Back To Country
Back To Country
We acknowledge the Gadi people as the Traditional Custodians of the Aboriginal land on which this work was developed. This Acknowledgement of Country reflects our respect for their ongoing connection to the land. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and recognize the importance of cultural education in fostering understanding. We also acknowledge any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people listening to this audio as we practice mindfulness techniques in our discussion.
Back to Country: A Guided Reflection on Sovereignty is a 10-minute audio experience that employs mindfulness techniques and visualization to ground individuals in space and time. This guided reflection encourages listeners to acknowledge the deep history of the Aboriginal land they occupy, fostering cultural education and awareness. It serves as a thoughtful introduction, akin to a Welcome to Country, inviting listeners to connect with the significance of the land.
backtocountry_stereo (mp3)
DownloadIn the audio, listeners are taken on a journey back in time by Budawang / Yuin actor Jorjia Gillis, who provides an essential Acknowledgement of Country, followed by a Welcome to Country from Gadigal / Dharug / Gundungurra / Yuin Elder Uncle Greg Simms. This project, rooted in Aboriginal land, was led by Wiradjuri academic Tamara Power and features creative and cultural contributions from Budawang / Yuin researcher and designer Danièle Hromek, along with design academic Gabriel Clark. The original script, crafted by Tamara Power and Maddy Lines, was thoughtfully adapted by the team for this project. The audio design by Martin Peralta intricately layers binaural audio with the sounds of country, creating hypnotic aural landscapes that evoke mindfulness techniques to connect the past and the present. An immersive 16 channel audio version of this project was designed for the Data Arena at the University of Technology Sydney, enhancing cultural education and appreciation.
As a proud descendant of the Wiradjuri people, she serves as a nurse researcher and senior lecturer at the Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney. Her work primarily addresses chronic disease in Aboriginal communities and emphasizes the importance of Cultural Safety in education and healthcare. Through her commitment to cultural education, she has led numerous teaching and learning projects, earning individual and team citations and awards for her innovative teaching methods. This includes a prestigious Australian Award for University Teaching, recognizing her outstanding contributions to student learning and her focus on developing Indigenous professional capabilities. She actively promotes mindfulness techniques and practices such as the Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country to foster respect for Aboriginal land.
Is a Saltwater woman of the Budawang (beach plover) people of the Yuin (black duck) nation. She is a spatial designer, speculative designer, and public artist, fusing design elements with installations, sculptural form, and research. Danièle also works as a researcher, educator, and cultural advisor, considering how to Indigenise the built environment and create spaces that acknowledge Aboriginal land to substantially affect Indigenous rights and culture within an institution. Her work incorporates mindfulness techniques in cultural education, often reflecting on the urban Aboriginal condition, the Indigenous experience of Country, and contemporary Indigenous identities, including practices like Welcome to Country. http://www.danielehromek.com/
As a lecturer at the School of Design at the University of Technology Sydney, his research primarily focuses on design, multimodal storytelling, and the importance of cultural education, including an Acknowledgement of Country. He has led innovative teaching and learning projects in design and storytelling for the Visual Communications degree, receiving several grants and commissions for his research in Comics and Graphic Storytelling. Additionally, he is a digital content producer who has conceived and produced numerous award-winning multimodal storytelling projects for ABC iview, ABC radio, Fbi Radio, the City of Sydney, and the Sydney Opera House, often incorporating mindfulness techniques and a respect for Aboriginal land.
Jorjia Gillis is a proud Saltwater woman of the Budawang tribe of the Yuin nation, honoring her heritage on Aboriginal land. As a Sydney-based actor, theatre maker, emerging writer, and arts facilitator, Jorjia has contributed to various theatre and TV productions. She is passionate about storytelling and actively participates in cultural education to support a vibrant arts and cultural landscape in the Australian arts sector. Jorjia embraces mindfulness techniques in her work and acknowledges the importance of a Welcome to Country. She is a graduate of the University of New England and the Academy of Film Theatre & Television.
He is an activist for reconciliation and a traditional woodcarver, storyteller, and Aboriginal cultural educator focused on cultural education. Growing up in La Perouse and now residing in Western Sydney, he has deep ties to the Aboriginal land of Greater Sydney through his ancestral connections to the Gundungurra (water dragon lizard people) of the Blue Mountains and the Gadigal (whale people) of the Dharug nation. Additionally, he is linked to the Budawang (beach plover people) of the Yuin nation on the South Coast through the Brown family, often honoring these connections with an Acknowledgement of Country and practicing mindfulness techniques. His work frequently includes a Welcome to Country to foster understanding and respect for Aboriginal heritage.
Martin Peralta is an audio engineer, digital producer, and sound designer who acknowledges the importance of Aboriginal land in his work. He has mixed and composed music for ABC podcasts like Ladies We Need to Talk and the Walkley-winning Trace and Unravel, integrating cultural education into his sound design. His contributions as part of the SBS My Grandmother’s Lingo team earned him a Webby Award, an SXSW Interactive Innovation Award, and the Walkley Award for Multimedia Storytelling. Additionally, he has collaborated on podcasts with Gimlet Media, Audible, and the City of Sydney. In his role as a sound designer, he has been involved in installations such as Black Box and the Underbelly Arts Festival, as well as various online projects that promote mindfulness techniques. Martin also values the tradition of Welcome to Country in his creative endeavors.
Zacha Rosen is a radio and podcast producer who acknowledges the rich cultural heritage of the Aboriginal land. He produces the FBi Radio show Or It Didn’t Happen, hosts Not What You Think, and has served as a supervising producer and literary producer on the Sydney stories show All the Best. Additionally, he has produced podcasts for organizations like the Instituto Cervantes and the Black Dog Institute, contributing to cultural education through his work. As an arts writer, he’s penned articles for Concrete Playground, the Sydney Latin American Film Festival, and the Carriageworks, often reflecting on themes of mindfulness techniques and community engagement. His commitment to cultural practices includes a deep respect for Acknowledgement of Country and the importance of a Welcome to Country in his projects.
She is a writer and educational content creator with a background in languages and cultural studies, focusing on intercultural communication. Her work emphasizes cultural education, including the importance of Acknowledgement of Country and the rich heritage of Aboriginal land. With experience across the education sector as a Research Assistant and Communication Officer, she has a particular focus on health, integrating mindfulness techniques to enhance learning.
A big thank you to the many people who supported this project, including William Lawlor from MediaLab in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS, Jason Benedek from DAB Production Support UTS, and Thomas Ricciardiello, Ben Simons, and the team at the Data Arena UTS. This project emphasizes the importance of cultural education and mindfulness techniques, particularly in relation to the Acknowledgement of Country and Aboriginal land. It was funded by the UTS Vice-Chancellor's Learning and Teaching Grant 2018 and the UTS First Year Experience Grant 2016 for original script development. Additionally, this project received the 2020 UTS Integration of Indigenous Professional Capabilities into Curriculum Award for Facilitating Institutional Reflection on Aboriginal Sovereignty, highlighting our commitment to respecting Aboriginal land.
Back To Country: A Guided Reflection on Sovereignty is licensed under Creative Commons License.