The pursuit of happiness, knowledge and a long life, lie at the heart of all human activity. At the same time, there is a strong desire for security. What gives security more than material wealth is identity; knowing who we are and what is our relationship to everything at all levels of existence, the physical, the mental and the spiritual.
The discovering of this identity and the unfolding of these relationships can, and perhaps should, occupy much of our time. As Indigenous people, for we are all Indigenous to planet Earth, we have the opportunities to connect with this identity and these relationships at the place and in the communities in which we live, even though our ancestral roots may lie elsewhere. So, many of us find ourselves living in the place and surrounds we now call Wagga Wagga within Wiradjuri Country.
To come to know and connect with this place, as individuals we can seek merely to be curious or to take an objective or scientific approach in our quest for knowledge. Or, we can choose to deepen this development of a sense of place, this connectedness, which can then be made useful to the whole community.
Despite major physical modification, made especially since European settlement, this place, this land, this Country, retains an identity of its own which is eternal, deep and subtle.
The original carers of this Country, Wiradjuri people, evolved a cultural relationship very much in accord with the physical and spiritual qualities of this place.
The notion of caring for Country was the basis for much of traditional Wiradjuri existence as indeed it was elsewhere.