Koort Karnadjil Mya - First Nations Strategy

Heart. Truth. Voice.

Our Koort Karnadjil Mya First Nations Strategy is a powerful and collaborative step towards building a culturally safe, inclusive, and respectful community that celebrates the rich heritage and ongoing contributions of First Nations people.

This strategy has been co-designed with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members and organisations, guided by the values of Heart (Koort), Truth (Karnadjil), and Voice (Mya). It reflects our shared vision to ensure First Nations cultures, stories, and aspirations are embedded in the City's programs, services, and future planning.

What the strategy means to local First Nations people

Following the launch of the Strategy, we caught up with Brenda Greenfield, Jayden Boundry, and Hannah Collard, three local First Nations people, to hear their take on the Strategy and the co-design process behind it.

Priority areas

Priority areas

The Strategy sets out four key priority areas to guide meaningful action and long-term impact.

  • Respecting and celebrating

    We will work with First Nations people to increase the awareness, sustainability and celebration of their heritage, language and cultural expression.

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  • Empowerment, advocacy, and partnership

    We will support advocacy efforts and the empowerment of First Nations peoples to lead and self-manage action in their own interests, with an emphasis on collaboration.

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  • Capacity building

    We will pursue opportunities to support building the capacity of individuals and groups to help address persistent and emerging needs, particularly those within the Closing the Gap - Priority Areas and Targets.

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  • Cultural safety

    We will strengthen cultural safety within our organisation and promote its benefits throughout the community.

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Koort Karnadjil Mya

The meaning of Koort Karnadjil Mya

In the initial workshops the codesign group identified that it was important for them that the First Nations Strategy had a title that was dual-named with the Noongar language and reflected a vision for a way forward with the City and First Nations peoples.

  • Koort

    The Noongar word for Heart and it represents healing and recovery for First Nations peoples. It is used here to acknowledge the collective trauma experienced by the First Nations community alongside the will to build authentic and inclusive relationships that empower this community through self-determination.

  • Karnadjil

    Tthe Noongar word for Truth and it represents the community working with the City to move forward in a genuine manner to create tangible change based on the concerns and cultural knowledge of Fist Nations peoples

  • Mya

    The Noongar word for Voice representing the desire for local First Nations people to work with the City to strengthen and empower the First Nations people of Belmont to be further included and represented.

Creating the Strategy

We invited the community to provide on the draft report from 30 May 2024 to 27 June 2024.

Community members could provide feedback by;

  • completing an online or hard copy survey,
  • submitting feedback in writing via email or post;
  • or contacting our Cultural Engagement team.

During the community feedback period, we had: