The Dja Dja Wurrung community established the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation Trading As
DJAARA
in 2004, and in 2010 they nominated the DDWCAC to negotiate the Recognition and Settlement Agreement. The DDWCAC is the Traditional Owner Entity for the Dja Dja Wurrung community and each Dja Dja Wurrung Family Group has right to a Director and Alternate Director positions to govern the Corporation.
In terms of decision-making and accountability, DDWCAC is striving to ensure it engages well with Djaara including through its structure, community meetings and Board meetings. The Djaara (DDW people) have also recognised a key action under their Dhelkunya Dja Country Plan to “explore and develop decision-making and prioritisation processes to help us make collective decisions about the work we do on Country”.
To learn more about DDWCAC, you can access their website here:
Djandak (Dja Dja Wurrung Enterprises Pty Ltd) is the commercial arm of the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation. Djandak has a team of cultural heritage experts and project staff who work independently, and with partners, on a wide range of natural and cultural resource management projects from practical on-ground works through to traditional ecological knowledge gathering and cultural education activities.
To learn more about Djandak, you can access their website here:
Parks Victoria as a land manager is integral to the joint management arrangements. It has a wealth of operational resources to support the implementation and development of the JMP, including personnel, knowledge, documents and data.
Parks Victoria has a vision for all its parks of managing in the context of their surrounding landscapes, and in partnership with Traditional Owners, other government and non-government organisations and community groups, such as the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), catchment management authorities, private land-owners, friend’s groups, volunteers, licensed tour operators, lessees, research institutes and the broader community.
To learn more about Parks Victoria, you can access their website here:
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) brings together Victoria’s environment, energy, forests, emergency management, climate action and water functions to bring value to the Victorian community.
The Minister for Environment and the Secretary of DEECA empowered the Dhelkunya Dja Land Management Board through the Conservation, Forests and Lands Act 1987 (Vic.), to complete a Joint Management Plan, now being implemented by the Dja Dja Wurrung community and Parks Victoria. Joint management arrangements with the Dja Dja Wurrung people are an outcome from the Dja Dja Wurrung Recognition and Settlement Agreement (2013).
DEECA is committed to genuinely partner, and meaningfully engage, with Victoria’s Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities to support the protection of Country, the maintenance of spiritual and cultural practices and their broader aspirations in the 21st century and beyond. DEECA works with Traditional Owners and Parks Victoria in the implementation of land management agreements. DEECA’s Traditional Owner Agreements Unit provides important resources to support recognition and promotion of Traditional Owners’ culture, practices and relationships to land and waters.
To learn more about the DEECA, you can access their website here:
Conservation Management connects people, projects and places using practical adaptive management and collaboration tools to deliver conservation management services including: action plans, healthy country plans, ranger group establishment, community program coordination, project assessments, conservation training and mentoring support, conservation project support, communications expertise and networking, and partnership development and fundraising expertise. Conservation Management is working in consortium with CSIRO, Djandak and the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation to develop the Joint Management Plan for the Appointed Lands.
To learn more about Conservation Management, you can access their website here:
The Board has engaged CSIRO to assist in developing the Joint Management Plan for Dja Dja Wurrung Appointed Lands. CSIRO have demonstrated outstanding expertise to work with Traditional Owner groups, and with the broader community, to produce innovative and practical strategic plans. CSIRO will facilitate broad engagement with the Dja Dja Wurrung Community, the wider Community, Joint management partners, government agencies and a range of other stakeholders and interest groups to heal Country and recognise Traditional Owners in the Landscape.
To learn more about CSIRO, you can access their website here:
Stakeholders with influence over and motivation towards the achievement of the broader goals of Joint Management are critical to the development of the JMP.
These stakeholders include government agencies, non-government organisations, landholders and neighbours adjacent or near the parks, visitors, enthusiasts such as fishers, prospectors, shooters, bush-walker, 4WDs and their peak bodies, those with licences to use water and other resources, and many more.
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