Led by Westport’s Noongar Advisory Group, Westport is developing a Noongar Opportunities Strategy to ensure Noongar culture, heritage and connections to country are integrated in planning for the future terminal. Going forward, Westport will also be collaborating with our Noongar Advisory and Aboriginal Economic Opportunities Groups to identify potential future initiatives to increase employment, procurement, and training opportunities beyond the Stage 3 Planning Program.
Westport’s Noongar Opportunities Strategy will be informed by three strategic pillars: Boodja, Kartajin and Boya.
Boodja means country, and in Westport’s Noongar Opportunities Strategy refers to cultural and environmental connections. This includes connecting songlines, cultural mapping and the communication of cultural knowledge. Projects within this strategic pillar will also seek to integrate Noongar cultural knowledge with Westport’s environmental research program.
Kartajin is the Noongar word for knowledge, and this strategic pillar aims to create opportunities to embed cultural knowledge within Westport. Kartajin projects will seek to collaborate with the community to capture cultural knowledge, including cultural training for Westport staff and contractors, and the integration of culture and heritage into design and environmental management.
The Boya (or money) pillar will focus on economic and capacity building within the community. One aspect of this will be engaging Aboriginal businesses as the project progresses. The other aspect focuses on building capability, so the future workforce is ready to step into the new opportunities created by Westport.
This article featured in the September 2022 edition of Westport's Navigate newsletter.
