Jirra Lulla Harvey (Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri)
Who are you and where do you come from?
My name is Jirra Lulla, I am a Yorta Yorta / Wiradjuri woman born in the Dandenongs and raised in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. I have a small business called Kalinya Communications. I started it five years ago because I wanted to share positive stories about our culture. I believe the world would be a better place if more people knew, respected and had access to Indigenous knowledge. Indigenous knowledge shows us how to look after the environment, take care of our wellbeing holistically – both our spirit and body - and how to interact in a connected way. For fun I travel and go on adventures. I love tropical places and staying in small villages and I like to go bush walking in Victoria once a month to explore new landscapes and have time with my friends that’s out of phone range, so we can have good, big catch ups.
Tell us what growing up was like for you?
I had a very creative upbringing, my Mum always had artist friends and we would sit around the kitchen table or in our garden talking about art and politics. She loves animals and as a kid I had pet chickens, rabbits, guineapigs, dogs, cats, horses and even a magpie. Dad has run a Koorie organisation my whole life, so I have learnt so much about work from him, sometimes I will be in meetings and things pop out of my mouth and I think, OMG was that me or Dad talking?!
Who are the women that inspire you?
I was named after my nanny Lulla, so she is always my biggest inspiration. She raised her 14 kids on missions and fringe camps moving from place to place to escape the welfare. She raised them to believe in the power of education, of looking after one another and giving back to community and now she has over 600 descendants – imagine leaving that legacy in the world! My mum has been a big inspiration in my life; she set up some of the first women’s refuges and is such a fierce believer in social justice.
What does self-determination mean to you?
It means freedom and choice for us to the live the lives we want. I think all Koories are fighting for self-determination in their own ways. I found my freedom through small business; it has given me power to work in the ways I believe in and to travel around the country learning from lots of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
What does NAIDOC Week mean to you?
It is our time to celebrate who we are. There’s a lot of focus on the challenges we face as Aboriginal people and the colonial history we have endured. To celebrate and have a good time doesn’t mean ignoring the hardships or not paying respect to the fights that have come before us or those we lost along the way. For me celebrating our strengths means acknowledging the hardships and our ability to keep going, through all of it we have maintained connections and culture and the best sense of humour around. I love having a week dedicated to celebrating everything that is great about our communities.
Can you please tell us about the work you do in Community?
At the moment I am working to set up gatherings for Koorie small business owners or people interested in starting businesses. I am focused on the businesses that approach things in really uniquely Aboriginal ways, whether that be through employing lots of Koories, working on country, sharing culture – people are doing such cool things – and I would love for us to have a space to come together and learn from each other. Until I started working in this area I had no idea how many businesses are out there, and how much we can buy and exchange within our own communities. The next thing I would like to do is work with Koorie orgs to see what goods and services they need and if we can create Koorie owned businesses to supply them.
What future would you hope for young Aboriginal women?
I am really lucky to hang out with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency Narrun Yana Art Collective whenever I am in Melbourne. They are a group of young women who inspire me all the time. I want to see a future that nurtures them in all the ways they need to be creative, healthy and happy women living self-determined and free lives.