TAUNGURUNG BUNMARRIT BIIK, BUNMARRIT GULINDJI BAGURRK

Taungurung Healthy Country, Healthy People

Location: Vicinity of Horseshoe Lagoon

Images:  Photo of Horseshoe Lagoon or our NRM team out on Country healing Country, or a cormorant

Content:

We welcome you to Taungurung Country and invite you to celebrate the history and culture of the Taungurung Nation – the first people of the rivers and mountains.

For thousands of years, Taungurung People have been Caring for our Country and all living beings in it by using cultural practices and belief systems that protect biodiversity.  Connection to Country is not only physical but is deeply spiritual and intimately tied to identity and wellbeing for all Taungurung People.  This connection was severely disrupted when Europeans arrived and the vast majority of our People were removed from  Country, taking with them traditional ways of managing Country. This caused not only significant consequences to the health of Taungurung People but also to the biodiversity and health of our Country.

Today, we are proudly reclaiming traditional ways of Caring for Country for the benefit of all.  We are Reading Country through ecological monitoring, water health checks and surveying and Healing Country through weed management, revegetation planting, cultural fire services, endangered species protection services and feral animal management.

Horseshoe Lagoon at Trawool is a shining example of how we are “working together” with government agencies to Care for Country to establish ecological rehabilitation.    Many years ago, the construction of the Eildon Water storage resulted in significant changes to the flowing regimes of the Goulburn River, with areas previously inundated becoming unhealthy and losing many native species of plants and animals. However, since June 2019, the Taungurung Nation in collaboration with the local community and government agencies, has successfully replenished the environmental water to Horseshoe Lagoon. Ecological assessments indicate the return of species not seen in the area for decades, including turtles and birdlife.

Connect with us to learn more: www.taungurung.com.au