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Bringing ecovillage design to Rainforest Aboriginal communities

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Wet Tropics Management Authority (WTMA) held the Rainforest Aboriginal People’s Forum, 23-25 July 2021 where Jumbun representatives, Nicole Huxley, Uncle Abe and Aunty Phyllis attended. Jumbun were invited to not only attend the conference but also to have a stall to share about their work to transition to a regenerative resilient community and to showcase the ecovillage design framework and cards.

Nicole printed stand up banners with all the areas of regeneration and principles and displayed the GEN Ecovillage Cards packs at the table, and facilitated many conversations about ecovillage transition and design at the conference, with other rainforest Aboriginal communities, NGOs and government bodies.

Nicole is stepping up as a GEN Ambassador and hopes to facilitate ecovillage workshops with other Aboriginal communities in Queensland. Together with GEN Australia, she hopes that many more indigenous communities can transition to be regenerative communities, becoming self-reliant and creating abundant pathways for future generations.

Uncle Abe, Aunty Phyllis and Nicole Huxley at the WTMA Rainforest Aboriginal People’s Forum

Journey to Jumbun and Murray Falls

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A small team from GEN Australia travelled to up to far north Queensland in June 2021, to visit Jumbun Community and to facilitate a 3-day ecovillage workshop for Jumbun community members, their stakeholders and surrounding Indigenous communities.

3-day ecovillage workshop, held at the Murray Falls National Park near Jumbun Community

We explored the ecovillage framework and 32 principles of social, ecological, culture and economy, integrating into whole systems design, which helps to create pathways to transition to being a thriving community. We had space not only to learn about a design system that aligns with indigenous culture and values, but also to hear Jumbun’s story from the eyes of elders, to listen to each other and the current issues we are facing and how we can address them collaboratively into the future. An important aspect that became visible is that Jumbun is rich in land and culture and the possibilities to regenerate their community are vast. 

The Jumbun elders and GEN Australia team also visited the local school, Murray River Upper State School before the workshop, so the elders could engage the children and form stronger bonds with them. The elders shared openly and lovingly, their knowledge and wisdom with the children, of tree and plant species that have both medicinal values and are and have been bush tucker for many generations before. 

Jumbun Elders, Aunty Phyllis & Uncle Abe with children from Murray River Upper State School

We had the opportunity to have a representative from Permayouth, a youth-led network and the founder of AI.AM Naturals, an ecological and ethical enterprise making home and self care products, hold mini-workshops with the students and teachers from Murray River Upper State School at the Murray Falls National Park, where the workshop was held, a few kilometers away from the Jumbun community.

Maia Raymond sharing about Permayouth & Sion Zivetz doing a soap making demonstration

Next steps & broadening outreach

Through this workshop, many opportunities have emerged for Jumbun and the network. A few key projects have emerged from the process and Jumbun, GEN Australia, Permayouth and other stakeholders are exploring the next steps and are co-designing the initiatives.

The ecovillage design framework is a broad design system that can be applied to any type of community, as it is diverse yet easily adapted to any local context or country. The framework and design principles have been distilled over 25 years from thousands of communities (intentional, traditional and indigenous) worldwide and are constantly informed by the people and communities who choose to use it as a guiding tool. The approach we take in the workshop is interactive, yet intimate, sitting in circle, listening and sharing stories, while allowing the space also to connect to the broader global systems and issues and the state of the world. 

GEN Australia uses a set of ecovillage cards (areas of regeneration and principles) and mat that are laid out on the floor so you can see the principles (words and pictures) and reflect on how that relates to our community. Jumbun is currently in discussion with GEN Australia about developing a project to adapt the cards with pictures and words that could be more relatable to Aboriginal communities.

If other Aboriginal communities are able to step into ownership of their pathways to self-reliance and sustainability, the opportunities for peer-to-peer exchange, knowledge transfer and collaborative work grows immensely. 

We will share more stories like this as our connection and relationship deepens with Jumbun and other indigenous communities in Australia

Working with Indigenous Communities

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Australia is home to one of the world’s oldest, surviving cultures. Aboriginal and Torres Straiter Islander peoples were Australia’s first nations and have lived in balance with the land and each other for millennia. There are over 250 different and distinct groups today, each with their own culture, customs, language and laws. GEN Australia recognises and honours that indigenous communities were Australia’s first ecovillages, acknowledges the traditional custodians of land on which it is on, and pays respect to elders past, present and future.

Many indigenous communities, mainly northern QLD, Northern Territory, Northern WA and SA, still have family clans living together on ancestral land in line with their traditional ways, in close relationship with country and each other. GEN Australia seeks to engage with the indigenous communities in Australia, as there is strong alignment with regenerative culture and practices, both in intentional and indigenous communities.

GEN Australia Emergence Convergence, 2019 (Left: Dinnawan, Trudy, Aunty Phyllis, Nicole, Dominique)

With the vast amount of different tribes, cultures and languages, engagement with each indigenous community would be unique and not necessarily replicable throughout Australia, however, lessons and insights gained from working with one community, could be adapted to another. GEN Australia acknowledges that relationship with one indigenous group requires time and trust and therefore its unrealistic for GEN Australia to engage with the indigenous community of Australia as a whole. Therefore, we will aim build trust and relationship with one community, so we can support communities wishing to transition to be resilient thriving communities, using their traditional knowledge and wisdom, and ecovillage principles as guidance.

Map of Indigenous Australia | AIATSIS
Indigenous map of Australia. Courtesy of AIATSIS