Family News Edition 67

Lexi Ward from and story on pg4

© Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal Corporation

“ doing good work with families”

Postal: PO Box 8274 NT 0871 Location: 3 Ghan Rd Alice Springs NT 0870 Ph: (08) 8953 4488 Fax: (08) 89534577 Website: www.waltja.org.au

2 2 Nangala”. Irene

“Stay safe, and strong, Yes, Palya from Waltja Waltja from Palya Yes, strong, and safe, “Stay Irene Nangala & Sandra Windy Sandra & Nangala Irene

Executive Directors Margie Campbell, Campbell, Margie Directors Executive

women from the desert then. desert the from women

will be in March now 2021 and I want to see all the the all see to want I and 2021 now March in be will

missed out on AGM from that COVID-19 virus. AGM AGM virus. COVID-19 that from AGM on out missed

The Executive were meeting 12 times. Directors Directors times. 12 meeting were Executive The

NDIS, culture and governance work. governance and culture NDIS,

programs, help the workers to go bush. Youth work, work, Youth bush. go to workers the help programs,

the year we were working with Sharijn to do all the the all do to Sharijn with working were we year the

everywhere! Sending to every community. The rest of of rest The community. every to Sending everywhere!

Oh we were too busy at Waltja clothes and food food and clothes Waltja at busy too were we Oh

was crying for warm clothes and food. and clothes warm for crying was

each other. No shopping in Alice Springs. Everyone Everyone Springs. Alice in shopping No other. each

remote communities were locked down and no visiting visiting no and down locked were communities remote

2020 was a hard year, a sad year for people. The The people. for year sad a year, hard a was 2020

. Nangala Palya kunpurringamaya. tjuta Walytja ngurrangka nyinama

tjutaku ngurra tjutaku. Yukarraku, Ulkumanuku, nganana yuntjurringanyi. Palyaya Palyaya yuntjurringanyi. nganana Ulkumanuku, Yukarraku, tjutaku. ngurra tjutaku

AGM miitingi ngaraku March-tjingka (2021-ngngka) Nganana yuntjurrinyi minmya minmya yuntjurrinyi Nganana (2021-ngngka) March-tjingka ngaraku miitingi AGM

miitingi. Panya minta kuyangkulampa yangatjunu. kuyangkulampa minta Panya miitingi.

miitingingka wankangi 12 times Member tjutangku miitingingka wangkangi AGM AGM wangkangi miitingingka tjutangku Member times 12 wankangi miitingingka

governance tjuta warrkanarripanya Walytjaku kimiti tjutanyalatju tjungurrikula tjungurrikula tjutanyalatju kimiti Walytjaku warrkanarripanya tjuta governance

nangi warrkana tjutanya ngurra tjutakutu. Youth worker, NDIS, culture anta anta culture NDIS, worker, Youth tjutakutu. ngurra tjutanya warrkana nangi Ya

Walytjalu yilta tjananya puntura alpamilaningi. Panya Sharijnlu watjanutjangka. watjanutjangka. Sharijnlu Panya alpamilaningi. puntura tjananya yilta Walytjalu

Tjana yunparringu ngurra winkinya mangarriku Walytjalu yiyanutjangka. yiyanutjangka. Walytjalu mangarriku winkinya ngurra yunparringu Tjana

nangi yultja tjuta ngurra winkikutu. winkikutu. ngurra tjuta yultja nangi yiya Tjanampa Waltjalu?

nganana yuntjurringnyi tawunukatu yankutjaku mangarriku, yultja mantjintjaku mantjintjaku yultja mangarriku, yankutjaku tawunukatu yuntjurringnyi nganana

ngurrangka Tjanaya watjil watjilpa, nyinangi wiya wiya nyinangi watjilpa, watjil Tjanaya ngurrangka

Kapumantaku marrkunu tjananya nyinantjaku nyinantjaku tjananya marrkunu Kapumantaku

Ngurra purtjingka nyinapaiyi tjutanya, tjutanya, nyinapaiyi purtjingka Ngurra

yuntalpanku, tjamuku nyaakuntja wiya. nyaakuntja tjamuku yuntalpanku,

tjana patikutu nyinangi Waltjangku, katjangku, katjangku, Waltjangku, nyinangi patikutu tjana

ngaanyakuntjaku Waltja kutjupa tjutangku tjutangku kutjupa Waltja ngaanyakuntjaku

ngalya yankutjaku. Tjananya watjanu wiya, wiya, watjanu Tjananya yankutjaku. ngalya

ngurrangka nyinanytjaku wiya tawunukutu tawunukutu wiya nyinanytjaku ngurrangka

tjutanya patirringu marrkunutjananya marrkunutjananya patirringu tjutanya

tjiluru nganampa Waltja tjutaku. Ngurra Ngurra tjutaku. Waltja nganampa tjiluru 2020ngka ngarangu watjil, watjilpa, tjilura, tjilura, watjilpa, watjil, ngarangu 2020ngka

Waltja Chairperson Chairperson Waltja Waltja

3 3 Waltja CEO Sharijn King & Sandra Windy Sandra & King Sharijn CEO Waltja

Margaret Campbell. Margaret

together”,

and women. We all work work all We women. and

with disability, young men men young disability, with

families, old people, ones ones people, old families,

think about their children, children, their about think

together to help them them help to together

“Waltja brings people people brings “Waltja

Germany and America. and Germany

Since then the choir has been around many places in and even to to even and Australia in places many around been has choir the then Since

if we would like to form a women’s choir. We were more than happy to. to. happy than more were We choir. women’s a form to like would we if

ago when he came to Tijikala and we talked at the womens centre and asked asked and centre womens the at talked we and Tijikala to came he when ago

Central Australian Women’s Choir, is a passion I like. I first met Morris years years Morris met first I like. I passion a is Choir, Women’s Australian Central

the right way. I also like meeting new staff and talking to them. them. to talking and staff new meeting like also I way. right the

with the other directors to make decisions about the organization so it runs runs it so organization the about decisions make to directors other the with

I am a Waltja Executive Director and Public Officer. I have regular meetings meetings regular have I Officer. Public and Director Executive Waltja a am I

towards projects, childcare activities and other good work. work. good other and activities childcare projects, towards

gathered we talked about looking after family and applying for funding to go go to funding for applying and family after looking about talked we gathered

people, and we agreed to have a meeting at the women centre. So once we we once So centre. women the at meeting a have to agreed we and people,

workers pulled up and talked about having a meeting. They were nice nice were They meeting. a having about talked and up pulled workers

Then I remembered seeing a troop carrier driving around and the the and Titjikala around driving carrier troop a seeing remembered I Then

nearly 24 years ago now ago years 24 nearly . .

Margie Campbell Margie

Tangentyere many years ago. That was was That ago. years many Tangentyere

it was based at Elder Street across from from across Street Elder at based was it

and goannas. I first heard about Waltja when when Waltja about heard first I goannas. and

The men also go out hunting for kangaroos kangaroos for hunting out go also men The

jewellery. jewellery.

bush carvings, find gumnuts for bush style style bush for gumnuts find carvings, bush

collect bush medicine, look for wood to make make to wood for look medicine, bush collect

community. Us women like to go out and and out go to like women Us community.

south of Alice Springs. Titjikala is a good good a is Titjikala Springs. Alice of south

I live out at Titjikala community 102 kms kms 102 community Titjikala at out live I

and and Campbell Margaret is name my Werte

Executive Director Director Executive Executive Lexi & Home Alone

Lexi carving out a snake shape “Home Alone”

Community elder Lexi Ward lives at Aputula Community 423kms south of Alice Springs. Lexi’s passion is creating animal carvings out of wood. She looks after lots of dogs at her place. She told a story about a particular dog that was once owned by a man on community who passed away. The dog stayed at the house afterwards for weeks all on its own. Lexi felt sorry for him and decided to adopt the dog. Because the dog didn’t have a name and was all alone at that time, Lexi called the dog Home Alone. From then on Home Alone got so attached she follows Lexi all around the country side and even helps dig out gum roots for Lexi to make carvings. With the sales of her animal carvings Lexi provides food for the lost dogs. She has a lot to feed.

4 Well Done Titjikala! Parrtjima

The Tapatjatjaka Art Centre and Titjikala community members deserve heaps of praise for the structures they made for the Parrtjima Festival of Lights. Metal and copper wire waste was used to create huge horse models. The largest was taller than 4 metres and included a stockman riding on top. At night when the internal fairy lights are turned on the horses seem to come alive. Jane, the Tapatjatjaka Coordinator did a magic job! Her team had been working hard for more than 5 weeks and everyone was proud of the final outcome. A particular highlight of the 10 day event was the ‘Language of The Stockman’ where Holden, David, Sammy and Stanley talked about Central Australia’s history.

5 Hakata Cultural Visit

Waltja and Children’s Ground teamed up with Eagle Beak and Atitjere families for a special weekend of camping at Hakata Station. More than 40 swags and about 12 tents were packed with plenty of food and activities. It was such a great weekend. Swimming at the rock holes and dams after the recent rain was the best. Cultural activities included making tools and clap sticks, necklaces and bracelets made from native seeds and a yarning circle with the kids talking about skin names and family groups. There were kangaroo tails and bearded dragons cooked on the fire and a big stew for everyone. On the last night there was more rain but not too much! Everyone enjoyed going to this country and seeing the ancient artworks and hearing the stories about their ancestors. CHILDREN’S GROUND IS AN ORGANISATION LED BY ABORIGINAL COMMUNITIES. THEIR AIM IS TO CREATE A NEW FUTURE FOR CHILDREN FILLED WITH PROMISE, HOPE AND EMPOWERMENT WWW.CHILDRENSGROUND.ORG.AU

6 7 Helping People With NDIS

Hi my name is Rachel Poultara. I work for Waltja for a year now as a Remote Community Connector (RCC). When people come out to Laramba to see any of our community mob about NDIS they get me first.

I can talk in my language Anmatjere and help them understand the NDIS. It’s hard you know to think about NDIS in English. People get shy to talk up and maybe they don’t trust new people talking to them. I did my training so I know how to help my people and also government to work together.

Yeah, I grew up at Laramba. That’s my home and where my family come from. My kids are grown up now but I have seven grandchildren and one great grandboy. Laramba is a good place and right now the waterholes are full with running water and everyone is enjoying this time.

If you want to talk about disability or NDIS you can find me at my house or ask at theAged Care. Yeah, I like working and soon Sharijn is going to get more training for us. I like to be with the other RCC workers from Ti Tree, Atitjere, Bonya, , Yuelamu, Wilora, Engawala. It’s good working with Waltja and the NDIS workers. See us RCC workers for help. Or ring Waltja and talk to Sharijn to get started on a NDIS plan.

Christine Madrell, Atitjere Francis Ross, Ti Tree Kathy Bagot, Yuelamu

Suzie Williams, Engawala Isobel Gorey,8 Papunya Irene Reiff, Atitjere NDIS Participants

9 AFLW Interschool Competition

DID you know the 1st ever Ltyente Apurte girls team started in 2020 and they made it to the GRAND FINAL and took out second place on the ladder.

Congratulations to all the players.

Not only did they make it to the finals they also showed their community that the girls are dedicated and determined future leaders for their community, inspiring the younger ones that they too can play footy.

Dan Toole, Mac Youth Worker said that he has witnessed “a dramatic shift in the young ladies confidence since taking on the interschool competition”.

On game day the girls did not make it easy for St Phillips as Ltyente girls defence was strong and they were always on their players.

Santa Teresa’s girls will be back next season and so will all their supporters. 2021 will be their year!

10 Ash Barty Top Tennis Player Ash (Ashley) was born in 1996 to Josie and Robert Barty. Her father is a Ngarigo Indigenous man. Ash grew up in Ipswich.

She started working with her longtime coach Jim Joyce at the West Brisbane Tennis Centre at the age of four. Jim said he didn’t train children as young as Ash but made an exception because of her excellent hand-eye coordination and high level of focus. He recalled a moment from their first lesson, saying, “The first ball I threw to her, bang! She hit it right back.”

As a child, Ash also practised at home, remembering, “I used to hit the ball against the wall of our living room every day after school, for hours on end.” Since those early days she has been coaching and holding a racket pretty much every day.

Ash Barty is ranked Number One in the world for playing singles by the Women’s Tennis Association. She is incredibly modest and humble and never fails to thank those around her for the part they have played in her success. Ash is an Ambassador for Indigenous tennis in Australia. “Believe in yourself. Remember that everyone has their own journey and there is no one path to achieving your goals. As long as you are happy and enjoying what you do that is the most important thing.”

11 Our Young Mob teaching

Brittaney Krol

Arrernte Language is a dialect cluster in the Arandic language group spoken in parts of the by the . There are about 1,800 speakers of Eastern/ Central Arrernte, making this dialect one of the widest spoken of any Indigenous language in Australia. The Arrernte language is spoken in Alice Springs and is taught in multiple schools and universities around Australia.

There are many Elders around Australia passing on their knowledge of Arrernte Language to our young generation, teaching at schools and at home.

Now there are young men and women in Central Australia teaching at our schools and passing on what they had been taught growing up. Our Young Mob are happy to be following in our elders’ footsteps to keep the Arrernte Language alive, all over.

Crystal Furber Swan Jenette McCormack 12 Desert Therapy is a registered NDIS provider and we provide allied health services like Occupational Therapy, Speech Pathology and Physiotherapy for people with disabilities receiving the NDIS. We visit central Australia communities like Ti Tree, Papunya, Kintore and Atitjere. We also go down to the APY Lands, the Barkly region and will be soon visiting WA. We travel out to communities four times a year and can see you in your own house and at the aged care centre and your local school. Our Occupational Therapists can help you use different equipment in the house and outside. We can help you with getting a shower chair, wheelchair, wheelie walker or a bed and mattress if it’s in yopur NDIS plan. We can show you different types of things to help you in the kitchen to cut up bread and meat if your arm is not working properly. We can get ramps for your house and rails in the shower. We can work out if you need help with going for a shower, cooking, doing your cleaning and talk to Waltja to get you the help you need. Our Physiotherapists can help you with walking and getting your legs and body strong again. They will come and show you exercises and do a program for you that you can look at and practice. Physio’s can get different equipment to help you keep your balance when you are walking and try and stop you falling over. Our Speech Pathologists can help you with your talking and if you can’t talk we have some equipment that can talk for you in language. This can help you tell people what you need and to talk to health mob and money mob. Speechies can also help with your eating and drinking and if you are coughing and food is feeling like it is getting stuck they can help If your baby or child is not growing the right way you can tell the clinic or Waltja or your local community connector and they can talk to us to see if we can see you under the NDIS. Desert Therapy is excited working with people with disabilities alongside Waltja and we value Waltja’s long standing relationship with the people in this region. Waltja help Desert Therapy connect with families, culture and the community so that we are providing a meaningful and culturally valuable service to Aboriginal people. We look forward to meeting the community connectors and finding our way around your community. We will ask you if it’s OK to talk to families, schools and health mob about your needs so we can get the right things for you from the NDIS. Our goal is to make sure we help people get stronger, be able to talk and get the right equipment so that you can move around easily in the community. If if you think you need help by Desert Therapy then let Waltja know. 13 Keeping Language Alive Through an Application

Waltja staff attended the Awemele itelaretyeke app launch at the very final opening of the Apmere Angkentye-kenhe, The Yellow Shed. It was a lovely afternoon where the volunteers of Apmere Angkentye- kenhe spoke about the apps purpose and how it was created. They sold merchandise and gave out meals to families who attended. The team behind it spoke about why it is important to preserve language.

The app has two audio walking tours in both english and Arrernte, as well as many words and phrases to help people learn Arrernte. The phrases and words are said by different people so the listener can hear the differences between different speakers.

The people behind the app said:

“We do language work ampe ingkernerenye mape-ke for those children who come after us. It’s for the kids first and for all Arrernte people, so they can be proud of who they are. That’s the most impotant thing for us. Secondly, for non-Aboriginal people. So they can akaltye-irremele learn and itelaretyeke understand. So they might understand more about being here on our country Apmere Mparntwe and the neighbouring areas.”

As well as teaching young mob, there are lots of phrases for physical and mental health useful for medical practitioners and case workers. The team behind the app have been visiting Arrernte organisations in Mparntwe as well as communities outside of Mpartnwe to show community workers how to use it. The Apmere Angkentye-kenhe (Yellow Shed) has closed down now but the website and app will continue. Other groups have started from the initiative and lots of language teachers have secured paid language teaching work.

50 WORDS werte! mwerre hello good,well,proper ware apmere not much,just,only place,country,camp kwatye lhere water creek,river unte ayenge you I,me iwehne arelhe what woman ampe re child her,him,it,that artwe yaye man big sister arratye lyete true,like that now,today

Left to right: Felicity Hayes, Lawrence Hayes, Beth Sometimes (who has been leading the project), Benedict Stevens (behind Beth), Magdalene Marshall, and Amelia Turner.

You can download the app by searching for Awemele Itelaretyeke in the App store/Google Play 14 Marla Night

Ltyentye Apurte Marla night was started for Young Women aged 14 – 20 years. It’s a space for the girls to talk about things that are relevant for them and to have fun in the process with complete ownership of the space. These nights were an idea Lilly and Annika had in the school holidays as they recognised the need for their own space in the community. Here are some photos from a recent Marla Night. The photos were taken by Ciara Bloomfield who loves to get behind the camera.

15 Yuwayi, ngajurna Nangala Yurntumu-wardingki. Ngaju ngulaju karna nyinami Executive Member, mar- dukuja panu kari Kirli. Yanirni karnalu meetingi-ki tawurnu kurra ngula karnalu wangkami tala-kurlu, nganaku ngurrara-kari-ki yinjaku. Yangka ngula kalu mangarri-wangu, kuyu-wangu, power-wangu manu pankarra-wangu nyina mi. Nyampurlu Waltjangku Kalu jana yilyami purchase order yungurlu nyanu mani nyiya-kanti-kanti japungka.

Year nyampu 2020-rla karrija Coronavirus juju-mirnta ngula-jana nyurnu manu kardiya panu nguru-kari nguru-kari-rla overseas manu nyampurla Australia-rla. Waltjangku ngula purulpa jana yungu pangkarra, jurnarrpa manu mangarri yapa panuku manu purchase order kala jana yilyaja japu-wati-kirra mangarri manu power maninjaku. Waltjangku kala jana yungu jurnarrpa young people-rluku karnta-patuku, wati- patuku manu kurduku palanguku.

Waltjangku yilyaja pakuju-patu -kurra manu Nyirrpi-kurra mangarri-kirli manu kuyu-kurlu. Ngajurna jana wangka yapa patu, “Ngurrju mayi nyampuju ngulalu yilyajarni Waltjangku nyampurra”. “Yuwayi, ngurrju kuja piyaju Waltja wardingki-patu yapa ngarrpa ngula kalu ngalpa helpi-mani”. Wati patu Yurntumu Magpies teami-rli manurlu bag-wati towel-kurlu, jupu-kurlu, katirdi kirlangu kurlu manu hairbrush-kirli. Pakuju panurlu yilyaja nyiya-kanti-kanti kirli WYDAC Kirra.

Yuwayi, Waltjangku jinta-jinta-mani karnalu jar ungula karnalu wangkami Executive Mambers meetin- girla yungur hijana yinyi tala ngurrara kari-ngurrara-kari-ki.

Hello! My name is Enid Nangala Gallagher from Yuendumu Community. When people in communities have no food, power or blankets Waltja helps them with purchase orders so they can buy some things at the shop.

Year 2020 came with sickness called CORONAVIRUS where many people got sick in overseas countries and also in Australia. During that time Waltja was providing blankets, clothes and food to many people. Waltja also sent purchase orders to community shops for food and power. Waltja also sent out clothes to young people, men and women with families. Waltja sent out boxes of food to Nyirrpi and Yuendumu.

I asked some people “Is this good that Waltja sent these boxes here”? They said yes it is good Waltja is helping us in a good way. Yuendumu Magpies team got bags each with a towel, soap, toothbrush, paste and a hair brush. Waltja also sent boxes to WYDAC with things. Yeah at Waltja we get together for meetings as executive members to talk about what help commu- nities can get if they need some things. That’s how we work together, indigenous and non-indigenous in our work at Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi. The NT Govenment provided funding during lockdown to help remote communities. Enid Gallagher Executive member at Waltja 16 Betty Muffler

The magazine commissioned Ms Muffler to paint Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) as part of a campaign to spread a message of hope during the global corona virus pandemic. It is the first time in the magazine’s 60 year history that an original artwork featured on the cover.

“I’m so happy for my painting to be on the cover of Vogue Australia!” Ms Muffler said in a written statement.

“I’ve been working for a very a long time as a Ngangkari and an artist, and I can’t believe my artwork is going to be on the magazine.

“Through my paintings you can see my Ngangkari work: watching over people and also looking after Country. My Country. This place is very important – we all need to look after each other and respect our home.” A painting by Anangu artist and Ngangkari healer Betty Muffler Betty Muffler’s Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country) featured on the September cover of is now on display at the National Gallery of Australia, fashion magazine Vogue. Canberra. 17

Aputula Master Chefs

Waltja workers, Mel and Shakita had a great time with Aputula young people cooking healthy food.

To make a cheap and healthy stir fry you need 3 things: Meat, Veggies and Sauce.

Chop up lots of veggies Cut the meat into small strips or cubes or can use mince, Sauce (sweet chilli, soy, curry powder or stock cubes)

1. Add your meat and cook until browned on each side (and cooked through if using chicken or pork). Remove the browned meat from the pan and set aside on a plate.

2. Fry the veggies that take the longest to cook, such as carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, or bell peppers in the pan and cook for 2 minutes.

3. Add in any quick cooking vegetables (snap peas, onions, celery, baby corn, snow peas, mushrooms, zucchini, or bok choy) and cook for another minute.

4. Add any spices like chilli or garlic to the pan for 30 seconds.

5. The sauce can be made using stock cubes and water or buy a bottle of stir fry sauce from the shop.

3. Put the meat back in and pour over the sauce. Toss well to coat all of the meat and vegetables. Let cook for one minute until bubbling.

Serve with noodles, damper or rice.

20 The Uluru Statement from the Heart We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reck- oning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago. This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown. How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years? With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood. Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future. These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our power- lessness. We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country. We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination. We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement- making between govern- ments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history. In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

Translated into 60 Languages

21 22 23 Digging Sticks Fundraiser

Pay it Forward – Purchase a crowbar (digging stick) online and we will distribute it to someone out bush wanting to go hunting.

Waltja ran a little fundraiser online hoping people would donate money towards a supply of good quality digging sticks for Christmas presents. Suddenly one morning we discovered donations rolling in from all around the world. People in America, England, Canada and The Netherlands were sending us money and wishing us well for the Xmas Crowbars. We found out that a famous cartoonist, Andrew Marlton had published a cartoon and suggested that people should support us by donating digging sticks. The ‘First Dog on the Moon’ cartoon was published in the international newspaper, The Guardian. Here are some of our ladies with their new digging sticks. We went out looking for Honey Ants with Wendy’s family and all of the dogs!!! Wendy sat by the fire with the older mob whilst the roo tail was cooking, yarning stories about her country and what she would like to see for young people in her community. Jillian was really keen to get some Honey Ants and try out the new Crowbars. Everyone was excited as Jillian was the first person to get Honey Ants. First go with the new crowbars. Thank you everyone for supporting us. Let’s Support Bush Mob. www.waltja.org.au

24 The First Dog On The Moon 25 26 27 Elders teaching youth @ Atitjere Once the Communities were open after the COVID lockdown, Waltja went bush! We visited Atitjere taking out food, supplies and blankets. We helped with a couple of bush trips over the week with elders from Atitjere and Lilly from Children’s Ground. During these trips the women taught the young girls how to make damper and cook kangaroo tails. They also taught them about what plants to look for to use as bush medicine. They explained what each plant was used for while talking to them about why it was important to learn this, the importance of keeping their culture strong.

28 Watiyawanu School “Return to Country”

Waltja field workers have been working with community Elders, MacYouth staff and teachers from Watiyawanu School in Mt Liebig with a Return to Country program. It’s run by the school to help the next generation to stay in contact with their culture and country.

Students have started to learn about the movement of fauna during the different seasons of the year. They look for different animals while out on country or look for any tracks animals may have left while moving from place to place.

They also helped the Elders dig for honey ants and witchetty grubs. They learnt that rain is needed for the honey ants to start coming to the surface. Witchetty grubs were cooked on the hot ash. Near the end of the day it was time to cool down with a quick splash.

29 Pink Troopie Adventures With Reconnect worker Mel Reconnect is a program where Waltja staff aim to help young people who are homeless or at risk to engage with family, community, employment, education and training. Waltja can provide Digging stick pics support if you are aged between 12 and 18, and are Aboriginal and live at Mt Liebig, Papunya, Santa Teresa or Titjikala. There is also a Family Mental Health Support Service where Waltja staff work with the community members at Santa Teresa, Titjikala and Aputula. When young people from these communities are on the move we can also support them.

Our Youth Workers can provide personal support like getting ready for schooling, back to country cultural activities, Centrelink enquiries, getting birth certificates and ID, transport for young people back to community, help with family issues. We can also support young people while they are attending court or with the police. If we can’t help we can organize a referral to another service.

The pink troop carrier Palya 1 is driven by Waltja’s Youth Worker Mel to mostly the eastern side - Santa Teresa, Titjikala and Aputula. Mel has been running programs about healthy food, grooming and confidence, has been doing t-shirt printing with lots of people, talking and listening about people’s worries and so much more. When you see the pink troopie, go and say hi.

The other Youth Workers are Dave in Palya 3 and he is mostly working out west and now Izzy and Swasti are new team members that you will meet soon. Please look after our workers when they come to you on country!

30 31 Ada Nangala Dixon

Ada Nangala Dixon is one of the founding members of Waltja. Ada has lived at Yuendumu, Kintore, Lajamanu and is now back in her homeland at Nyirripi. Ada started painting the early Waltja logos on canvas and to make banners and painted to raise money to help people in need out on remote communities. There are government and other funded programs at Waltja but there are a lot of other things that people ask Waltja to do. Waltja needs to raise money for this and selling artwork on line makes a little bit of money for this. All the money made from sales after the artist is paid goes 100% back to help others. Ada paints her Father’s Jukurrpa Dreaming, especially Ngapa Jukurrpa, Water Dreaming and she also paints flying ants.

Whenever Ada is at Waltja and sitting with the other members and visitors we smile when we hear her big laughter.

32 Kukala McDonald

Kukula McDonald is from Papunya and speaks and now she lives in Alice Springs. She is an awesome artist famous for her red tailed black cockatoos. Kukula also includes the hills around Papunya in some of her works with the cockatoos flying above.

Her paintings are sold by Bindi Mwerre Anthurre. Bindi provides a supported studio spaces for people with a disability to create their own artistic style. They are a great organisation that has been going strong for twenty years and Kukula has been going there nearly all that time. (bindiart.com.au)

Kukula also comes to Waltja to get supplies and to sell her necklaces. They are beautifully made with seeds from the quondong and batwing coral trees. Kukula is also a great walker and covers a lot of kilometres around town every day.

She always looks happy and fit thanks to her many artistic talents and spending time outdoors.

33 NAIDOC WEEK TITJIKALA

NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Waltja helped with this years NAIDOC Celebrations in Titjikala. This special event is usually held in July, however due to the pandemic NAIDOC week was postponed until November.

The theme of 2020 NAIDOC was ‘Always was, Always will be...’ Waltja supported the Titjikala community to print always was always will be Titjikala on T-shirts. We screen printed over 70 T-shirts! Thank you Tahlia and Martika Campbell for all your help.

Tahlia and Martika said, “We enjoyed it, It was good, exciting and everybody was happy about the shirts. It was the first time we did screen printing, and we would like to do it again”.

Everybody was wearing the shirts to school, work and walking around the community.

The NAIDOC event at Titjikala was supported by Waltja, MacDonnell Regional Council and a NAIDOC grant from NIAA.

“Doing Good Work With Families” 34 NAIDOC Event at Utju

The NAIDOC event was wonderful! It was a beautiful day in Areyonga, local name Utju. We started off at the swimming pool and ran some games and some prizes for the young ones and the women were cooking up a big feed with kangaroo tails and potato.

Some of the young people painted an ‘ALWAYS WAS, ALWAYS WILL BE’ banner to put up over the BBQ area. The women shared stories with the younger ones while they painted. About 60 people enjoyed a meal and a sit down around the fire to celebrate cultural survival.

The NAIDOC event closed with some prizes and thanks for the people who helped out and had leadership roles on the day. Thanks to - Kathleen Windy, Latina Doolan, Ivan Doolan, Tjirpawa Meneri, Helen Tjukintja, Monica and Noeleen Kunia, Garnet Djana and Rene Cooper.

The NAIDOC event at UTJU was supported by Waltja, MacDonnell Regional Council and a NAIDOC grant from NIAA.

35 The 2020 National NAIDOC Poster, Shape of Land, was designed by Tyrown Waigana, a Noongar and Saibai Islander man.

Tyrown’s artwork tells the story of how the Rainbow Serpent came out of the Dreamtime to create this land. It is represented by the snake and it forms the shape of Australia, which symbolises how it created our lands. The colour from the Rainbow Serpent is reflected on to the figure to display our connection to the Rainbow Serpent, thus our connection to country. The overlapping colours on the outside is the Dreamtime. The figure inside the shape of Australia is a representation of showing that this country since the dawn of time - Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land.