Healing on Country: Bringing Wiradjuri voices and wisdom into healthcare
20 audio journeys, two videos and a cultural burn soundscape. Created with community, for community, and now available through health services across the Murrumbidgee.
A hospital bed. A pair of headphones. A voice from Country, inviting a patient to slow down, listen and connect, without having to leave the room.
Or a health worker taking someone outdoors, using that same voice to guide an experience of connection beside a river, beneath a tree or in a local wetland.
These are some of the possibilities behind Healing on Country, a new collection of nature-based wellbeing experiences developed with communities across Wiradjuri Country, now available through Murrumbidgee Local Health District, including Wagga Wagga and Tumut Hospitals.
Created by community, grounded in Country
The project grew through extensive consultation and exceptionally strong community engagement with Elders, Aboriginal health workers, clinicians, schools, community leaders and young people from Tumut, Brungle and Wagga Wagga.
Together, they have created 20 audio-guided experiences, two videos and (coming soon) a remarkable soundscape of a cultural burn by Dean Freeman.
Each experience brings together local voices, cultural perspectives and practices for connecting with Country to support wellbeing, belonging, resilience and healing.
At the heart of many of these recordings is a powerful Wiradjuri concept: Yindyamarra.
Yindyamarra: A different way of connecting
Yindyamarra is a recurring theme across the collection, shared by several knowledge holders, including Aunty Cheryl Penrith, Troy Pietsch, Aunty Sue and Winnie Bulger.
It's something patients and staff are being encouraged to re-connect with to support their wellbeing.
The journeys invite listeners to breathe with the rhythm of Country, awaken their senses, recognise trees and other living things as kin, listen for what animals are communicating, practice cultural protocols of respect and welcoming, and find comfort and guidance through connection with Ancestors.
Aunty Winne and Aunty Sue Bulger at the Sounds of the Mountains Studio in Tumut.
These aren't simply relaxation recordings. They are invitations to develop a deeper, more respectful relationship with the living world.
From hospital beds to walks on Country
Healing on Country has been designed to work in different healthcare and community settings.
Patients can listen from a hospital bed, while clinicians and allied health workers can use the activities in rehabilitation, mental health support and community wellbeing programs.
Aboriginal community organisations and other support services can also take people directly onto Country, using the recordings to guide shared experiences outdoors.
NatureFix has also established digital Nature Wellness Trails around Wagga Wagga and Tumut, including local parks and wetlands. The app uses geolocation to connect visitors with activities at these places, making it easier to engage with Country where they are.
Sharing the experience more widely
One of the most generous outcomes of the project is that many contributors have agreed to share their recordings beyond the local health services.
Selected experiences are now available in the First Nations collection in the NatureFix app, giving people across Australia and beyond an opportunity to listen, learn and explore their own relationship with nature through these perspectives.
You can try the collection by downloading NatureFix from the Apple App Store or Google Play, activating the 7-day free trial, and selecting First Nations.
Subscriptions help support ongoing payments to the Indigenous voice artists who have shared their knowledge and recordings.
For local health and community workers: The full Healing on Country collection is available through a dedicated private website. Health services and community organizations working on Wiradjuri Country can contact us @ NatureFix or the MLHD at Wagga Wagga and Tumut to arrange access.
A genuine collaboration
Healing on Country is a joint initiative between Murrumbidgee Local Health District, NatureFix, Tumut Brungle Local Aboriginal Land Council and communities across Tumut, Brungle and Wagga Wagga.
The project draws on NatureFix's and Murrimbidgee Local Health districts team's decades of experience working alongside First Nations communities, combining cultural understanding with evidence-informed nature connection practices. A huge thanks to Jenni Wines, Jacinta Perrin , Vivianna Pianelli, Nigel Smith, and Anna Dunbar for the hundreds of hours of in-kind support.
Cultural and Intellectual Property remains with the Cultural Knowledge Holders.
Our sincere thanks to HumeLink West (CPB & UGL) and the NED Foundation for their generous funding support.
And most importantly, to the Elders, knowledge holders, community leaders, young people and health workers who have shared their time, wisdom and voices.
Healing on Country is a demonstration of what becomes possible when healthcare makes space for community knowledge, cultural leadership and the healing relationships between people and Country.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers and listeners are advised that the associated recordings and images may contain voices or images of people who have died.