Winyama successfully delivers geospatial training for over 60 Indigenous organisations at IMW Australia 2019

Over 100 participants met in Perth last week on 16th, 17th and 18th July to participate in the 2nd annual Indigenous Mapping Workshop Australia. The workshop, organised by Winyama, provided free geospatial training on Google, Fulcrum, Esri, Mapbox and QGIS to attendees. 

Workshop participants learnt from industry leaders over the three days and were able to network and connect with like-minded indigenous organisations who are adopting digital transformation with maps. 

The event began with a warm and traditional welcome to Noongar Whadjuk country with a smoking ceremony by Freda Ogilvie. Shortly after, Mr. Brendan Hammond, Chairman of the Pilbara Development Corporation, officially opened the event and reiterated the importance of increasing STEM capacity and pathways for indigenous communities.

In addition to the training provided, the workshop allowed attendees to contribute to the design and creation of a set of new indigenous mapping icons. Dennis Golding, a Kamilaroi/Gamillaraay man and freelance designer with Google’s Creative Lab, engaged with attendees to create relevant and culturally appropriate set of indigenous mapping iconography.

“I had an incredible time chatting with participants about the iconography and their shared stories, as a result of these conversations I was able to refine, reproduce and develop new symbols for significant sites and objects,” said Dennis.  

The event featured six lightning rounds presentations where participants were given a platform to share knowledge with their peers about the way they use mapping in their community. Attendees who gave a presentation were put in the running to receive one of three IMW Australia Grants, each worth $10,000.

At the conclusion of the workshop the IMW grant winners were announced:

• The Kullilli Challenge - The Kullilli Bulloo River Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC

The Kullilli Challenge will use the grant funding to purchase essential mapping equipment and training for their community. They would like to use the funding to bolster and develop internal mapping resources to contribute to their caring for country program. The Corporation plans to use Google Maps, the DATSIP cultural heritage portal and other GIS tools for site identification and record keeping in their community.

• The Willowra Mapping Project - Willowra Community

The Willowra Mapping Project will use IMW funding for local Willowra people to develop digital maps that show Warlpiri ways of being on country and in culture. The community will build on what they learnt at IMW Australia and put it to good use so young people can access the digitised material in their community

• Working on Country - The Ngulingah Local Aboriginal Land Council

The Ngulingah rangers wish to use the grant funding to update their technology and equipment and expand on  their knowledge of best land practices. They believe that having an accurate digital map will help their efforts drastically. The organisation has been unable to invest in devices and software for the team due to funding restrictions and the ongoing demands on our program for land management work. The grant will be crucial for the rangers to replace mapping equipment that was damaged in the Lismore floods that was used for recording and tracking the occurrences of weed infestations, detecting feral animals and monitoring endangered plants and animals.

Andrew Dowding, Managing Director of Winyama, said that he was pleased the event ended on such a high and that attendees were able to walk away with more than their new digital skills. 

“We couldn’t have asked for a better event this year, it was a great knowledge sharing opportunity for the participants and I understand how the communities we work with need the training and funding to achieve their mapping related objectives. I’m immensely proud that we could provide this training for participants and for the grant winners, the funding they require to get started mapping when they go home,” he said.

Read more about previous Indigenous Mapping Workshops here.