Since 2007 the Bawaka Collective has focused on the transformative potential of Indigenous-led tourism to strengthen communities, progress self-determination and contribute towards inter-cultural understandings through the communication of Yolngu knowledge for non-Indigenous audiences. Their collaboration is based on the development of trust, respect and mutual benefits.
The research collective has written 3 books and numerous academic and popular articles together. Their second book, Welcome to My Country, has sold more than 10,000 copies and appeals to academic and more popular audiences. It provides a rich understanding of some of the patterns, relationships, motions, and rhythms of time and space that underpin the ways that Yolŋu relate to their country. They are launching their latest book, Songspirals: Sharing Women’s Wisdom of Country Through Songlines, at the 2019 Garma Festival.
“Ours is a story of lives entwined and of new places of co-becoming and belonging” said Sandie Suchet-Pearson, “It is also a collaborative narrative of unexpected transformations, embedded families and the spirituality and agency of nonhuman elements in, of and as the landscape.”