Community & Advocacy
“KALACC is sometimes called on to act for people and communities in matters of justice, community issues, and issues of cultural sensitivity.”
In these matters, KALACC provides a mediation or advocacy role. For instance people for whom English is not their first language can use the KALACC office and staff to access services that might otherwise be inaccessible.
KALACC is committed towards increasing the level of understanding of Kimberley Culture within the broader Australian community. KALACC seeks to improve the awareness of culture through development and research partnerships with the Nulungu Research Institute, Murdoch University, the University of Melbourne, the University of Woolongong and with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation.
KALACC has published a number of works which provide insight in to the cultures of the Kimberley. These titles are as follows:
- New Legend, a Story of Law and Culture and the Fight for Self Determination in the Kimberley. This is our major publication. It is a 214 page long coffee table style book that provides a detailed insight in to Kimberley culture and in to KALACC as an organization. Short listed for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards;
- Yirra, http://www.magabala.com/yirra-land-law-and-language.html An account of the diversity of Aboriginal culture and ceremony in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. With b/w and colour photographs.
- Rapa Rapa, http://www.magabala.com/raparapa-stories-of-the-fitzroy-drovers-newedition.html New Edition The determination of senior Nyikina lawman, John Watson, to present an Aboriginal perspective has produced personal stories that show how these hardworking men adapted to station life and why they became the backbone of the pastoral industry in northern Western Australia
- A Town is Born, http://www.magabala.com/a-town-is-born.html In the course of a couple of years the township of Fitzroy Crossing in the remote Kimberley changed from a tiny frontier outpost, to a refugee camp with hundreds of people living in fringe camps in third world conditions. From this maelstrom a unique community emerged, with a strong ethos of cooperation and support amongst the various peoples of the Fitzroy Valley.
Each of these works is available for purchase at Magabala Books http://www.magabala.com