You can live a culture every day and still see it with new eyes.
Tjaltjraak is the Wudjari name for the local blue gum. It means ‘glow in the dark’. Its range roughly follows the boundaries of Kepa Kurl Nyungar Country. ETNTAC carries that name as the Traditional Owner body for the Kepa Kurl Wudjari people of Esperance. Most of its team are Aboriginal. To build cultural capability among its people, it chose Indiji Corp’s flagship program, Impact Pathways. When the people who live the culture invest in it, that says something.
The facts.
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Client
Esperance Tjaltjraak Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (ETNTAC)
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Website
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Industry
Native Title and community services
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Region
Esperance, Western Australia. Kepa Kurl Wudjari Country.
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Program
Impact Pathways Program
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Timeframe
TBA
Where they started.
The Federal Court registered ETNTAC in 2016 as the Native Title Body Corporate for the Kepa Kurl Wudjari people. It is the first point of contact for anyone seeking to do business with Traditional Owners in Esperance.
Its work reaches well beyond native title. Rangers caring for land and sea. Cultural heritage. Community wellbeing programs. Commercial services building wealth for future generations. All of it rests on one foundation: Wudjari people leading on their own Country. Culture is not something people come to work to learn. They bring it with them every day.
ETNTAC also brings non-Indigenous people into the work, and it cannot assume they arrive with cultural capability already built. It runs its own cultural inductions, which cover the basics of working in the organisation. Induction teaches the basics. Capability goes further.
Everyone starts somewhere different. Some grew up inside the culture. Others are meeting it for the first time. The program has to meet every one of them.
“I was born and raised in Esperance. This is my Country, my home and my people. When I stand before my community, I stand before those who know me, who know my family and who know my history. I am accountable for every word I speak.
If this program cannot earn the trust and respect of my own people, I have no right to take it anywhere else. My accountability begins at home. My responsibility does not end there. Every community I walk into deserves the same truth, rigour and respect. My purpose is clear. Challenge attitudes, shift mindsets and create change that lasts.”
Gail Reynolds-Adamson AM, Chairperson, Director, ETNTAC. Founder, Indiji Corp
The work they stepped into.
Two days. Face to face. The full program, every time. Gail does not shorten it. Traditional culture, history, and today’s realities are taught as one story, and that story needs both days to come together. Cut it short, and people leave with pieces instead of understanding.
The Impact Pathways Program is designed for people who lead teams and for those who work alongside Aboriginal colleagues. Aboriginal culture is diverse, and the program makes this plain. It offers depth without claiming to speak for every nation.
Delivered by Aboriginal facilitators. Culture itself, present and felt.
“Eighty-five per cent of our staff are Aboriginal, and I think this is where the program has a lot of impact. Not because it teaches my colleagues about their culture, but because it gives them the chance to reflect on history, on what their ancestors went through, on what they have been through themselves, and on how that shows up in our communities today.”
Peter Bednall, CEO, ETNTAC
If your people work alongside Aboriginal communities and they do not carry this understanding, how safe is the service you are providing?
Cultural safety is not a training outcome. It is the foundation every interaction rests on.