← Palm Island Community Company
Theme
Traditional Knowledge
How Palm Island Community Company storytellers name traditional knowledge 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
“We grew up to listen and taught how to be respected”
Discussing core values instilled through upbringing
“I pay my respect to the Durr people here in the country for having us here”
Acknowledging traditional owners and showing cultural protocol
“Usually a letter, a letterhead, and it's like, I elder blah, support this program”
Elder reflecting on superficial engagement from large organisations
“We used to have scouts growing up”
Elder reminiscing about past youth programs that fostered growth and unity
“They removed them from Haton”
Describing how ancestors were forcibly displaced from their homeland
“She had to work”
Mother arrived as young girl and had to work immediately due to no education
“My dad built a boat”
Iris reminiscing about her father's resourcefulness in crafting a vessel from scrap wood
“We'd all wait on the beach getting happy 'cause we had food”
Describing the family's anticipation when parents returned from hunting trips to Possum Island
“What we really need now is to know what the other PICC services provide so that when she knows the other families and young ones she knows where to refer what services to refer.”
Emphasizing the need for a service directory and referral process within PICC services
“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
“Our mother was one of the stolen generation”
Ethel introduces her family history and her mother's experience of forced removal
“You can just imagine the hardship that we had to go through”
Ethel reflects on their upbringing as one of 17 siblings with significant household responsibilities
Quote selection: every quote shown above is from an analysis that passed an anti-fabrication grader. Analyses with critical issues are not surfaced here.