Yulendj Boonwurrung: A journey of old knowledge and innovative forms for assisting urban Indigenous youth to engage in contemporary Indigenous knowledge
Creators: name: BRIGGS, Carolyn
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 430205
subject: Heritage and cultural conservation
classificationCode: 450104
subject: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture
classificationCode: 470102
subject: Communication technology and digital media studies

description: The capacity for future generations to sustain material and non-material societal structures and knowledge is a challenge for most social organisations, communities or nations. The challenge for First Nation communities becomes more complex, as they seek to create a
means for preserving and maintaining the relevance of cultural knowledge and practices for their young people, within a post-colonial and post-industrial society. Central to this challenge is the notion of identity as applied to First Nation youth in Australia. Prior to 1788,
there existed over five hundred sovereign nations within the Australian continent. These nations, often at war with their neighbours, maintained their own strict and rigid hierarchies within their social organisations. Gender roles were clearly and distinctly defined, and education practices and the rule of law defined and implemented by harsh punishment. The notion of an “Australian Aboriginal” was created by colonialism and continues to
confine and define First Nation peoples and youth in particular. Logically speaking, there were no Aboriginals in Australia in 1788, because colonialism had not yet started to wreak its havoc on the 500 sovereign nations. The acceptance of this dominant colonialist hegemony,
and the subsequent notion of a ‘pan Aboriginal’ homogenous identity, is confusing and challenging for First Nation youth confronted with tensions arising around issues of identity and heritage.

Contemporary Australian society holds a diverse notion of Australian First Peoples. This understanding is influenced by politics, geography and history. They range from that of romantic primitivism as a justification of poverty and dispossession in remote areas through to a denial of identity and heritage of those living in urban environments. The Boonwurrung people, were a clan of the greater Kulin Nation. The Boonwurrung
occupied the country around the coast of Melbourne, the greater Kulin Nation extended from the coast of Melbourne, north to southern New South Wales. The collective history of the Boonwurrung at the time of the European settlement of Melbourne and their descendants, provides the basis for a narrative that encompasses change, opportunity and a response from the wider (non-Indigenous) community. The modern-day descendants of the Boonwurrung are primarily a diverse collective of families who share a common narrative defined by their history and heritage - rather than an easily identifiable community.

The history of the Boonwurrung and their descendants did not move aside as the rest of the modern state of Australia developed. The engagement, history and life opportunities of its descendants have been impacted by politics, social change and world historical events just as the rest of the world has.

The Yulendj Boonwurrung (Boonwurrung Wisdom or Knowledge) is a study based upon the way in which the narrative, knowledge and history of the Boonwurrung and their descendants can be expressed in innovative forms for assisting Indigenous youth to understand and engage with Indigenous cultures and knowledge in a post-industrial and post-colonial society. Critical to developing this understanding is to deconstruct the pervasive cultural myths that define heritage and identity. The study examines these contemporary obstacles which work towards disempowering youth.

The work is designed to generate ongoing benefits for and with the wider society. This approach respects Indigenous rights, sovereignty and community, while offering innovative and safe spaces for non-Indigenous people to engage with Indigenous worldviews.