Weaving The Mat: Indigenous Diplomacy - Executive Education Course

It is particularly recommended for those working in the Australian Government to deliver its Indigenous Diplomacy program, and will be useful to anyone working in or with First Nations communities.

The weaving of the mat is symbolic and identifies …. the preparation of a coming together of different people and communities. You have to weave the mat before you can sit on it. You have to make the relationships.
- Uncle Gabriel Bani, Wagadagam Elder

Course details

Dates: Mon 13 - Fri 17 November 2023.
Cost:  $3,650 per participant.
Deadline: Registrations close Tues 31 October 2023. Early bird registrations close Wed 11 October 2023.

This 5-day intensive course provides participants with opportunities to listen and learn from Indigenous Elders and authorities from a range of nations – Kaurareg (Thursday Island), Mawng (South Goulburn Island, NT), Ngambri (Canberra), Wiradyuri (Central New South Wales) and Yolngu (East Arnhem Land).

The participatory and immersive workshop is a unique opportunity to learn about the traditions and ongoing life of Indigenous sovereignties in Australia and their distinct ways of making diplomacy. The workshop includes extended sessions on diplomacy from each group of Elders, a session on Indigenous Youth Perspectives on Diplomacy, and seminars delivered by academics and experts on:

• Indigenous Rights at the UN
• Indigenous Trade & Investment
• Indigenous Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

The program also features a range of out-of-the-classroom learning activities: a public roundtable debate on The Voice; a trip to sites of significance to local Indigenous communities; a film screening; and social events.

See draft program pdf, in the attachments in the right column, and also at the bottom of this page.

Participants will be supported in translating their knowledge back to the workplace and sharing it with others. They will be asked to present short reflection notes at the end of the workshop.

Dhuwal workshop bukmakku limurruŋ Yolŋuw ga Balandaw. Ga limurr dhu marŋgithirr rrambaŋi dhiyakiyi yäkuw workshop-ku yurru Diplomacy-w. Yolŋu walal ga marrtji beŋur Thursday Island-ŋur, Canberra-ŋur, South Goulburn Island-ŋur ga beŋur East Arnhem Land-ŋur. Napurr dhu nhumalaŋgal melkum Yolŋuw dhukarr ga limurr dhu maḻŋ’maram rrambaŋin dhukarrnydja ga melgurrupan märrma’lil world-lil ga rrambaŋi djäma guŋga’yunamirr bawala’mirriŋur.

This workshop is for everyone. All of us learn together about Indigenous diplomacy in both traditional and contemporary platforms. The traditional owners of Thursday Island, Canberra, South Goulburn Island, and
East Arnhem Land will come to deliver the workshop. We will show you the ways in which two different worlds - Indigenous and non-Indigenous - work and help each other in many places.
- Aunty Joy Bulkanhawuy, Yolŋu Elder

Hero image: Yannima Pikarli Tommy Watson, Untitled, 2016. acrylic on Belgian linen, 151 x 244 cm. ANU Art Collection. Donated through the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program by Craig Edwards in memory of Edmund Charles Edwards and Alan Edmund Edwards, teachers, 2018. Photo by Rob Little. Courtesy the artist and Yanda Art, Alice Springs.