annette ruzicka, No borders in the desert (Documentary/Photojournalism (ATEP 2017))

Australia’s checkered past concerning Indigenous people is transcended when traditional owners are empowered to return to their land. They bring with them not only next generations of their people, but strangers from the city with a common goal of rehabilitating their land and sharing knowledge. This is a story of the women Birriliburu rangers – elders and the next generation, as well as a new friend, a fire ecologist from Melbourne, ‘Dr. Vanessa’. The women rangers are Martu people from the Birriliburu Indigenous Protected Area of the Little Sandy Desert in Western Australia, about 6 hours from the community of Wiluna. Having recently had their land returned to them through the Native title process, this brought a chance to return to their ancestral lands, become rangers and teach the younger women about their land, how to care for it and sacred customs. Dr. Vanessa brings ‘western science’ and new technologies, what they all refer to as a ‘two way toolbox’. She feels she is learning far more than she could ever contribute, and while they are all humble in their approach what is certain is the strong bond formed between all the women and the strides they are making in saving this ancient land.

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