Qualities and ethics – How Fiona works

(Above ceramics from Beaconsfield Primary School, Fremantle, Forest Guardians Mural)

Fiona works with integrity and hope. She is a deep thinker committed to caring, collaborative, trusting relationships. She is generous and honest, inquisitive and practical, productive and steady. She can endure. Others tell her she is wise, clever and creative. Testimonials affirm these qualities.

Aboriginal-derived values that Fiona respects and seeks to understand and strengthen include: 

• Anpernirrentye - relationships between all things – People, Country, Jukurrpa (Arrernte)

• Kanyirninpa - to hold and nurture (Manjilyjarra)

• Kurunpa - to have spirit; the power or energy that comes from and goes to a place, being or thing (Manjilyjarra)

• Ngurra - home, hearth, camp, country and strong associated feelings (Manjilyjarra)

• Waltja - to care for family, community and each other (Western Desert dialects)

• Ngapartji-ngapartji - the give and take of responsibilities and rights in relation to people and country (Pitjantjatjara / Yankunyajatjara)

These philosophies are widely held across desert Australia but known by different terms. The complex and sophisticated concepts that may take a lifetime or more to understand. Here, the terms are identified to the language group where Fiona’s understanding of them deepened.