We sisters, Laklak Burarrwaŋa, Ritjilili Ganambarr, Merrkiyawuy Ganambarr-Stubbs and Banbapuy Ganambarr, together with our daughter Djawundil Maymuru, speak from our place, our Country, Rorruwuy, Dätiwuy land and Bawaka, Gumatj land, Yolŋu Country, in North East Arnhem Land in Australia. When we talk about Country, we are using an Aboriginal English term that refers to specific places, specific Aboriginal peoples’ homelands. There are many, many Countries within Australia, many peoples, many languages, many Aboriginal nations. To talk of Country means not just land, but also the waters, the people, the winds, animals, plants, stories, songs and feelings, everything that becomes together to make up place. Country is alive for us, it cares for us, communicates with us, and we are part of it.
Kate Lloyd, Sandie Suchet-Pearson and Sarah Wright speak also from their place, as ŋäpaki (non-Indigenous) women, living on unceded Aboriginal land in New South Wales. They would specifically like to acknowledge Gumbaynggirr Country, Darug Country and Awabakal Country, where Kate, Sandie and Sarah live and work and where we have all worked together at various times as a collective. Kate, Sandie and Sarah thank from the bottom of their hearts the Elders, past, present and emerging, particularly those who have mentored, taught and guided them, including Aunty Shaa Smith, Uncle Bud Marshall, Yandaarra, Uncle Michael Jarrett, Uncle Lexodious Dadd, Aunty Corina Norman-Dadd and Aunty Sandra Griffin. Kate, Sandie and Sarah want to acknowledge and celebrate the strength of the cultures and ongoing connections with Country that, in the face of many deep and violent colonising atrocities, continue to survive and thrive every day in the places where they live and work.
We sisters and Kate, Sandie and Sarah as the Gay’wu Group of Women would also like to acknowledge the Countries—the places, people, beings, songspirals and stories—where our words travel, the many different places where they will be shared and read. As we share our knowledge with you, we respectfully offer this in relationship with you and the stories, laws, songs and histories of your place.
When the British came they didn’t see, or they ignored or refused to see, the songspirals, the Law, the culture that is here. And they claimed the land. They had only been here for the shortest time and they claimed it. But the land was already claimed. We have boundaries, clan boundaries, we have Law, culture and language. We know which clan belongs to which land.
This book is important and powerful because it comes out of Yolŋu minds, Yolŋu hearts, Yolŋu mouths. It is us, speaking for ourselves.