Sea Country Stories

Science, history, and educational institutions in Australia are on a journey to empower and incorporate Indigenous knowledges into research, communication and practice. Sea Country Stories offers an immersive experience of being on Sea Country with First Nations elders in Australia, linking ancient and modern knowledge systems, and inspiring the next generation of Sea Country custodians.

Yuin Gadu

Sea Country Stories: Yuin Gadu was filmed at Booderee, Wreck Bay, on Yuin Country. In this short film Joe, his daughter Iesha, and granddaughter Alaynah, yarn on Country while gathering ceremonial ochre and singing muriyira whale song.

A pop-up exhibit was launched on 3 August, 2024 at the Australian National Maritime Museum, where we watched Joe and family on the big screen, shared in ochre painting, a panel discussion about whale voices, and delicious sustainable seafood canapés. Iesha presented artworks inspired by her whale totem from Nardaparli Creations.

This project was proudly presented by Green Island Creative, the Australian National Maritime Museum, and the Marine Stewardship Council. Support for this project was provided by Australian Government grants for National Science Week 2024.

Yarlawa Ruwi

In the first Sea Country Stories: Yarlawa Ruwi, senior Ngarrindjeri elder Major 'Moogy' Sumner demonstrates how to make the kaiki, the freshwater reed spears, harvested from Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. Major yarns about what story and Sea Country mean to him, including stories about fishing with the pelicans, spearing flounder at night, and how to find a stingray in the stars!

As part of this exhibit, Ngarrindjeri kuti fishers and artists at Goolwa, who shuffle for cockles in the sand, also share how they practice sustainable fishing using traditional techniques to protect the kuti, pipi cockles, for the future.

Australian Curriculum (V9) teacher resources

Explore a set of curriculum-aligned lesson plans for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, science learners 10+.

To explore more First Nations teacher resources, lesson plans and activities for ocean literacy that we’ve created, visit Marine Stewardship Council’s education platform Saltwater Schools.

Sea Country Stories is an original project by Green Island Creative, which brings together Australian Indigenous knowledge holders, artists and creators with educators, museums and sustainable fisheries for the first time. Engaging with a range of creative and academic projects for ocean conservation, we have identified a huge gap in knowledge sharing for marine connections, and an education context in which Indigenous Australian fishing cultures and marine interactions for food and trade have been largely neglected. This project addresses unidimensional stories of Australia’s oceanic history and a lack of confidence amongst Australian teachers to integrate Indigenous perspectives in the classroom, with an immersive experience of being on Sea Country and a set of Australian curriculum-aligned lesson plans.