Traditional knowledge: Healing Country and sharing Indigenous wisdom

Traditional Custodians have recorded sea level changes, volcanic shifts and meteoric events for over 10,000 years through story, song, dance and art. Since colonisation, these knowledge systems have faced immense pressure – but Tiahni is solution focused. She traces her own journey to connect with her ancestry and explores how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge can strengthen Country to help it adapt.  

With Aunty Bernice Hookey, she unpacks epistemic injustice and resilience, before heading to Birriliburu Country to meet Martu women keeping culture strong – and with Joanne Griffin, discovers a powerful new online tool for sharing knowledge, respectfully.  

Topics Covered: 

• How Indigenous knowledge systems inform environmental adaptation 
• The impact of epistemic injustice on Traditional Custodians 
• Martu women's role in cultural and ecological resilience 

Bush Heritage Australia works in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to care for Country, combining millennia-old Traditional Knowledge with modern science – a mission that makes this episode's focus on cultural resilience and knowledge sharing especially powerful. 

Guests: Bernice Hookey, Martu women, Jodi Edwards, Joanne Griffin 

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Bush Heritage Australia is a leading not-for-profit conservation organisation that works to protect and regenerate millions of hectares of ecologically important land across the continent. This podcast's focus on trees and Country is especially vital to understanding and advancing Australia's conservation future.

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