PODCAST: WALKING TOGETHER
Recently UWA Albany tutor, Shandell Cummings and research associate, Alison Lullfitz were interviewed for the podcast, Ecology Matters. They describe the research work they do together as part of the Walking Together project here on the south coast.
Shandell Cummings is a Merningar woman and Indigenous consultant. Dr Alison Lullfitz is a cross-cultural researcher and conservation biologist at the University of Western Australia.
Together they explore and map the many linkages between Indigenous and western ecological knowledge, working closely with Shandell’s family in Noongar Boodja of south coast Western Australia. This work brings together different frameworks of thinking with the shared goal of improving biodiversity conservation and social wellbeing.
Restoring Noongar Boodja are three integrated and time critical projects being managed by South Coast NRM in partnership with The University of Western Australia & UWA Albany Campus, Wirlomin Noongar Language & Stories and Albany Heritage Reference Group Aboriginal Corporation (AHRGAC). Supported by Lotterywest, Restoring Noongar Boodja is aimed at respecting, recording, applying and sharing Noongar knowledge to manage our natural resources.
One of these three integrated projects is Walking Together which is a collaboration with Noongar groups and families and the UWA Albany Campus. This project combines traditional ecological knowledge and western science to establish protocols and contemporary management techniques for the care of our natural assets.