Gascoyne's Yinggarda people's joint management agreement with the WA Government has expanded the Mundatharrda (Kennedy Range) National Park, created the new Bimbee National Park, and helped breathe new life into the small township of Gascoyne Junction.
Through these partnerships, new jobs have been created, providing opportunities for Yinggarda people to care for their Country and share their deep cultural knowledge.
Yinggarda people now have a stronger voice in how their land is managed, with new conservation projects and tourism infrastructure already taking shape; and even bigger plans for the region's future.
Yinggarda Traditional Owner Renee Turner stressed the fundamental importance of caring for Country.
"We are nothing without Country. Country is us. So being able to have a say and be a part of and work together on this Country is vitally important to who we are as people," she said.
"It means a lot to me to be walking alongside Parks and Wildlife... Because I know that the westernised science, and our ancestral science, there's so many connections there. We just got to marry them up, but they're there.
"I'm excited for the future. seeing where this goes. Only good things can come - it's being protected. And again, most importantly, we have the opportunity to share and keep our culture alive. We have the opportunity to do that through these pristine places and spaces."
Joint Management Body chair Tracey Tonga said joint management "means a lot to myself, and not only for myself, but for our people, the Yinggarda people, where we can work in collaboration with the government and the Traditional Owners of the land in which we're working on".
"(We) preserve, educate and learn from each other - from an Aboriginal side and a white side," she said.
Joint Management coordinator Josh Woods said there is now a work centre established in Gascoyne Junction and an operational team made up of the four Yinggarda rangers on the ground.
"There is a senior ranger and operations officer also as support staff, working in helping the Yinggarda rangers through all their training," he said.
Yinggarda Assistant Ranger Lesley Snowball said "Working on a place where my ancestors would be and still are is incredible".
"I feel connected spiritually and physically as well, because I just get to walk on this land where they could have travelled also," she said.
"And the opportunity to be maintaining it with DBCA makes me feel very happy with myself, and just proud of where I come from and what I'm doing, because I'm helping my land and it lets me see these beautiful moments and places every single day when I go out there," she said.
Yinggarda Elder Kath Ryan said the collaboration gives Yinggarda people "a lot more say in how we'd like to see things being done on our Country".
"Allowing us to know that Wadjela people, or white people, recognise and acknowledge that this is our Country where our forefathers walked," she said.
