Learning Healthy Country Planning

I’ve just completed the Healthy Country Planning short course with Our Common Place (formerly Conservation Management) just outside of Darwin. It was an inspiring week immersing in the course and learning, sharing and collaborating with so many awesome caring people!

I had the privilege of working alongside the team from the Wirriwandi Aboriginal Corporation, learning the tool while helping to develop their Healthy Country Plan for their Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in the Pilbara region of WA. Six of us where in the group with three being from Wirriwandi who led the process, sharing their knowledge and shaping the plan for their Country.

Together, we explored how spending time on Country, especially through hunting and cultural practices, can strengthen both well-being and connection to land. We also tackled a major challenge: the spread of mesquite weed, which is clogging up and damaging the health of the land and waterways. As a team, we mapped out a pathway to spend funding and develop partnerships (mainly with the mining companies and pastoralists), to support large-scale weed management while including the community in decision making and capacity building. And as a bit of comic relief after 5 intensive days of learning, we formed a superhero gang and became the 'Mesquiteneers'!

More than anything, this experience reaffirmed the importance of First Nations leadership, knowledge, and genuine community consultation in shaping any plan for Country.

I’m looking forward to seeing the Wirriwandi team bring their vision to life and one day soon, I hope to pass through their beautiful Country and, if invited, see the land they are working so hard to care for.