*Walbunja and Plumwood Inc members gather to celebrate the landback at a small ceremony on the Mountain (photo credit: Plumwood Inc.)*

We have some very exciting news to share. On the 8th of September 2024, Plumwood Mountain was handed back to traditional custodians, the Walbunja peoples of the Yuin Nation.

**Read more on the ABC News website:** **https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-24/val-plumwood-estate-handed-back-to-walbunja-traditional-owners/104384170**

While the title of Plumwood Mountain has been officially transferred to the Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council (BBLALC), Plumwood Inc. will continue on as the tenants of BBLALC, managing Val’s former residence and gardens on Plumwood Mountain under a 99-year lease.

The current Plumwood Inc. committee’s unanimous decision to hand back the 120-hectare property to the BBLALC comes after reflecting on the colonial positionality of our organisation and the practices of environmental and cultural heritage conservation in Australia. This decision was not made lightly but is the result of consultations with Plumwood Inc. advisory members, deep discussion about Val’s own vision, legacy, and radical politics, and wider First Peoples calls for land justice.

After the 2019/2020 Black Summer Fires, Plumwood committee members began to build relationships with the Batemans Bay Local Aboriginal Land Council (BBLALC) and their Walbunja Rangers, a program that employs local Indigenous youth to care for Country to facilitate the healing of both people and Country. Drawing on hybrid land management strategies such as cultural burning and feral species management, the Walbunja Rangers are an amazing group who recently received the Marie Byles Award for the most inspiring community action initiative at the 2024 Nature Conservation Council NSW Environment Awards.

*BBLALC CEO Rosyln Carriage, Chairperson Meryl Crole, and Walbunja Ranger Andy White discuss the significance of the handback (photo credit: Lauren Burrow).*

*PM president Affrica Taylor and BBLALC CEO Rosyln Carriage discuss the landback process (photo credit: Lauren Burrow).*

This unique arrangement marks the beginning of a new chapter for both Plumwood Mountain and Plumwood Inc: re-centring Plumwood Mountain’s Indigenous heritage and futures whilst transforming the role and objectives of our organisation (see the plumwood.org/plumwood-inc and plumwood.org/plumwood-inc-objectives pages for more detail). We look forward to working together with the BBLALC to care for Plumwood Mountain with the shared vision that eco-cultural change must start with decolonisation, and that environmental justice is inexorable from Indigenous justice in this country.

The BBLALC and Plumwood Inc. celebrated this momentous landback with a small party on the 22nd September on the Mountain. Members of Plumwood and Walbunja communities came together on a sunny afternoon to share ideas for the future and pay respect to those who have paved the way for this moment. Two Banksias were planted in the garden by younger members of each group, and as the small shrubs begin to flourish, so may Plumwood Mountain under the care of the Walbunja.

*BBLALC Chairperson Meryl Crole helps plant the banksias (photo credit: Lauren Burrow).*

*Walbunja man, Peter, helps plant a banksia (photo credit: Lauren Burrow).*

*PM caretaker Ruby Kammoora helps plant a banksia (photo credit: Lauren Burrow).*

*Val's living legacy of waratahs joined in on the celebrations (photo credit: Lauren Burrow).*

Or via Braidwood’s Changing Times (below)

Plumwood Mountain handed back to traditional custodians: historic landback and new partnership

PRESS RELEASE - “Historic Landback: Heritage-listed private property handed back to Aboriginal community.”