In my presentation, Yilum: Cultural Continuity and Wellness among Woppaburra Women, I share the resilience and determination of Woppaburra women in reclaiming, revitalising, and sustaining orr cultural identity. At the core is the 6R Model—Recovery, Rediscovery, Reconnection, Regeneration, Resilience, and Resurgence—a culturally-driven framework for continuity and wellbeing.
I highlight Cultural Clerisy, honouring Elders and knowledge keepers as custodians of traditions and identity. Their commitment ensures intergenerational knowledge transmission, despite ongoing marginalisation of Aboriginal scholarship within Western academic institutions. My work actively challenges colonial validation frameworks, asserting Indigenous intellectual sovereignty and centring Aboriginal Ways of Knowing, Being, and Doing.
I present a culturally-centred wellness model, co-designed with sovereign custodians, integrating holistic wellbeing, intergenerational wisdom, and community-led research. Validating Cultural Clerisy through knowledge collection and analysis disrupts imposed colonial narratives, reaffirming Indigenous scholarship as dynamic, contemporary, and essential.
Navigating Western academia remains fraught with challenges, as it reinforces racialised epistemic hierarchies that demand compliance with dominant research paradigms. I reject the assimilation of Aboriginal knowledge within these constraints, instead prioritising reciprocal learning, ethical engagement, and cultural responsibility, ensuring Country, kinship, and lived experience remain central to knowledge production.
Using culturally-responsive research tools, including Yarning Mats and Cards, I amplify Aboriginal voices, positioning Woppaburra women’s leadership, resilience, and resurgence at the heart of knowledge systems.
This presentation is a declaration of sovereignty and self-determination, reinforcing Aboriginal knowledge as living, evolving, and indispensable. The 6R Approach provides Woppaburra women with a pathway to reclaim, affirm, and sustain their cultural legacy for future generations.

Three Key Learnings:
This presentation highlights decolonised, community-led research that respects Indigenous authority, cultural integrity, and self-determination.

1. Validity and Authority of Aboriginal Knowledge Systems – Examining the entrenched epistemic hierarchy of Western knowledge systems and advocating for Indigenous intellectual sovereignty.

2. Culturally-Centred Model of Wellness – A co-designed, strengths-based framework with sovereign custodians, grounded in intergenerational wisdom, holistic wellbeing, and community-driven methodologies.

3. Culturally-Centred Research Tools and Resources – Developed through our Way of Knowing, Being, and Doing, these tools uphold Indigenous methodologies, ethical research principles, reciprocal learning, and connections to Country and kinship.