Our land is precious to us because it is both our past and our future. It holds our history, our culture and our very Aboriginal identity. It is inseparable from who we are. 

Everything that makes up Country is central to every aspect of Aboriginal culture - the land, the water, the air, all of  life, all the elements, the sun, the moon, the stars and the sky - are connected to our Ancestral lands and special places. Lands may be referred as ‘my Mother’ or ‘my Country’ or Our homelands and Tribal estates. They hold our Lores, languages, customs, cultural practices, protocols, beliefs, values, stories and cultural obligations.

The living environment is fundamental to our identity as Aboriginal People. This powerful connection we feel to Country can be difficult for non-First Peoples to understand, but it is important that they acknowledge we have obligations to Country that has been shared and passed down through hundreds of generations.

As the Local Aboriginal Land Council, we have a moral duty and legal responsibility to look after and maintain the land, along with all our important heritage sites within it, and elsewhere in the region. We ensure that they are protected from damage, either accidental or deliberate, caused by people visiting or entering them. We are also actively restoring damage and regenerating native flora and bushland. By preserving the land we are preserving all that is important to us.