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Welcome to the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

We’re the state-wide body fighting for the rights and interests of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations while progressing wider social, economic, environmental and cultural objectives.

About

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land we work on as the First Peoples of this Country.

Country

Healthy Country means healthy communities. Our work recognises Traditional Owners’ rights and responsibilities to care and make decisions for Country.

Traditional Owner groups have knowledge, rights and responsibilities, stemming from 65,000 years of experience with Country. The Federation’s policy, advocacy and government relations work helps restore Traditional Owners’ authority in frameworks for managing of Country.

View our work for Country

Community

Community wellbeing means strong culture.

The Federation’s work recognises Traditional Owner Corporations as authoritative and representative decision-makers with rights, power, and responsibilities. Our advocacy and services support Traditional Owners to care for Country, culture and community.

View our work for community

Economy

Strong and independent economies sustain Traditional Owner communities and enable self-determination.

The Federation’s research, grant administration, knowledge-sharing and advocacy promote rights-based economic development for Traditional Owner Corporations.

View our work for economy

Impact

The Federation’s advocacy shapes the landscape in which Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations do their important work.

We have put cultural fire and cultural water on the agenda for government, sought greater protections for Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights, fought for a fair place in the expanding native foods and botanicals industry, championed Treaty and self-determination, supported a drastic reconsideration of how our cultural heritage is approached at both state and national levels, and worked to have Traditional Owners’ economic development considered as more than just small business grants.

See our impact

About

The Federation is the Victorian state-wide body that convenes and advocates for the rights and interests of Traditional Owner groups while progressing wider social, economic, environmental and cultural objectives.

Founded in 2013 by Traditional Owner Corporations who recognised they could be stronger together, we are by and for Traditional Owners: their policy and advocacy body, helping to enhance their authority on behalf of their communities.

Our strategy

Resources

Discussion papers
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Information sheets
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Publications
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Happy first birthday to the Yoorrook Justice Commissions final report and official public record. 🎈

Happy first birthday to the Yoorrook Justice Commission's final report and official public record. 🎈 ... See MoreSee Less

Our June newsletter is out!

Grants, jobs, scholarships, Traditional Owner news, and more – its in inboxes of the Traditional Owner Corporation staff members whove signed up.

Message us to join the list for July.

Our June newsletter is out!

Grants, jobs, scholarships, Traditional Owner news, and more – it's in inboxes of the Traditional Owner Corporation staff members who've signed up.

Message us to join the list for July.
... See MoreSee Less

Cold mornings and clear skies for the financial years end; heres how our team spent it. ⛅

🔴 Gabby and Lisa are on the road again this week: they’re heading to Morwell for a cultural fire workshop with GLaWAC that will inform the policy paper we’re producing on the legislative and policy barriers facing the practice of cultural fire.

🔴 Ken and Ben are ticking off the tasks required by our annual audit – “very exciting!”, says Ken – but it’s the mosaic of tiny tasks like ensuring our forms, delegations and approval process are airtight that maintain our organisational compliance and transparency.

🔴 Our team’s on a sprint finish for the end of our secretariat contract for the TOC Caucus: today’s deadline day for Steph and Kurt for final policy pieces on a decision-making partnership protocol and biocultural diversity strategy, and Lisa on our final report to DEECA.

🔴 Once Steph’s on the other side of the TOC Caucus tying-up, she’s starting to lock in dates (August!?) for the free legal workshops we’re hosting for TOCs with Environmental Justice Australia.

🔴 Sophie’s looking forward to tomorrow’s meeting of the TOC communications community of practice – if you do comms at a TOC and don’t know what this is, send us a message and we’ll add you to the invitation!

🔴 And Daniel missed out on cake at today’s team meeting (shame!), but for a very good reason: he was at The Mabo Centre’s event titled Towards an Australian First Nations Critical Minerals Strategy Symposium.

Cold mornings and clear skies for the financial year's end; here's how our team spent it. ⛅

🔴 Gabby and Lisa are on the road again this week: they’re heading to Morwell for a cultural fire workshop with GLaWAC that will inform the policy paper we’re producing on the legislative and policy barriers facing the practice of cultural fire.

🔴 Ken and Ben are ticking off the tasks required by our annual audit – “very exciting!”, says Ken – but it’s the mosaic of tiny tasks like ensuring our forms, delegations and approval process are airtight that maintain our organisational compliance and transparency.

🔴 Our team’s on a sprint finish for the end of our secretariat contract for the TOC Caucus: today’s deadline day for Steph and Kurt for final policy pieces on a decision-making partnership protocol and biocultural diversity strategy, and Lisa on our final report to DEECA.

🔴 Once Steph’s on the other side of the TOC Caucus tying-up, she’s starting to lock in dates (August!?) for the free legal workshops we’re hosting for TOCs with Environmental Justice Australia.

🔴 Sophie’s looking forward to tomorrow’s meeting of the TOC communications community of practice – if you do comms at a TOC and don’t know what this is, send us a message and we’ll add you to the invitation!

🔴 And Daniel missed out on cake at today’s team meeting (shame!), but for a very good reason: he was at The Mabo Centre’s event titled Towards an Australian First Nations Critical Minerals Strategy Symposium.
... See MoreSee Less

Whats cultural fire, and why does it matter?

What's cultural fire, and why does it matter? ... See MoreSee Less

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