OUR JOURNEY
Dumbartung is a Nyoongah grass roots advocacy agency working to alleviate the suffering of trauma and pain associated with past Government policies of dispossession, displacement, and religious disinheritance.
Dumbartung's belief is that as Aboriginal people we need to rejuvenate our cultural belief system as a means of ensuring the strength of our future generations' identity and spiritual growth, that will help sustain our young people’s lives in a changing and challenging world.
~ Our Vision ~
It is our vision that we will endeavour to develop a cultural bastion through the Kyana gallery and keeping rooms to sustain a spiritual citadel to maintain the archiving, interpreting and teaching of our own history this will allow our people to ...
"Tell Our Story Our Way"
This information and awareness will be freely accessible to young Nyoongah people who seek knowledge that is not accessible in mainstream educational institutions such as universities and secondary higher levels of education.
This knowledge is shared in an environment that has a strong foundation of cultural integrity and dignity; a special place where our culture is not blemished by commercialism, anthropological critique, or New Age interests.
Our living cultures are the oldest ceremonies practiced on the most ancient land mass on the face of the earth. We need to protect it against exploitation and misappropriation ensuring its ancient wisdom remain in the custodial protection of our people.
~ Our Vision ~
It is our vision that we will endeavour to develop a cultural bastion through the Kyana gallery and keeping rooms to sustain a spiritual citadel to maintain the archiving, interpreting and teaching of our own history this will allow our people to ...
"Tell Our Story Our Way"
This information and awareness will be freely accessible to young Nyoongah people who seek knowledge that is not accessible in mainstream educational institutions such as universities and secondary higher levels of education.
This knowledge is shared in an environment that has a strong foundation of cultural integrity and dignity; a special place where our culture is not blemished by commercialism, anthropological critique, or New Age interests.
Our living cultures are the oldest ceremonies practiced on the most ancient land mass on the face of the earth. We need to protect it against exploitation and misappropriation ensuring its ancient wisdoms remain in the custodial protection of our people.
The Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation operates out of the old Catholic orphanage (Clontarf) in Waterford, Perth.
The organisation also respects the tragic lives of many of the orphans (Lost Children of Europe) who were residing in the care of the Christian Brothers who suffered mass sexual and emotional abuse.
During the past twenty years Dumbartung has occupied a number of facilities within this complex. We commenced our services from the old buildings which were the dormitories of the orphanage.
The buildings were decrepit and the verandahs of the dormitories were rickety and dilapidated Dumbartung during the next twenty years gained support and financial assistance from Lottery West and was able to renovate and maintain the facilities to be appropriate for public access and presentation.
The organisation literally built our facilities up from the dirt of Clontarf which was financially abandoned by the Christian Brothers. Our lease agreements initially were offered on what they called a Peppercorn agreement.
The twenty years experience of Dumbartung at Clontarf has been a massive challenge of financial burdens regarding the funding budgets to appropriately operate the services of the organisation to an ever increasing demand against more stringent funding agreements.
Dumbartung survived many attempts by both state and federal Governments whose desired intentions were to cease the service on political grounds due specifically to the successful moral base initiatives of Dumbartung's Intellectual property rights campaigns that were instrumental in attracting both national and international support and recognition. We overcome their attempts.
Dumbartung has gained worldwide recognition and respect as an organisation that plays a vital role in advocating for the protection of Aboriginal intellectual property rights and cultural rights.
For over 30 years the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation has developed a number of important cultural and artistic initiatives. Dumbartung has facilitated a number of cross-cultural exchanges including the Ainu people of Northern Japan, the Apache people of the USA, the Philippines indigenous tribal peoples, the Amazon peoples and many other global Indigenous groups.
The dynamically unique work of Dumbartung is a form of human rights advocacy. Over the course of its history, Dumbartung has held a number of social protest rallies and lectures addressing the human rights of indigenous people. The work of Dumbartung has had positive effects on many Noongar people’s lives.
