Workshop reflection: connecting through curiosity

Workshop speakers (left to right): Torres Webb (CSIRO), Ashby Cooper (Odyssey Geophysics), Dr Chris Bourke (CSIRO) and Florence Drummond (Indigenous Women In Mining and Resources Australia / IWIMRA). Additionally, Dr Tim Munday (CSIRO) joined speakers but is not pictured here. Image: supplied

In September 2021, AuScope, Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and Geoscience Australia supported an Indigenous-led workshop at AEGC 2021 titled Ancient Rocks, Ancient Culture And You to explore how the Australian geoscience community can be more inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in geoscientific programs. In possibly the first of its kind, this workshop ignited a sense of personal and collective agency amongst 70 participants for ongoing conversation and making deep changes.

Workshop context

This workshop set out to explore how the Australian geoscience community can be more inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in designing, undertaking and reflecting on Australian geoscientific programs for mutual and environmental benefit.

It was inspired by the Our Knowledge, Our Way Guidelines, the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia and abroad, and by the words of A/Prof Sana Nakata of The University of Melbourne in her 2020 speech, ‘Tragedy of the Inarticulate’: Exploring the Politics of Indigenous Knowledge’. It also marked an initial, collective response to strategies of AuScope, CSIRO and Geoscience Australia.

Speakers and organisers welcomed 70 participants to the workshop, including geoscientists who work in government, academia and industry, as well as representatives from Indigenous-led or -centred organisations and corporate and consultant geoscience areas.

What we learned

Workshop participants learned that good engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people begins with connecting through curiosity for the natural world, building trust and relationships, and then developing partnerships that ensure mutually beneficial outcomes. And to be truly successful, the Australian geoscience community must create meaningful jobs for Indigenous people, including in leadership, and a culturally inclusive environment. Let us now share key messages from our speakers!

Torres Webb (CSIRO) on relationships and then partnerships with Indigenous people:

“Partnerships that enable the building of respect and appreciation for Indigenous knowledge are desired — particularly where they support an Indigenous voice in decision-making processes that affect us. Respect for Indigenous knowledge, culture and Country are critical for the development of trust and relationship-building, which underpin strong partnerships.

Custodians of knowledge feel an obligation and responsibility to the ancestors to treat knowledge the right way. It takes time for trust to build between knowledge holders and outsiders before knowledge might be shared.

We seek engagements and partnerships where we think our knowledge will be treated the right way. This can mean taking a very slow approach to building a partnership, and testing partners to see if they are respectful and trustworthy, before knowledge is shared.

Taking the time to build relationships between people will underpin positive experiences in knowledge-sharing. Relationship-building demands that all partners recognise and respect multiple cultural backgrounds and their (respective) knowledge in creating a safe space for sharing.”

CSIRO explains that the Our Knowledge, Our Way guidelines were created with contributions from more than 100 Indigenous individuals and organisations. They support a step-change in learning, by both Indigenous peoples and their partners, about best practice ways of working with Indigenous knowledge to look after land and sea Country. The guidelines are based on 23 case studies that illustrate the critical principle that Indigenous people must decide what is best practice when working with their knowledge.

Ashby Cooper (Odyssey Geophysics) on connecting through curiosity and trust:

“Indigenous people are passionate about the Earth and are curious to understand the natural environment — traits that are shared with geoscientists. By connecting on these values, strong relationships can be cultivated, and an environment of trust can be established.

In practice, geoscientists can engage remote communities about the science by demonstrating the equipment to school kids or providing the community with results from geoscience programs. People are often excited to see examples of earthquakes recorded at monitoring stations that we deploy on their land. Our communities can learn so much from each other to build a sustainable future.”

Odyssey Geophysics staff including founder Ashby Cooper (left) and his brother Chauncey Cooper (right) undertaking geophysical surveying on Yanyuwa, Marra, Garrwa, Gudanji, Binbingka and Wakaya country in the Northern Territory. Images: supplied

Dr Tim Munday (CSIRO) on creating lasting and mutually beneficial research outcomes:

“Developing research activities that lead to mutually beneficial outcomes requires an appreciation by the researchers that taking time to understand the land they are working on, and the people they interact with, is as important, or even more important as the research itself.

Often we are more conscious of things like reporting timelines, limited field data acquisition seasons, demands from Project leaders for results etc, and overlook the information and insight that can be gleaned by engaging with indigenous communities and, as a consequence, better understanding their country. This can often lead to enhanced research outcomes simply because the context for the work is in place.

A key message for me is that all researchers should, in projects they undertake, allocate time for communication with the community, work with, respect and acknowledge those with whom we engage, and finally embrace the richness that will arise as a result.”

Taking time to understand each other in a ground geophysical program in Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY Lands) South Australia. Image: Aaron Davis

The palaeovalley map of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands, South Australia is a product of a collaboration between the Goyder Institute for Water Research, the Department for Environment and Water, CSIRO, Flinders University, DEM and the Geological Survey. It has drawn media attention including from The ABC in early 2021. Image: Department for Energy and Mining, Government of South Australia

Florence Drummond (IWIMRA) on creating meaningful geoscience jobs for Indigenous communities:

“Investing in meaningful relations is a fundamental component of building a greater industry. Investment in the sense of time to listen and learn from each other. A relationship is built on respect for each other as people, and with true authenticity in seeking to understand. I look forward to the co-creation of content from this area of the value chain, as I believe it is the closest in our belief systems. In the understanding of country and the importance of preserving elements for the future of our generations and our sustainability.”

In response to Florence’s question, ‘How can we improve engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?’ participants shared responses, the most popular of which are visualised here. Image: supplied

Dr Chris Bourke (CSIRO) on Indigenous capacity building and fostering culturally inclusive environments:

“Organisations need to consider whether there is a disparity in the outcomes they provide for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Is this disparity independent of the attitudes and behaviours of staff? If the answer is yes then there are questions about the fitness of the organisation’s governance and accountability frameworks for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Key areas for focus are performance accountability, policy implementation, inclusion in governance, employment and financial accountability. There is good evidence that organisations that make themselves fit for purpose in these areas can deliver better outcomes.”

Workshop feedback

Workshop speakers and organisers received very positive feedback from attendees. The workshop was given an overall experience rating of 8.5 out of 10 from the 35 survey respondents, who also provided some constructive feedback. Key takeaways from the workshop included the importance of early and respectful engagement which is ongoing, open and honest. Participants also recognised that building time for engagement into project planning is essential to fostering the long-term relationships necessary to make a positive impact.

“I have now a good sense of the nuance and complexity involved in this industry, but also the hard work involved.” — Survey respondent

Survey respondents said they would use what they learnt during the workshop to imbed Indigenous engagement and knowledge sharing in their project planning, others were inspired to be advocates for organisational change. Respondents also learnt the importance of valuing Indigenous expertise, and knowledge, as well as ensuring authorship and data sovereignty is recognised.

All respondents enjoyed hearing the real-life experiences and case studies presented during the workshop. They appreciated being exposed to the reality of how Indigenous issues were being dealt with in the geoscience sector. Further demonstrating the value in the engagement process rather than concentrating on the outcome.

The majority of respondents would attend future workshops and made some suggestions that the organisers will look into for the next workshop.

 
 
 
AuScopeIndigenous, outreach