For over 65,000 years, First Nations communities have protected and passed along their culture across countless generations through storytelling, ceremony, kinship and physical materials – to the extent that, today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples represent the oldest continuous living culture in the world. But in the digital age, the preservation of First Nations culture faces new challenges. That’s why Telematics Trust has granted $50,000 to La Trobe University to help create ‘On-Country, Online’, a bespoke digital archive that will safeguard First Nations heritage for generations to come.
The archive, made in partnership with the Kaiela Institute on Yorta Yorta Country, will be secure, culturally-governed and co-designed with Elders and community members. It will also leverage the Mukurtu platform: the world's first open-source content management system built specifically to meet the cultural protocols, traditional knowledge systems, and intellectual property needs of Indigenous and First Nations communities. Perhaps best of all, On-Country, Online offers a scalable model that could be applied for the future digital preservation of Indigenous cultures worldwide.
Challenges to preservation
Yorta Yorta Country, which straddles the New South Wales border in Victoria’s north, faces the same urgent challenges in preserving its cultural heritage as many other First Nations communities: ageing materials, limited access to digitisation technologies, and the ongoing threat of climate change. Existing archiving systems are also not built for Indigenous knowledge frameworks or community-led governance, risking the misinterpretation or loss of significant cultural contributions. By utilising the Mukurtu platform for On-Country, Online, La Trobe is ensuring the Yorta Yorta community will maintain how their own heritage is preserved, shared, and accessed. This also means that data sovereignty and cultural protocols are respected and continued, addressing the significant gap in existing technologies. The project will engage over 200 community members through co-designed workshops, training and archival activities, in partnership with the Kaiela Institute, a First Nations-led policy think tank on Yorta Yorta Country in Shepparton, The Institute’s own archives will also be accessible, ensuring the documentation of Indigenous self-determination, advocacy and ancestral spirit in the Goulburn Valley region.
Sharing cultural knowledge on community terms
The grant funding provided by Telematics Trust enables training that will build the community’s digital skills, empowering them to continue their custodianship and share their heritage online. Resources will also be developed for adaptation by other Indigenous communities, and shared across schools, universities and libraries.
Sophia Duan, Associate Dean at La Trobe Business School, sums up the effect Telematics funding has had on the project:
“The support from the Telematics Trust is enabling La Trobe University, in partnership with the Kaiela Institute, to deliver On-Country, Online: Bringing Yorta Yorta Cultural Custodianship Online, a project with lasting cultural and educational impact. This funding supports the creation of a secure, culturally governed digital archive on Yorta Yorta Country that is co-designed with Elders and community members to protect, strengthen, and share living cultural knowledge on community terms. The project builds digital capability within the Yorta Yorta community, strengthens cultural custodianship and data sovereignty, and ensures heritage is preserved for future generations. Its impact extends well beyond Yorta Yorta Country by providing a scalable, First Nations-led model for digital preservation that supports education, reconciliation, and cultural understanding across schools, libraries, universities, and communities in Victoria and beyond. We are deeply grateful to the Telematics Trust for funding this project and for its commitment to empowering communities through technology.”
Lifelong learning for First Nations digital inclusion
On-Country, Online is yet another example of how technology is transforming the ways that Victorians access and learn about First Nations cultural heritage. Telematics is proud to have played a hand in a project that supports lifelong learning and digital inclusion, especially for First Nations communities that face systemic access barriers.