GNULLA BIDI BOODJA (OUR PATH ON COUNTRY)
Here we share upcoming initiatives led by Noongar people on Noongar Boodja. Each project reflects our commitment to truth-telling, healing, cultural revitalisation, and intergenerational connection. While most activities are designed specifically for Noongar participants, we welcome interest from philanthropic and local funders who wish to respectfully support our work. If you would like to contribute funding or resources to help make these cultural projects possible, please get in touch. Your support helps us create safe, strong spaces for Noongar moort (families) to reconnect with culture, identity, and wellbeing - on Country, in our own way.
Below are some of our upcoming initiatives that reflect this path forward.
Mereny Bilya Boodja – Bush Foods of River Country
A women-led cultural renewal initiative. This project supports the transfer of traditional knowledge about bush and waterway foods from senior women Elders to younger Noongar women. Grounded in Toodyay’s bilya boodja (river country) along the Gugulja (Avon River), the project honours the seasonal cycles (bonar) and the deep cultural relationships between people, land, water, and time. Through six seasonal on-Country visits, younger participants will learn to gather and care for bush foods in harmony with ecological indicators and cultural protocols. Participants are expected to already hold a foundational understanding of culture, allowing Elders to focus on sharing deep ecological knowledge. Stage One involves planning with Elders and partners to respectfully design learning visits. Stage Two (2026) delivers the hands-on walks. This initiative supports younger women to become future knowledge holders, ensuring the continuity of Noongar Traditional Ecological Knowledge. It also responds to a growing desire for reconnection among women whose cultural relationships remain strong but whose on-Country practices were interrupted by historical dispossession. By walking the river together, this project nourishes identity and the return of cultural knowledge.
Men’s Wellbeing on Country - Yarning & Tool-Making
This upcoming initiative is a men-led, on-Country wellbeing activity designed to support Noongar men’s mental health, cultural pride, and connection.
The project (an outcome from Elders yarn in March 2025) will bring together up to 15 Noongar men - including younger men - at our yarning circle site in Boyagerring for a full-day session of traditional tool-making and cultural yarning. Guided by experienced cultural practitioners and Elders, participants will craft tools such as the kodj (axe), wanna (digging stick), and boorn waangkiny (message sticks), using locally gathered wood. While working with their hands, men will yarn in a culturally safe space - sharing stories, supporting each other, and reconnecting with heritage knowledge and identity. This combination of hands-on practice and meaningful conversation directly supports mens health by reducing isolation and fostering pride, purpose, and belonging. The activity will conclude with a Moort (family) gathering around the fire, reaffirming cultural continuity and shared wellbeing. This trial initiative is designed to be seasonal and sustainable, creating a lasting model for future men’s healing and cultural reconnection programs on Noongar Boodja.
Boodja Seasons: A Year on Country - 2025/26
Beginning in Makuru season (June 2025) and continuing through to Djeran season (April 2026), the Boodja Image Project will document the seasonal rhythms of the Gugulja (Avon River) and Boyagerring Creek. Over 12 months, our volunteer photographer will capture key flora across identified locations within a 2.5-kilometre stretch, revealing the subtle and striking changes in the landscape throughout the six Noongar bonar (seasons). This visual journey aims to deepen understanding and appreciation of the land’s cycles, showcasing the vibrant life that shifts with each season. By revisiting the same sites, we highlight the natural flow of growth, renewal, and rest inherent in Noongar Country. While currently an in-house volunteer initiative, we aspire to expand the project into a six bonar video series, featuring Elder voiceovers and cultural insights - bringing the stories of the seasons to life. This future project will further celebrate the connection between Noongar people, their land, and the ongoing cultural knowledge shared through the changing seasons.
Women’s Business on Country - 2026
NKAC is in the early stages of planning for Noongar women to head out on Country to visit traditional birthing places and reconnect with the powerful knowledge of yorga (women’s) business. Guided by Elders, these on-Country visits will create space for women to sit, yarn, and share stories in the places where grandmothers and great-grandmothers once gave birth. This project recognises the deep cultural and spiritual importance of birthing on Country, and the strength passed down through generations of women. Birthing places were sacred – often sheltered by caves or rocks, near water, kwell (sheoak) and prepared with care and ceremony. These visits will honour those traditions and help rekindle women’s knowledge that has been disrupted through colonisation. Together, we will walk gently on the land, share meals, light fires, and open up space for intergenerational learning, healing, and cultural revival. This is about making space for Noongar women to reconnect with our identity, strengthen kinship, and keep sacred women’s business strong for the future.