The Aboriginal Riverkeepers – Where are they now?
Monday, 2 December, 2019
This week we’re looking back on the incredibly rewarding 2014-2017 Aboriginal Riverkeepers project that placed social outcomes for Aboriginal community members as a priority by training eight Aboriginal youths to become qualified bush regenerators. An initiative entrusted to Eco Logical Australia from the Georges River Combined Councils Committee (GCRRR), the trainees were employed to protect and enhance biodiversity in the Georges River catchment, South West Sydney, while undertaking Conservation and Land Management traineeships.
The trainees worked full-time across 15 different work sites producing significant ecological benefits to freshwater, brackish and saltwater sections of the 960km2 river catchment. Some incredible achievements during the project included the planting of over 45,000 native plants, and the removal and treatment of 119.5 hectares of noxious or problematic weed species.
The program was successful in demonstrating how conservation and land management can incorporate traditional knowledge and it helped trainees develop skills in this field. It also enabled trainees to explore their own Aboriginal Heritage and strengthen their personal identity and importantly, connection to country. It did this through regular cultural days throughout the project such as interaction with Aboriginal Elders, knowledge holders, and Local Aboriginal Lands Councils to learn about local Aboriginal history, culture, and connections to Country.
So, where are the Riverkeepers now?
We are pleased many of our Riverkeepers have stayed on with ELA in permanent roles and are valued members of the land management business in Harrington Park, western Sydney. We caught up with a handful of them to find out how the project enriched them professionally and personally.
Image: Stacey pictured centre back.
STACEY GILBERT
Stacey always knew she wanted to work with plants. Prior to landing a trainee job as a Riverkeeper, she volunteered for six months with Green Army, a government funded hands-on, practical environmental action program that supported local environment and heritage conservation projects across Australia (closed in 2018). Growing up near Campbelltown NSW, Stacey discovered the Riverkeepers training project through a job seeker company, and at the age of 18 was selected for the course. Since then Stacey has gone on to win TAFE NSW’s Northern Sydney Institute Sustainability Students of the Year Award with her Riverkeepers team and has been recently promoted into a Bush Regeneration Team Leader role at our Harrington Park office, only three years after completing the traineeship (which included Cert III in Indigenous Land Management and Cert II in Conservation Land Management).
“The Riverkeepers project was certainly a launching pad for my career in environmental conservation,” Stacey said.
“Learning about bush regeneration and connecting with my cultural roots really inspired me to look after the environment.”
“My great grandmother was part of the stolen generation so I can only trace so far back in my family history, so it was priceless to learn more about my cultural identity and make that connection to the land,” Stacey said.
“The cultural activities like making Aboriginal tools, talks and walks with Aboriginal Elders like Dean Kelly, who have an incredible spiritual connection and infectious passion, were invaluable.”
What’s next for Stacey?
“I’m happy where I am now and down the track I would like to gain qualifications in teaching so I can teach a program similar to the Riverkeepers program and hopefully inspire others about bush regeneration.” Stacey said. We would love her to do this and further share her genius!
BEN ARENDS
Ben joined the Riverkeepers project at only age 17 after hearing about the project through his brother, Nick, and seeing it in the local press around his hometown of Macquarie Fields. Ben’s older brother Nick was part of our first Riverkeepers team, graduating with the first group of trainees and is also still employed by us as part of our Bush regeneration team at Harrington Park. Ben loves working in the bush, restoring landscape and seeing wildlife such as Kangaroos and bird life regenerate after their hard work. During the project Ben completed Certificate II in Conservation and Land Management, and now continues to study Certificate III in Conservation and Land Management, while working as an ELA Bush Regeneration Officer at the Harrington Park office. His current role sees him work across multiple sites around Sydney, including the Sydney Metro region.
“The Riverkeepers project brought me out of my shell and gave me confidence to learn and find out more about my heritage in the Wonnarua mob,” Ben said.
“Participation in Aboriginal tours to see artefacts and building of native tools were both meaningful experiences, but the most emotional and powerful experience was participation in a burial ceremony of an Aboriginal Elder after her remains were returned from the UK.”
What’s next for Ben?
“I’m content with my current position at ELA and I think down the track I’d be really interested in taking on a role with more of a cultural aspect,” Ben said.
NICK ARENDS
With a passion for working outdoors and helping the environment, Nick signed up to the first ELA /GRCCC Riverkeepers program at age 20 after a suggestion from Aboriginal Employment Services. Aside from helping regenerate the river, he was intrigued by the cultural aspect of the traineeship. During the traineeship Nick completed Certificates II and III in Conservation Land Management, and was part of the group that won TAFE NSW’s Northern Sydney Institute Sustainability Students of the Year Award, but it is the difference he has made to the environment and contribution to land conservation that he highlights in particular from the experience.
“One of my greatest achievements was submitting a proposal to local council to have a boardwalk built over an Aboriginal site - a shell midden [Aboriginal gathering point] that was being eroded by a walking track and stormwater drain run off," Nick said. “The proposal was successful, and a boardwalk constructed.”
Nick is now working as a Senior Bush Regeneration Officer at our Harrington Park office which sees him out in the field daily. He has his sights on landing a Team Leader position in the future.
More about the project
Eco Logical Australia relishes the opportunity to work on projects that prove advantageous to our Indigenous communities and the environment. Watch this space for more Indigenous projects ahead.