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Welcome to the Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

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

About Us

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 on Country. The Federation works in the following areas to embed Traditional Owner voices in management of Country.

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Animals

Climate

Cultural Landscapes

Fire

Heritage

Plants

Water

Community

Community wellbeing means strong culture, people and place.

The Federation’s work recognises Traditional Owner groups as authoritative decision-makers with rights and power. Our advocacy, programs and services enable Traditional Owners to get on with the business of caring for Country, culture and community.

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Aboriginal Culture and Healing Flood Recovery Grant Program

Country-based planning services

First Principles Review

Nation-building

Rights

Treaty

Economy

Economic development supports community wellbeing and is critical to enabling self-determination.

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Aboriginal-owned joint ventures

Indigenous preferential procurement

Local government

Native foods and botanicals business grants

Native foods and botanicals strategy

Renewable energy

Victorian Aboriginal economic development

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, 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 economic development considered as more than just small business grants.

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.

We support the progress of agreement-making and participation in decision-making to enhance the authority of Traditional Owner Corporations on behalf of their communities.

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10 Year Anniversary

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Federation Enterprises

Memberships

Our Partners

Strategic Documents

Welcome to Country

Resources

Discussion papers

Information sheets

Publications

Connect with us on social media

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Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

1 week ago

AFL is a great example of the influence and value of Aboriginal intellectual property.

You might know AFL has its origins in a game called marngrook, which is a Gunditjmara word meaning ‘game ball’. Tom Wills, who’s credited with inventing AFL, spent some of his childhood on Mukjarrawaint Country, near Ararat, playing with Mukjarrawaint children and speaking language. We can easily image a six-year-old Tom gazing up in awe at the jumping giants marking a possum-skin ball, as different mobs came together for games and corrobboree.

When we talk about Indigenous knowledge, we don’t just mean knowledge about plants and places. We’re also talking about ideas, like those protected by intellectual property laws.

Like the idea of marngrook.

Indigenous cultural and intellectual property (ICIP) is the term used to refer to First Nations’ traditional knowledge and cultural expression. That includes a broad range of things: places, objects, music, dance, ceremony, song, medicines, ecological knowledge, plant use, and more – plus objects, knowledge and artistic work that will be created in the future, based upon this heritage.

ICIP isn’t just about acknowledging this: it’s about identifying and protecting rights as the industries that trade in cultural knowledge rise.

We’re interested in ICIP, and work to create a regulatory and social environment that respects ICIP and directs its commercial value in a culturally appropriate and ethical way. Today that means recognising and respecting the intellectual property of the Traditional Owners of north-west Victoria, whose marngrook links directly to today’s Grand Final spectacle.

Image: Marlene Gilson, Marngrook Football, 2015.

AFL is a great example of the influence and value of Aboriginal intellectual property.

You might know AFL has its origins in a game called marngrook, which is a Gunditjmara word meaning ‘game ball’. Tom Wills, who’s credited with inventing AFL, spent some of his childhood on Mukjarrawaint Country, near Ararat, playing with Mukjarrawaint children and speaking language. We can easily image a six-year-old Tom gazing up in awe at the jumping giants marking a possum-skin ball, as different mobs came together for games and corrobboree.

When we talk about Indigenous knowledge, we don’t just mean knowledge about plants and places. We’re also talking about ideas, like those protected by intellectual property laws.

Like the idea of marngrook.

Indigenous cultural and intellectual property (ICIP) is the term used to refer to First Nations’ traditional knowledge and cultural expression. That includes a broad range of things: places, objects, music, dance, ceremony, song, medicines, ecological knowledge, plant use, and more – plus objects, knowledge and artistic work that will be created in the future, based upon this heritage.

ICIP isn’t just about acknowledging this: it’s about identifying and protecting rights as the industries that trade in cultural knowledge rise.

We’re interested in ICIP, and work to create a regulatory and social environment that respects ICIP and directs its commercial value in a culturally appropriate and ethical way. Today that means recognising and respecting the intellectual property of the Traditional Owners of north-west Victoria, whose marngrook links directly to today’s Grand Final spectacle.

Image: Marlene Gilson, Marngrook Football, 2015. ... See MoreSee Less

Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

2 weeks ago

The Victorian Government must hear Traditional Owners and commit to joint decision-making for culturally significant species following this weeks disappointing dingo decision.

Taungurung Land & Waters Councils statement says yirrangan (dingo) are a culturally significant species to Taungurung people and Country, which have co-existed harmoniously with people for millennia, and share the same story: driven from Country, managed, and at times murdered according to colonial views.

Yirrangan are vital to the health and future of Taungurung Country. The extended Unprotection Order disregards Taungurung lore and our obligations as Taungurung people to care for Country, for the benefit of all people.

The Victorian Government must hear Traditional Owners and commit to joint decision-making for culturally significant species following this week's disappointing dingo decision.

Taungurung Land & Waters Council's statement says yirrangan (dingo) are a culturally significant species to Taungurung people and Country, which have co-existed harmoniously with people for millennia, and share the same story: driven from Country, managed, and at times murdered according to colonial views.

"Yirrangan are vital to the health and future of Taungurung Country. The extended Unprotection Order disregards Taungurung lore and our obligations as Taungurung people to care for Country, for the benefit of all people."The Taungurung Land and Waters Council (TLaWC) is deeply concerned by the extension of the Dingo Unprotection Order that supports proactive killing of yirrangan (dingo in Taungurung language) on Country.

The extension was announced on 24 September by the Victorian Allan Government. This is the continuation of a policy that encourages yirrangan to be killed in northeast and eastern Victoria until 2028 despite being listed as a threatened and protected species in Victoria.

Yirrangan are a culturally significant species to Taungurung people and Country with deep biophysical, cultural and ancestral associations. Yirrangan and Taungurung people have coexisted harmoniously for millennia, and share the same story; driven from Country, managed, and at times murdered according to colonial views.

Yirrangan have been rebranded as hybrid “wild dogs” in contrast to genetic evidence. They have been slaughtered on the basis of threat to livestock, again in the absence of factual and robust evidence.

TLaWC advocates for the protection of yirrangan for a variety of reasons, including:

- Yirrangan act as an apex predator on Country. As such, they support healthy Country by supporting ecosystem balance and health at scale.
- Their removal of more than 30x the volume of invasive mammals than that of foxes.
- Honouring them as kin to humans and an important entity within cultural landscapes.

TLaWC welcomes the removal of the so-called “wild dog” bounty, however this action is not enough. Genetic analysis shows that populations of yirrangan are now on the pathway to extinction over the coming decades. By extending the Unprotection Order, the Victorian Government is actively supporting the local extinction of a threatened species.

Immediate action is required to reverse the extinction trajectory of yirrangan. Lethal control measures must be stopped, and a commitment made to reversing habitat loss and population fragmentation. Pathways that would enable the culturally informed management of yirrangan on Country have been identified in the review of the Wildlife Act, which has been stalled by the Government.

This is an urgent and serious matter. TLaWC asks that the Victorian State Government:

- Cease use of the misleading term “wild dog” immediately. Government policy targets dingo and the public deserves transparency on this matter
- Immediately lift the Unprotection Order across all of Victoria
- Release the formal review of, and progresses updates to the Wildlife Act
- Support pathways identified in the review of the Wildlife Act to support Traditional Owner led management of yirrangan as a cultural entity

Quotes attributed to Matthew Shanks, Executive Manager – Biocultural Landscapes at TLaWC:

‘TLaWC is deeply concerned by the extension of the Dingo Unprotection Order that supports the proactive killing of yirrangan (dingo) on Country.’

‘Yirrangan are vital to the health and future of Taungurung Country.’

‘The extended Unprotection Order disregards Taungurung lore and our obligations as Taungurung people to care for Country, for the benefit of all people.’

‘TLaWC advocates for yirrangan due to their ability to maintain balance on Country, providing management of other plant and animal species.’ ... See MoreSee Less

Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

2 weeks ago

Its a missed opportunity that avoided conservation laws requirements to give proper consideration to Traditional Owners’ rights and interests.

Were disappointed.

And were ready to help the Victorian Government engage genuinely, and in true partnership, with Traditional Owner groups, recognising them in their role as decision-makers for culturally significant species.

Heres the Federations statement on the dingo protection decision.

READ MORE | https://bit.ly/4dj1JZR

It's a missed opportunity that avoided conservation laws' requirements to give proper consideration to Traditional Owners’ rights and interests.

We're disappointed.

And we're ready to help the Victorian Government engage genuinely, and in true partnership, with Traditional Owner groups, recognising them in their role as decision-makers for culturally significant species.

Here's the Federation's statement on the dingo protection decision.

READ MORE | ... See MoreSee Less

Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations

2 weeks ago

Were not going to link this article, because this fact-free dog-whistle doesnt need more clicks – but when nonsense harms our community, we must speak up.

Federation CEO Paul Paton gave a statement to the Herald Sun for this article – explaining, again, that cultural heritage is a precious gift we must protect, and that the Registered Aboriginal Parties who review cultural heritage management plans are consistently meeting their deadlines and doing great work, against high workloads and limited resources.

Developers are the ones responsible for initiating cultural heritage management plan processes, and if theyre concerned about timeframes, theyre welcome to engage Registered Aboriginal Parties earlier.

If cultural heritage processes need reviewing, were open to sharing our ideas for reform.

But what we cant lost sight of is: once cultural heritage is destroyed, its gone forever. Cultural heritage represents 65,000 years of continuing culture – the oldest in the world – were so lucky to share in it, thanks to the care of thousands of generations of Traditional Owners.

We're not going to link this article, because this fact-free dog-whistle doesn't need more clicks – but when nonsense harms our community, we must speak up.

Federation CEO Paul Paton gave a statement to the Herald Sun for this article – explaining, again, that cultural heritage is a precious gift we must protect, and that the Registered Aboriginal Parties who review cultural heritage management plans are consistently meeting their deadlines and doing great work, against high workloads and limited resources.

Developers are the ones responsible for initiating cultural heritage management plan processes, and if they're concerned about timeframes, they're welcome to engage Registered Aboriginal Parties earlier.

If cultural heritage processes need reviewing, we're open to sharing our ideas for reform.

But what we can't lost sight of is: once cultural heritage is destroyed, it's gone forever. Cultural heritage represents 65,000 years of continuing culture – the oldest in the world – we're so lucky to share in it, thanks to the care of thousands of generations of Traditional Owners. ... See MoreSee Less

© 2024 Federation of Victorian Traditional Owner Corporations