Drew Longbottom is a 36-year-old First Nations man with ancestry going back to Kangaroo Valley, who is building his life around the revitalisation of Dharawal culture in the Shoalhaven. In June, Drew agreed to meet Sarah Waddell and Hugh Sinclair from Reconciliation Allies KV to share some of his personal story.
Drew is a lead facilitator with Gadhungal Murring and has been recently appointed as a community member of the Shoalhaven Arts Board. Over the last year, Gadhungal Murring has presented corroborees in the valley at Winderong Farm (the first since the 1850s) and at the first outdoor Festival of Canoe and Kayak (FOCK) on 19 June. As stated on their Facebook page, “Our path becomes clearer as we continue to follow the footsteps of our ancestors.”
A special moment following in the footsteps of the ancestors was provided last year when some young men from Gadhungal Murring were invited by a private land-holder in Kangaroo Valley to view some impressive axe-grinding grooves – this was a particular high point for all involved. It could also be an example of how land-holders in the valley can be part of the revitalisation process and, at the same time, enrich their own experience as residents of the valley.
Hugh and Sarah started off by asking Drew about the Dharawal speaking tribes of the Shoalhaven including Kangaroo Valley, and their clans and totems, but there was just too much to talk about. So, for this interview, it was decided to focus on Drew’s personal story as a change maker. As he pointed out toward the end of the interview,
“Many black people are still being institutionalised, we are still healing but I have observed positive change. Acknowledgement is important – until we get acknowledgment we can’t change anything.”
But let’s start at the beginning:
“I started to learn culture, kinship, and language from my great grandmother, Miriam Longbottom (née Connolly) and uncles when I was very young, growing up at Jerrinja. When I was 3-7 years of age, they were a big influence on me. My uncles passed away in the early 1990s and my great grandmother in 2014. They introduced me to the Shoalhaven dialect of the Dharawal language and, since that time, I have understood that’s who I am as a cultural person, specific to the South Coast.
“I’ve always had the ability to articulate what I know and have a good memory. However, even though I knew a lot about principles, protocol and kinship, and had learnt about pre-colonial and post-colonial history and important places in the Shoalhaven, I was not able to maintain cultural practices when I was growing up. I also experienced conflict between what I knew and what I was taught at school.
“When I was about 25 years old and still living at Jerrinja, I met up with younger cousins who came to check out and assess my language skills. This was at the time of the revival of the Dhurga language. They wanted to see if I could differentiate between the Dhurga and Dharawal languages. We challenged each other about words, their construction and meanings. We came to recognise that we were on the same path and had authentic knowledge about our language. Now we are very close and have embarked on the same journey connected with the Dharawal language.
“Shortly after that time, I applied for a position with the Aboriginal Medical Service as a cultural mentor. Whilst in this position, I found that my background did not fit with their requirements, which were focused on specific problem areas such as preventing binge drinking – it was all about fitting in with the business model and not about fostering our culture. I started yarning with workers, one-on-one, and realised the need for more contact with our culture and practices.
“I then started to do cultural awareness training with the NSW Mental Health Commission, and also ran an event at Culburra Beach, and realised that there is a thirst to learn about our culture from all sorts of people, not just Kooris.
“I approached the early childhood foundation Noah’s Ark about providing a language consultancy working alongside speech pathologists. We are now going well in the Shoalhaven and work with 300 educators. We are teaching the Dharawal language in nine preschools across the Shoalhaven to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and have produced educational videos.
“I then worked as a cultural facilitator with Djirriba Waagura, which was formed to revitalise and strengthen Aboriginal culture on the NSW South Coast. Djirriba Waagura means ‘two crows’ in the Dhurga Language. They run commercial tours, camps, and On Country experiences as well as educational programs. Education and empowerment is their ethos. This helped me to extend my own abilities and range of understandings – I learned more cultural practices regarding fire making and bush tucker, and also broadened my ability to teach different aspects of culture.
“Finally, I’ve also joined with Raymond Timbery and Gadhungal Murring, doing cultural immersions, camps, cultural tours, and language facilitation. We are contracted to provide the cultural components for outdoor education programs run by Optimum Experiences at Fitzroy Falls. We’ve probably taught around 3,000 kids through Optimum and I work there two days each week.
“Gadhungal Murring provides consistent sequential cultural education programs in several primary and preschools in the Shoalhaven area. We strongly believe in putting culture upfront. We learn our ancestors’ way and believe in our practices. We honour our teachers and, through our teachings, we pass on our story with truth and purpose.”
Sarah Waddell
on behalf of
Reconciliation Allies Kangaroo Valley
