A Certain Wisdom

Bibliographic Data

ID23635569
AuthorsJo Anne Rey (0000-0002-1943-9326, corresponding author)
Year2023
Pages40-54
Publication date2023-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Routledge Handbook of Australian Indigenous Peoples and Futures (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781003271802-5
OpenAlexW4385455541
ISBN9781003271802
LanguageEN
Citations received1

This chapter considers the practical gap between the dominating approaches of the last 234 years since colonisation on this continent, currently called ‘Australia&s;, and those sustainable approaches of the last 65,000 years, or more. In doing so, I hope to turn perspectives and practices towards sustainable futures, as we face climate-changing catastrophes. The real context of Australia belongs to the wisdom derived from the land, the sea, the sky developed across aeons by the First Peoples of the continent for the purpose of sustainability—not just of human beings but of all the living presences upon which human beings depend. However, since 1788, just 234 years ago, that wisdom—what I call ‘Living Law&s;—has been denied, outlawed, shamed, desecrated and hidden by the arrival of the British driven by patriarchal human-centricity creating unsustainable greed and imbalance. This outcome didn&s;t start here because it was already happening across all the colonised regions of the planet. However, finding solutions that transform the existing problematic practices to global sustainability is possible and can start with this continent&s;s Aboriginal Living Law. This chapter addresses what that journey can look like.

Environmental law and policy · Environmental, Ecological, and Cultural Studies · Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights · Psychology

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