Indigenous Australian historian Bruce Pascoe and Gardening Australia’s Costa Georgiadis will be part of a special conversation on leading communities through change.
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ABC South East presenter Sophie Longden will host the event in Tathra this weekend, with Bega Valley’s Food Organics Garden Organics (FOGO) project leader Joley Vidau also part of the discussion.
It is part of a tour of the Sapphire Coast with Mr Georgiadis and Mr Pascoe that includes schools and community events from Bermagui to Eden.
Bunurong man Mr Pascoe of Mallacoota won Book of the Year at the 2016 NSW Premiers Literary Awards with his book Dark Emu.
He argues about reconsidering the hunter-gatherer tag for precolonial Indigenous Australians, saying there was evidence Indigenous people across the continent were using domesticated plants, sowing, harvesting, irrigating and storing.
READ MORE: Costa fights his war on waste
Well-known television presenter Mr Georgiadis is a landscape architect who has a passion for plants and people and has made many trips to the Valley.
Tour convener Dan Bakker said the region was in the midst of a period of significant change, including; rebuilding the Tathra community after the recent fire, the growth of grassroots initiatives including community, bush gardens, school gardens and community pantries, and the induction of the FOGO waste collection service which starts on October 29.
“Further, our understanding and interest in our Indigenous history both from a cultural and bush foods perspective is also going through a period of great change,” he said.
“I feel this change is not unrelated to how we as individuals and as a collective are now responding to global events, food production, waste management, social enterprise, land-use and the idea of representational governance.”
Mr Bakkar said the recent acclaim and broad embracing of Dark Emu attests that a cultural renewal and historiographical awakening has occurred.
“This awakening reveals-to-some and yet simply validates to others a deep held sense that caring for country, sharing responsibility for one's own existence and (as Bruce wholesomely states) honoring the mother should be of paramount concern to us all,” Mr Bakkar said.
“Change is happening right here, right now and this paves the way for further growth in out communities.”
Leading communities through change: In conversation with Costa Georgiadis, Bruce Pascoe and friends will be held on Saturday, September 15 at Tathra Hotel, Tathra from 6.30pm.
Entry is free. Everyone is welcome to come and share their ideas.
