Learning with Country, community and each other
 

The 2026 Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development Workshop explored reciprocity and exchange as practices of learning, relationship and responsibility.

Reciprocity invites us to think differently about what it means to learn and share knowledge. Knowledge is not simply information that is transferred or acquired; it can emerge through listening, experience, care, responsibility and sustained relationships among people, communities and Country.

Across the program, students learned with Indigenous educators, community leaders and knowledge holders through Country-based learning, conversation, heritage exchange, tourism, walking and museum interpretation. Moving across university, community, museum and garden settings, the workshop asked how relational approaches to learning might reshape the ways we understand heritage, sustainability and our responsibilities to one another.

Program highlights

Indigenous tourism and caring for Country — Professor Valerie Cooms

Professor Valerie Cooms shared perspectives from Quandamooka Country and the Moreton Bay region of South East Queensland, exploring relationships among Indigenous tourism, cultural heritage, Country and sustainable development. The session considered tourism not simply as an economic activity, but as a space in which cultural learning, governance, responsibility and exchange can be negotiated.

Learning with Country — Professor Benny Wilson, UTS

Through place-based learning with Professor Benny Wilson, students explored how relationships with Country, story and lived experience can shape educational practice. The session introduced Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing and invited students to consider learning as a relational practice grounded in attention, respect and responsibility.

Learning through museum interpretation — National Museum of Australia

A visit to the National Museum of Australia included the Great Southern Land gallery and Anengkerr-penh/From the Dreaming in the Gallery of First Australians, an exhibition exploring the work and legacy of Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri/Peltharr, an Anmatyerr man, ceremonial leader and artist. The visit introduced another dimension of reciprocity: how Indigenous knowledge, Country, objects and stories are interpreted and shared through relationships among communities, collections, curators and public audiences.

Reciprocity and heritage exchange — yarn and BBQ at the Tjabal Centre

A gathering at the ANU Tjabal Indigenous Higher Education Centre with Professor Aunty Anne Martin, Paul Girrawah House and ANU Indigenous students created an informal space for conversation, listening and exchange. Through a shared yarn and BBQ, students reflected on reciprocity as something practised through hospitality, relationship building and learning with one another.

Walking, Country and interpretation — Australian National Botanic Gardens

The program also included a walk through the Australian National Botanic Gardens, with particular attention to the Red Centre Garden. Through walking, observation and discussion, students reflected on relationships among plants, landscapes, cultural knowledge and interpretation. The Red Centre Garden is inspired by Central Australian ecosystems and includes the Central Meeting Place featuring an interpretation of Country by Indigenous artist Teresa Pula McKeeman.

Reciprocity as a practice of learning

Together, these activities invited students to encounter knowledge in different settings and through different relationships. Students were encouraged to ask what it means to receive knowledge responsibly, how learning might involve giving back as well as taking away, and how reciprocity can shape more respectful relationships among people, heritage, Country and institutions.

About the series

The Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development Annual Workshops are an educational program series offered by the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies at The Australian National University. Through cultural learning, on-site visits, workshops and conversations with Indigenous experts and professionals, the series expands students’ understanding of Country, heritage, environment and sustainable development.

Each year, the program explores a different theme while creating opportunities for experiential and place-based learning. The series is a long-term collaboration with the National Museum of Australia.