RIG Network - working to promote and support local food production inremote communities for better health and wellbeing since 2009.

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RIG News - Winter 2016Hello again and wishing everyone good health this winter. RIG Network and RIG News turned 'seven' in May and so much has - and has not -changed since RIG Network kicked off in 2009 to promote and support local foodproduction, food security and community based health initiatives led by and forIndigenous Australians.

Looking back and forwards - Reflections and an invitation to share your thoughts... Ten years ago a Steering Committee was established to guide action to bringindigenous health inequality to an end, culminating in the the launch of The CloseThe Gap campaign in April 2007. Two months later the Federal government stagedthe Intervention in the Northern Territory launching changes that continueto reverberate in communities. The Intervention came within weeks of the release ofthe Little Children are Sacred report, commissioned in 2006 by the NorthernTerritory government.

Since then we've seen a Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs come and go and,in his wake, renewed calls by Indigenous leaders for more coherent, bipartisansupport for long term policies and commitment to Indigenous Affairs. We've seen aNational Food Policy come and go, a community based sustainable food andfood sovereignty movement grow across the country alongside action - of quite adifferent flavour and with varying (questionable...) levels of consultation andengagement with Indigenous leaders and communities - to develop northernAustralia as a possible food bowl for Asia. Efforts to Close the Gap have enjoyedsuccess in key areas such as reducing smoking but there is still far to go on dietrelated chronic disease, food security, mental health and preventative healthinitiatives.

In what seems a particularly crazy world at the moment (not least, the return ofPauline Hanson, Brexit, Trump.....!), I've been pondering what small initiatives such

as RIG Network can offer to support positive community led initiatives ina challenging environment. Indigenous issues seemed barely visible in the recentFederal election and funds for preventative health programs are more difficult thanever to access.

This makes it tricky to initiate or run activities that don't neatly fit into IAS and otherprograms prescribed outcomes. There has been a significant tightening of thefunding for CDP activities along with a return to Direct Instruction priorities in manyschools in regions where we have run programs such as the EduGrow School andCommunity Garden Awards since 2012. Colleagues working in communities reportthat these changes have made it difficult to float a new activity as they tend to killspontaneity and hose down enthusiasm for projects such as food gardens andrelated healthy food, placemaking, enterprise and learning activities that can involvestudents, families and community groups learning and working together in a varietyof ways.

So where to and what to focus on in an environment where everyone haslimited time, energy and funds?! We're interested in your experiences, reflectionsand ideas from where you live and work. Please get in touch if you have news,ideas or suggestions you'd like to discuss with us or to share with RIG News readers.Read on for news from around the network and about new resources and comingevents that may interest you.

Good News - Resilience and alternative expressions of sovereignty... It's exciting to see Linda Burney and Pat Dodson elected to the new FederalParliament - Congratulations! The election outcomes highlight many things, notleast an appetite for change away from conventional parties and politics by peoplefrom many backgrounds from across Australia. Votes that express views about whatis sovereign to individuals and communities that differ to how mainstream partieshave represented the 'issues'.

Sovereignty expressed in diverse ways is delivering exciting change - to reclaim andreset the terms of what matters and how sovereign interests can be pursued and onwhose terms. Exciting stuff. Read on for a snapshot of exciting initiatives/people whoare pressing Indigenous sovereignty in ways that matter.

Food and caring for country ...The Gimuy Fish Festival, Cairns

This great initiative has been building a community of dialogue and collaborativeaction over several years to raise awareness and to take action to care for land,water and ocean biodiversity centred on local traditional knowledge - fantastic. "TheGimuy Fish Festival 2016 - 16-17 July 2016 - is a celebration of culture,community and culinary delights. Gimuy Walubara Yidinji, Tribal Authority of Cairns,invite all who love and cherish this region to unite on issues of sustainability,indigenous biocultural diversity and natural wealth. We all play a part in ensuring the

environment we live in is strong and resilient. A healthy country means healthyfoods". Led by traditional sovereign land owners, the Gimuy Fish Festival puts intopractice each year the conversations and practices to help build more sustainable,collaborative futures. For further information about this year's greatevent: http://www.gimuyfishfestival.com

Ideas and Books...Over the past year or so , we've reported on great new publicationsand authors who express sovereign issues and sensibilities in new ways. Foremostto mind include Bruce Pascoe's Dark Emu: Agriculture or Accident? and infiction, Alexis Wright, The Swan Book - that paints a dystopian picture of a postintervention and climate change future so powerfully.

Further to which, I've just come across the amazing and erudite DistinguishedProfessor Aileen Moreton-Robinson's work having heard her interviewed on ABCwherein she spoke about her research and publications on "possessive andextractive" white sensibilities and alternative Indigenous views of sovereignty,connection and caring for collective and intergenerational assets. Checkout her mostrecent book published in 2015 "The White Possessive: Property, Power andIndigenous Sovereignty" in addition to her numerous papers and otherpublications on native title, whiteness, racism and feminism.

Join in and Help Celebrate the 50th Freedom Day Festival - Wave Hill Walk-OffA powerful event that set new terms about sovereignty....."One morning fiftyyears ago, our Gurindji elders broke unforgettably from the industry that had takenour land and oppressed us for generations. Envisioning a brighter future for ourpeople, they walked from Lord Vestey’s Wave Hill cattle station into the unknown,and never looked back. The action they took on 23 August 1966 became known asthe Wave Hill Walk-off, and changed the face of modern Australia. At our Dreamingplace of Daguragu, they fought for Gurindji land rights and built our newhome. Today, we ask you to come and celebrate their achievement. Let us share themeaning of the Walk-off with you today. From the leaders of Daguragu andKalkaringi communities". To get involved this August (19-21), buy tickets and go along - visit http://www.freedomday50.com.a

Foodswell Programs - EduGrow and Food, Family, Community NSW...EduGrow School and Community Garden Awards in 2016 The EduGrow program includes the the EduGrow website, remote and ruralgardening events as well as the annual EduGrow Recognition Awards that we hoped this year to

kick off in Term 3 and run to mid Term 4 for all remote and rural Australian schools. Owing to funding and

other constraints - including many top end schools current focus on Direct Instruction - we won't be

hosting the EduGrow School Garden Awards this year. That said, we are very keen to receive and

celebrate your school and communities stories about healthy food garden, cooking and

enterprise initiatives; placemaking for culturally safe and welcoming educational spaces

and initiatives that celebrate intergenerational learning together for literacy and healthy lifestyles!

Who are you local legends? What great intergenerational learning at and around school do you

see? Please send us celebratory stories about your achievements and community leaders and we will

provide online and other rewards and recognition to local leaders, legends and participants!

EduGrow is all about encouraging and supporting kids, teachers and schools to grow good food, good

times and good learning at school for better health, wellbeing and to create culturally safe, inclusive

places and activities that build student and community participation and learningtogether. To read about past EduGrow 2015 fabulous participants and winners clickhere. More information about EduGrow is available at the EduGrow Website.

Food, Family, Community NSW As part of our Food, Family, Community NSW program, and with support fromMedibank Community Grants, Foodswell has enjoyed the opportunity to work withthe wonderful Literacy for Life Foundation 'Yes I Can!' program to support theirpost literacy gardening activities. This has involved road trips to Brewarrina andEngonnia where we have worked with program participants to help plan and begincreating food gardens at their learning centres. The Literacy For Life Foundationadopts an innovative, Cuban literacy teaching model for adult learners and wasfeatured on Stan Grant's 'The Point' program on NITV just before Easter.

We're privileged to work with the Literacy for Life Foundation (LFLF) and to supporttheir work that truly transforms peoples lives. LFLF puts into practice the sort ofactive, independent sovereignty that characterises Indigenous leaders andcommunities leading from the front - by and for themselves, with or withoutgovernment funding support! Love it.

In April, members of the Foodswell/RIG Network team travelled to Brewarrinato help the LFLF post literacy team build their garden at their "Blessings"community centre - wonderful people and times had creating a mixed fruit and veg,herb and bush foods garden as part of a landscaping plan and rock garden layout.Their achievements were celebrated at the Graduation Celebration held in May.We're looking forward to working with the next LFLF intake in September/Octoberto continue to grow and build upon the Blessing's Garden this Spring with our friendsfrom the Royal Botanic Gardens Community Gardening team!

In June, our friends from the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney, Community Greeningand Youth Greening Teams went our to their way to visit our friends at Engonnia,north of Bourke, who we introduced them to, to help build and operate their massivewicking beds! A wicked 'wicking bed' problem solved - fantastic! Engonnia is avery remote NSW community with some very passionate food gardeners who aregrowing a difference in their community. So exciting to help them make ithappen!.Pics below and text and poem from the Royal Botanic Gardens Team:

"The Royal Botanic Gardens Community Greening team went on our annual Rural and Remote trip in

partnership with the Environment and Zoo’s Education centres Network. This is an annual trip to support

Rural and Remote Schools and communities. The 2016 program was delivered in Bourke Brewarrina and

also included students from Wanaaring, Weilmoringle, Enngonia, Louth and students from Dubbo School

of Distance Education. In total 193 students participated, throughout the week, in workshops hosted by

Wambangalang, Red Hill and Warrumbungles EEC in partnership with Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Royal

Botanic Gardens and NetWaste. The hands on workshops focussed on biodiversity, innovative kitchen

gardens, worm farms, recycling and sustainable practices that could be implemented at school or home.

The trip provided the Community Greening team the opportunity to support community members of

Enngonia Community Garden in the construction of 2 wicking gardens lead by the Community Greening

team and EZEC educators. Wicking gardens are a great way of minimising water use in these arid

western NSW climates. The team enjoyed being shown all the vegetables and fruit trees being grown at

the garden and the pleasure of a cuppa and some biscuits after at the Land Council. We also enjoyed

seeing the local community pig named Percy roaming the streets and laying in the sunshine-what a life!"

Sustainability Outreach 2016 - Royal Botanic Gardens Community and Youth Community Greening

Teams

Our First stop was Bourke and the kids were cool

They had a great Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden at school

The kids from (Wanaaring) Wannarang

Loved learning to throw the boomerang

Weilmoringle, Enngonia, Louth schools and Dubbo School of Distance Education

All came along and joined in a great day of participation

We travelled to Enngonia Community Garden

Edugrow gave us the introduction to this garden

Percy the pig was baking in the sun

Filling wicking garden beds was fun

Then we dropped into Brewarrina Public School

The day was rainy and very cool

The boomerang, still managed another fang

Then we had a race without a hurdle

We also planted a lemon myrtle

Back to Dubbo without being late

To see if Palmer street Community garden could propagate

We know at Bre one of the kids told us they had a proper gate!

So in summary Brenden and Phil talked culture and plants

And still got the kids to beat box and dance

We all crossed a long spanned bridge

While Brenden played the didge

Dave and Kristy from Wambangalang

Had solar technology to engage the gang

Sue made them squirm, with her crazy worm

Michelle from Redhill Had recycled t shirts that kill

Ange and Wes yarned about honey and in the sun it went runny

Ash and Ryan from the zoo, Enthralled the kids with animals too

The kids loved Ash and Ryan

But they had to make sure the animals were fine!

Stay tuned!! RIG Network and RBG Community Greening Teams are planning aspecial gardening and healthy food weekend of workshops and fun communityevents in Western NSW this Spring with LFLF - let us know if and how you'dlike to contribute and contribute to these fab days! Planning now for Sept. 18-21!

News from Around the Network

From the Moree Eco Crew (our partners in the Moree Big Lunch 2015):

We are just in the later stages of finishing off our Babbler book. Hopefully printingfirst week back term 2. (The Grey Crowned Babbler is our little local bird on theNational endangered list). We are touring 6 schools over 3 days promoting ourbook and building an awareness throughout our region about the plight of theBabbler. If you would like, I'm more than happy to send you some pics and videoclips of the Babbler Road Show if your interested.

From the Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation Team:

Hello Friends at the Remote Indigenous Gardens, I am contacting you on behalfof CerebralPalsySymptoms.com. As an outreach coordinator, I want to tell you howmuch I enjoyed your site. I think you do a great deal for your visitors and you presentit all in a very positive way. We have a mutual interest in the health of others and Ithink you will enjoy what I have to say. As you may know cerebral palsy is the mostcommon physical disability in childhood, with a child being born with CP every hour.Our goal is to raise awareness globally for cerebral palsy and other birth injuries. Ibelieve that an inclusion of our site to your resources pages would make a greataddition here- www.remoteindigenousgardens.net/links/. Please take a look at oursite and share with your readers.

JCAC and Jilkminggan Community Sustainable Housing Initiative -Social Determinants of Health.

Jilkminggan Community, in conjunction with JCAC and key supporting partners haveofficially begun raising funds via a crowd-funding campaign on Chuffed- https://chuffed.org/project/decidingtomakeadifference. Working with The Elders ofJilkminggan the group have teamed up with the award-winning Nev House, to designand build high quality, sustainable housing for the whole community from discardedmarine plastics. To kick-start this initiative they have set a goal to raise $1 millionfrom 1 million people in just 30 days. Help if you can.... Coming Events - Need to Know Now!

Redfern - Indigenous Science Experience, Redfern Community Centre,

Aug. 17-19, 21

Thank you EduGrow for your newsletter earlier on this year. On behalf of theNational Indigenous Science Education program (NISEP), I would like to invite you toattend our Family Science Fun Day on Sunday Aug 21 as part of the IndigenousScience Experience at Redfern Community Centre. We also have three school dayswith local primary school students on Aug 17-19. Clover Moore will be opening theevent on the Sunday, and Uncle Charles Madden will be giving a Welcome toCountry. Indigenous Bioresources Research Group Co-Director and NationalIndigenous Science Education Program Co-Directorwill participate (see www.facebook.com/NISEP.MQ, www.nisep.com.au and www.youtube.com/user/NISEPmq)* Macquarie University’s Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences isintegrating chemical and biomolecular sciences to achieve a sustainableenvironment, understand health and disease, and advance new moleculartechnologies* Check out flyers on RIG Network Facebook page for more information if you'd liketo go along!

National Forum: Farm Co-Operatives and Collaboration Program Pilot -29-30 August.

The Farm Co-operartives and Collaboration Pilot Porgram is a CommonwealthGovernment investment of $14.9 million to provide farmers with knowledge andmaterials on co-operatives, collective bargaining and other forms of collaboration inthe agriculture sector. The grant funding for delivery of the Program has beenprovided to Southern Cross University. Join in for the inaugural forum and launch ofthe Program. For more information, contact: admin@mullerenterprise.com.au

The Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and WellbeingConference 2016, 8–10 November, Melbourne. Earlybird registrations closeon 7 August!2016 Educational Symposium ‘Crossroads at the Centre: The Nexus BetweenCVD and Diabetes, 27–28 October, Alice Springs

Presented by Baker IDI, the symposium will focus on the issues around theimportant connections between diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The programwill be run over a day and a half. It will feature a combination of relevant plenarypresentations from renowned scientists and clinicians plus practical workshops.Registration is free but essential.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: National Primary Health Care Conference, 23–25November 2016, Melbourne

The Public Health Association of Australia, supported by the Australian Healthcareand Hospitals Association,will be again hosting the National Primary Health Care

Conference. Call for abstracts is now open, closing on Sunday 31 July 2016.

International Symposia on Tropical and Temperate Horticulture, Cairns,Queensland (Australia), 20-25 November2016 - http://www.ishs.org/symposium/589.

This event will feature sessions on horticulture, invisible poverty and food insecurity.RIG Network member, Kim Morris in a member of the Cairns basedregional organisation committee. For further information, contact us or Kim.

New and Useful Resources - Need to Know Now!

The health of Indigenous and tribal peoples across the world

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health edition of the Medical Journal ofAustralia (MJA) was published on 4 July. The edition includes a brief article byLowitja Institute CEO, Mr Romlie Mokak, about The Lancet–Lowitja Institute GlobalCollaboration that studied the health and social status of Indigenous and tribalpeoples around the world. The findings were published simultaneously in Melbourneand London in mid-April 2016 under the title Indigenous and tribal peoples' health(The Lancet–Lowitja Institute Global Collaboration): A population study. The studyteam was led by Professor Ian Anderson and included 66 international experts.

Australian Health Tracker

On Tuesday July 5, the Australian Health Policy Collaboration facilitated a nationalforum of over 90 public health leaders to launch Australia’s Health Tracker. Thisreport builds on work undertaken in 2015 by a national collaboration of public healthand chronic disease organisations and experts to produce health targets for the year2025, based on the World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan for thePrevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and the Mental Health ActionPlan. Australia’s Health Tracker is the first comprehensive assessment of progressagainst the 2025 targets. Australia’s Heath Tracker has been published to warngovernments, industries and employers, and communities, that immediate andsignificant action is needed to fight diseases that are crippling individuals; cripplingthe health system in both demand and expenditure; and both driving downproductivity and increasing costs for workplaces and for our economy. For moreinformation about and resource from Health Tracker,visit: https://www.vu.edu.au/australian-health-policy-collaboration/publications#goto-australias-health-tracker=1

Recordings from the April 12 seminar “Defeating Diabetes—preventing,treating & reversing T2DM with plant-based meals” are now available topurchase.

This DAA event was planned for dietitians, nutritionists and health professionals, but

is also suitable for anyone interested in diabetes and healthy eating. Please referto DAA website Calendar of Public Events for event flyer, as well as instructions onhow to purchase the recordings. For enquiries, feel free to contact Angela Saunderson 02 4348 7625.

New - from Greenville Living Food Garden Project

We all need food to live, so let's learn how food grows and make it a priority to teachour children about it. I would like to introduce myself and my food garden program,Rebecca Mumford, food garden educator delivering the Greenhill Living food gardenprogram. I have educated students in the food garden, with the establishment andmaintenance of food gardens in preschools and primary schools around Adelaideover the last 6 years and have written two 4 part books series.

The books illustrate the seasons, plant and insect life cycles, pests and beneficialinsects in the garden, days of the week, months of the year and numbers, with reallife images of growing food. From how to build soil in your garden, how to plant yourgarden, to what to plant in your garden, these books can be read, followed byplanting seasonal food.

The book titles are:GAYE the Garden Girl - The Allium FamilyGARY the Garden Guy - To dig, or not to digFAYE the Farmer Friend - Legume life cyclePETE the Planting Pal - Planting abc

Gaye the Garden Girl - The carrots and the ladybirds - summerGaye the Garden Girl - The broccoli and the caterpillars - autumnGaye the Garden Girl - The potato treasure hunt - winterGaye the Garden Girl - Five foods on a vine. - spring

Visit www.greenhillliving.com.au for further details.

Rebecca invited you to use her resources within your programs to engage the mindsof our future young farmers and connect our children and adults with how naturegrows our food. In turn, the knowledge of how nature grows our food will inspire theeating of more of nature's food.

As always, please be in touch if you have news or stories you'd like to share,and please circulate RIG News to your friends and colleagues.

Very best and look forward to hearing your news and feedback,

Anthea

anthea@remoteindigenousgardens.net

Food, Family, Community NSW Program - The

Big Lunch and Foodswell Tucker Talks,

made possible with grant support from Australia

Post and Medibank Community Grants.

Remote Indigenous Gardens Network (RIG

Network). Supporting local food production in

remote communities for better health and

wellbeing since 2009.

EduGrow. EduGrow is about more than the

awards that we may not run in 2016. It's also

about events and resources, see

www.edugrow.com.au. In 2016 we welcome

stories and contributions from

schoolsand communities who would like to

celebrate their students and local leaders and

legends.

Foodswell Limited - a health promotion

charity working to create change toward food

security and food sovereignty for all Australians.

Foodswell is a registered charity. Tax

deductible donations can be made to

Foodswell via GiveNow to support RIG

Network and EduGrow programs

at https://www.givenow.com.au/foodswell

Copyright © |2014 | Foodswell Limited ABN 16 163 396 736 |* All rights reserved.

Queries/stories please contact: Anthea Fawcett, Founder, RIG Network, CEO Foodswell Ltdanthea@remoteindigenousgardens.net 0419 478856 Our mailing address is:1/167 Hastings Parade, Bondi, NSW, 2026

Foodswell acknowledges the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and theircontinuing connection to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to them and theircultures, and to elders both past and present.

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