← Palm Island Community Company
Theme
Community Governance
How Palm Island Community Company storytellers name community governance in their own words. Every storyteller below carries the theme; every quote is verbatim and only surfaces from analyses that passed an anti-fabrication grader.
Voices carrying this theme
In their own words
“"Bwgcolman" means "many tribes, one people."”
Explaining the meaning of Bwgcolman as foundational to understanding the collective vision
“This change has been decades in the making.”
Acknowledging the long history of advocacy for community control
“When I was employed, it was me. And we, when I say it was just me, I had a good board behind me, a skill-based, you know, board”
Early days of PICC when Rachel was first employed, highlighting the board support structure
“Government had to be confident. We were secure, we were safe”
Describing the process of gaining government confidence in the community control model
“we celebrate that basis days today with the young generation, young kids that were born with kids and very proud of them”
Opening statement at PICC daycare opening ceremony
“we welcome you on behalf of us and great Palm Island where we stand”
Formal welcome on behalf of Palm Island community
“We just lost, uh, last of our elders about a month ago... now we got no elders.”
Reflecting on the recent passing of elders and the leadership gap created in the community
“I didn't know I was an Aboriginal person. I didn't know I had a language name, a tribal name, a skin name.”
Describing the discovery of his cultural identity through conversations with elders and family
“Palm Island is a beautiful home and it's home of the Boman people.”
Irene expressing her deep connection to Palm Island and identification with the Boman people as her ancestral home
“My dad's, he born in bred Palm Island,”
Irene sharing her father's birthplace on Palm Island, establishing generational presence
“We should have been consulted”
Elders expressing their frustration at being excluded from disaster preparedness and emergency planning decisions despite possessing generations of knowledge about surviving disasters on Palm Island
Quote selection: every quote shown above is from an analysis that passed an anti-fabrication grader. Analyses with critical issues are not surfaced here.