Relationships First, Everything Else Follows

For the last nine months, I’ve been travelling up and down the Cumberland Plain in Western Sydney - sitting down with Traditional Custodians and Aboriginal community members on Dharawal, Darug and Gundungurra Country. Not to consult. Not to extract. But to listen, build trust, and support the NSW Government to walk alongside these communities.

Lyrebird Dreaming has been making an important contribution to the NSW Government's Caring for Country Aboriginal Outcomes Strategy led by Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure. We’ve been doing something rare but important: building real relationships that are local, respectful, and led by community priorities.

A New Chapter with the Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council

As part of this work, I recently introduced the Department to Jason Mitchell, the new Chair of the Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council. TLALC is in a period of renewal - with a new Board and a strong appetite for new partnerships and Aboriginal empowerment.

Jason was generous with his time and thoughtful in his insights. He welcomed the direction we’re taking with a Relationships Framework and Toolkit that I am co-developing with Traditional Custodians and the NSW Government. Jason appreciated the shift away from “engagement” towards something deeper: relationship-building grounded in mutual respect and long-term accountability.

Jason and me after our yarn - relationship first, everything else follows.

As a major land manager in the region, TLALC is looking to re-establish itself as a leader in Caring for Country initiatives - exploring possibilities like biobanking, land restoration, and partnerships that deliver cultural, ecological and economic outcomes for the community.

This is One of More Than Forty Yarns

What made this meeting meaningful wasn’t just the content - it was the context. Over the past nine months, together with Edna Grigoriou and her colleagues from the NSW Government, I’ve had more than forty face-to-face conversations with Traditional Custodians and Aboriginal organisations across the Cumberland Plain.

Each of these yarns has added depth and helped shape how the NSW Government will work in partnership with Aboriginal communities to care for Country on the Cumberland Plain. Connecting in ways that are culturally safe, community-led and effective over the long term.

Meeting with Jason is emblematic of what’s possible. Through this project, I’ve seen firsthand that community members want to work with government - but only if they’re listened to properly, respected, and involved in decisions that affect them.

That’s what this strategy is about. That’s what Lyrebird Dreaming is about.

We’re not ticking boxes. We’re building the foundations for lasting relationships, stronger Country, and community-led futures.