Season 3, Episode 1: Land Back

Sissy Austin and Dakota Feirer share readings on the theme Land Back, for our first episode of Vignettes Season 3: Spring. Sissy Austin is a Gunditjmara, Keerray Wurrung, Peek Wurrung and Djab Wurrung woman, and a community advocate for grassroots change. Sheis a grounded 27-year-old Aboriginal woman and she believes strongly in the power of Aboriginal voices and stories creating grassroots change in communities. Sissy has a history of advocacy, campaigning, community organising and navigating the intensity of Aboriginal politics and she is consistently advocating for self-determination to be the driving principle in all that she does. Sissy also has a personal blog called ‘Silent No More’ and has written articles for various outlets. For this episode, Sissy reads a piece about the destruction of a sacred tree on Djab Wurrung country – you can find the original piece published in the Guardian here: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/27/the-destruction-of-a-sacred-tree-on-djab-wurrung-country-has-broken-our-hearts Dakota Feirer is a Bundjalung man living upon Dharawal and Yuin Lands. As a young poet, Dakota has performed for live audiences including Yours and Owls Festival and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Dakota’s body of work consists of poems, stories and reflections that critically engage with intergenerational trauma, gender, spirit and healing; all of which informed the methodology of his recent thesis which explored Indigenous cultural sovereignty in the 21st century. Dakota is carving out a path as an independent researcher, educator and advocate for healing country and First Nations communities through art and storytelling. As mentioned in the episode, we encourage you to check out Pay the Rent at paytherent.net.au and the Dhadjowa foundation at https://dhadjowa.com.au This podcast was audio produced by Joe Buchan. Our theme music was created by Thu Care, and our artwork is by Molly Hunt. You can find out more about the team behind this podcast and the artists featured, as well as access a transcript of the episode, on the EWF website – at emergingwritersfestival.org.au