The Capital

I acknowledge the unceded Sovereign Traditional land on which this research-practice has taken place, the Wurundjeri Woi-Wurrung and Boonwurrung / Bunarong of the Kulin Nation, and the Ngandowal and Minyungbal people of the Bundjalung nation, in particular the Goodjinburra, Tulgi-gin and Moorungmoobah clans. I pay my respects to Custodians of the old ways, today’s leaders and the knowledge holders and makers of tomorrow. Thank you for having me on country.

Cultural praxis is not new to this land. It is akin to the processes which its people have been employing for thousands of years to understand and connect to country, and to develop the mutual aid and responsibility we all have to self and kin.

I would also like to acknowledge the landless, stateless, and borderless people across the globe who have been dispossessed of connection to country, language, and kin by the mechanisms of state, capital and colonial powers over generations. Their struggle is still unceasing, and I offer this acknowledgment in solidarity and understanding of the connection that their struggle has to the privilege I experience in my country of birth.

Dedicated to the living memory of the late and great Peter Haffenden. A wizard among men, an owl amongst the pussycats. May your inspiration to creative cultural communities continue for many generations.