Stacie Piper
2022 Cohort
Stacie is facilitating community voices, connecting past and present and highlighting the continuity and importance of cultural values; empowering community to care for country and heal trauma.
Stacie is a Wurundjeri, Dja Dja Wurrung and Ngurai Illum Wurrung person. She is First Nations Curator, TarraWarra Museum of Art – a gallery on Wurundjeri Country, which curates the stories of the First Peoples of South East Australia.
She has focused on promoting the voices of Aboriginal people in South East Australia, for many years now, ‘we are still here and we have a great deal of cultural values and knowledge to share.’ In this work, she sees her key role as that of storyteller and story facilitator, connecting past and present and allowing their continuity to be visible. The clans she is genealogically connected to are a part of the Central Victorian Clans of the Kulin Nation. She aims to bring the stories of caring for Country and healing community to the surface. As the rights and responsibilities of First Peoples, these have never ceased.
The First Peoples of South East Australia are all closely connected through kinship, songlines, waterlines, and the land itself. This inherent knowledge links them through deep time, making them instrumental in leading the way to sustaining the balance of Country for generations. Their values and knowledge are embedded in culture, and she loves to share this, and encourage all who call this place home to become more connected.
“I am driven to empower people to care for Country, maintain strong connections to our natural environment and help heal our communities.”
Social change work
Stacie’s social change project aims to connect community to Country, to celebrate the un-severed connection to culture and to embrace those living off their country. First Nations people of Victoria are part of communities and ancestral stories that extend through deep time. The region is experiencing serious ecosystem decline due to the over extraction of natural resources and loss of habitat for native animals, which are impacting the health of the planet. She believes it’s important to amplify the voices of First Nations in a culturally appropriate way, and to create spaces where we can establish strong kinship - to gather, to heal community, to heal Country.