After a 20-year struggle to obtain legal recognition of their rights to country a new Indigenous organisation, Warnpurru, was created in 2020 to hold a negotiated Settlement Agreement with the State and finally, exclusive-possession native title. The Yarnangu Directors of Warnpurru, drawn from differing language backgrounds and residential communities, are determined to prioritise their strongly held culture in a socio-political environment of mainstream laws, regulations and practices. To do so, they are insisting on wangka yuti (clear speech in desert languages) and the importance of all aspects of the organisation and its practice being based on the Tjukurrpa, the Creative Time when all things, rules and codes of behaviour were laid down— the codes of behaviour by which Yarnangu live today.
This paper is presented as a conversation in three voices, articulated by three sisters of the same age and social identification but from differing personal histories and professional backgrounds who together discuss the intersections of language, education, meeting protocols and engagement with the State in the process of nurturing people and country. How can Tjukurrpa be kept in front?