash University and the BNHRC’s Indigenous partner Jagun Alliance.

 

It drew strength through collaborating with many others. From the Koori Mail hosting the Gathering Opening Reception, to the many on-Country activities that invited attendees to community locales. A dance and dinner invited the broader Lismore community into the Gathering.

 

And as two on-site campers we became our own community with the other campers, looking out for each other, making connections all while being carolled by the birds.

 

Another conference theme was facing and overturning the violences of colonisation. As Bhiamie Williamson, NIDR Program Lead at Monash University, said, “We’ve got enough allies. What we need are champions. People who will stand up for Indigenous people when we are not in the room.”

 

To address structural discrimination, Oliver Costello from Jagun Alliance said, “We should not be figuring out how to get around things, we need to be creating new pathways.”

 

The NIDR Gathering 2024 was a powerful demonstration of Indigenous agenda setting in a sector that has disregarded Indigenous leadership. Thankfully, this is now changing, driven by a new generation of exceptional Indigenous leaders who are setting an ambitious resilience agenda that will benefit not just Indigenous peoples, but embraces all communities.

 



Photo: Yurruungga Aboriginal Corporation with their fire truck that will support cultural activities on Country including cultural burning (Kat Haynes / DCCEEW)

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