Jingilah Ingilah Walu Walu Nganya Jimbe, hello my friends, how are you? My name is Goolimboorin, most people know me as Magpie. I live on my father’s clan country in Northern New South Wales. We are the Minyungbal family clan of the Yugambeh nation.

What has happened in the first half of 2020 is a direct result of a privileged few holding onto the belief that money and wealth are far more valuable than the planet and the future. The ripple effect of droughts, bushfires, floods, a pandemic and Black Lives Matter protests have come about from 160 years of European farming techniques and the oppression of the Indigenous people of this country. It is all connected.

For many generations, my ancestors have cared for this land as you would care for your own family. People have to understand that Mother Earth is not a resource, but the source of all life itself. In these troubled times in human history, Indigenous knowledge of the land must surely replace the current “she’ll be right, mate” attitude. It’s just not working. We need Indigenous knowledge in our education systems to help people understand how this land works.

In the not-too-distant past, my ancestors performed many different healing ceremonies to bring about balance, peace and harmony to all in the land. After a while, the government made up new laws banning the practice of ceremonies of any kind. This greatly disturbed our elders because they knew that if our ceremonies weren’t performed regularly, the land would become sick along with everything in it, and this is where we find ourselves today in 2020.

I believe we need to get back to performing healing ceremonies with the land, because to heal the land is to heal humankind. Along with healing ceremonies, Indigenous fire management techniques  need to be put back in place. This whole country was sculpted by the firestick to keep the country more productive and safe to live in.

As Aboriginal people, it is our duty to be watchers and messengers. We have knowledge of what has gone on in the past, and we see what is happening now. The fate of future generations lies in the hands of each and everyone alive today. The tipping point has come. Harmony and beauty can be created from chaos! Yuway!