Skip to main content Skip to main navigation Skip to search
Home

Top navigation main

  • News & media
  • Jobs
  • Ministers
  • Contact us
Main menu

AWE Main

  • Agriculture and land
    Agriculture and land Building stronger and more sustainable agriculture, fisheries, forestry and land care.
    • Animal health
    • Climate change and agriculture
    • Drought, disaster and rural support
    • Farming, food and drought
    • Fisheries
    • Forestry
    • Levies and charges on agricultural products
    • Mouse infestation advice
    • Plant health
    Xylella

    Protect against unwanted plant pests

    Our biosecurity system helps protects us. Everyone has a role in supporting our biosecurity system.

    Find out more

  • Biosecurity and trade
    Biosecurity and trade
    • Aircraft, vessels and military
    • Biosecurity policy
    • Cats and dogs
    • Exporting
    • Importing
    • Pests, diseases and weeds
    • Public awareness and education
    • Trade and market access
    • Travelling or sending goods to Australia
    • Report a concern
    Brown marmorated stink bug

    BMSB Seasonal Measures

    Australia has strengthened seasonal measures to manage the risk of BMSB.

    View our seasonal measures

  • Science and research
    Science and research Undertaking research and collecting data to support informed decisions and policies.
    • Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
    • Plant Innovation Centre
    Abares

    ABARES Insights

    Get 'snapshots’ of agricultural, forestry and fisheries industries, or analysis of key issues.

    Find out more

  • About us
    About us We enhance our agricultural industries and trade, and manage the threat of biosecurity risks to Australia.
    • Accountability and reporting
    • Assistance, grants and tenders
    • Contact us
    • Fees and charges
    • News and media
    • Our commitment to you
    • Payments
    • People and jobs
    • Publications
    • What we do
    • Who we are
    Budget 2025-26

    Budget 2025-26

    The 2025–26 Portfolio Budget Statements were released on 25 March 2025.

    Find out more

  • Online services
    Online services We do business with you using online platforms. This makes it easier for you to meet your legal requirements.
Department of Agriculture

Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. About us
  3. News and media
  4. A voice for First Nations farmers and communities at drought resilience hub

Back to news - AWE

  • Back to news

A voice for First Nations farmers and communities at drought resilience hub

  • Case study
  • Future Drought Fund
24 April 2023

Dr Raelene Ward is a proud Kunja woman who is giving First Nations farmers and communities a voice across South Queensland and Northern NSW to better prepare for future dry times.

Dr Ward is the Knowledge Broker, First Nations Engagement at the Southern Queensland and Northern New South Wales Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub (SQNNSW Hub).

She is on a mission to build strong relationships between First Nations people and the SQNNSW Hub.

‘I always say this is a unique opportunity at the hub because we’re creating leadership positions that allow us as First Nations people to be part of significant decision making,’ she said.

As a senior nursing lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland and expert in Indigenous suicide and social and emotional wellbeing, Dr Ward is helping the SQNNSW Hub include First Nations perspectives in its drought and climate change preparation planning.

‘Young, old, everyone has an experience to share, and it’s up to us to position those stories in the right way without people losing their cultural intellectual property,’ says Dr Ward.

Drought was part of Dr Ward’s life growing up as a Traditional Owner in Cunnamulla, 800 kilometres west of Brisbane, where her grandparents were drovers in a once-bustling cattle industry.

As conditions in the region have become warmer and drier, droving and shearing has reduced dramatically.

The word 'Cunnamulla' means 'long stretch of water' or 'big waterhole' in the language of the Kunja people.

‘In my childhood, the rivers were full of water, or at the very least there was enough to swim,’ she said.

‘The river was our happy place and we all congregated there - the whole community. It was like going to a theme park.

‘The river represented our culture, food, practices, protocols, totems and a sense of connection and belonging to the land.

‘When I was in my 20s, weirs started going up, stopping the natural flow, and now there are a lot of control measures to decide who gets the water and for what purpose.

‘First Nations people have a lot to say culturally and holistically about the drought and water, but they get little chance to make any serious input.

‘Elders would have seen drought affecting those communities over time.

‘I will use my position to be their voice and drive their agendas.’

The SQNNSW Hub is committed to listening to First Nations’ voices throughout the life of projects, starting with program design.

Dr Ward is acutely aware of ‘consultation fatigue,’ where community members are tired of sharing their stories over and over with few results. She looks forward to meaningful conversations and action.

‘We need to look at education and training needs, for example, maybe replicating traditional fish traps,’ she said.

‘We have to preserve our rights to cultural knowledge and also apply it, for example with cultural burning, to contribute to the longevity of the soil and of communities.’

She describes the whole environment, from rivers and soils to plants and animals, as one interconnected system that must be respected.

The concept of interconnectedness is fundamental for Dr Ward, who remembers her mother saying, “when they take the trees away, the river systems are never the same, neither are our communities or our country”.

’When we see changes in our communities or across our environments it has an impact on us and our stories,’ she said.

‘It affects how we feel about places, and it has impact on our social and emotional wellbeing and mental health.’

Dr Ward will consider data and scientific information in measuring the success of her role, but those are not the only performance markers she will monitor.

‘If our hub news starts to travel by word of mouth on the ‘Murri grapevine’, if First Nations people across our entire hub are talking about what we do, I’ll feel like I’ve been pivotal in seeing opportunities come to life,’ she said.

Visit the SQNNSW Innovation Hub website.

Learn more about the 8 Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs across Australia.

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Copy link

Related

Photo of cattle farmers Ian and Julie Firth in a hay shed

Evidence in action: From better tools to better decisions

  • Case study
  • Future Drought Fund
06 May 2025
Close-up image of a person in profile, wearing a wide-brimmed hat with a blue sky and white clouds behind them.

Building business resilience at Locklea Station

  • Case study
  • Future Drought Fund
24 March 2025
Image of two adults and a child sitting on grass out in a paddock

Claverton Farm: Building resilience through the Farm Business Resilience Program

  • Case study
  • Future Drought Fund
14 March 2025
Thanks for your feedback.
Thanks! Your feedback has been submitted.

We aren't able to respond to your individual comments or questions.
To contact us directly phone us or submit an online inquiry

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Please verify that you are not a robot.

Skip
Page last updated: 24 April 2023

We acknowledge the continuous connection of First Nations Traditional Owners and Custodians to the lands, seas and waters of Australia. We recognise their care for and cultivation of Country. We pay respect to Elders past and present, and recognise their knowledge and contribution to the productivity, innovation and sustainability of Australia’s agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.

Artwork: Protecting our Country, Growing our Future
© Amy Allerton, contemporary Aboriginal Artist of the Gumbaynggirr, Bundjalung and Gamilaroi nations.

Footer

  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy
  • FOI

© Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

Facebook X LinkedIn Instagram