Walangeri Ngumpinku Aboriginal Corporation

As we near the end of the wet season, travellers are advised the road between Timber Creek and Yarralin is in rough condition. With the big wet this year, rivers in some places are backed up which means rainfall can see creeks rise quickly.

The road itself has multiple washed out areas, including some bridge damage at Surprise Creek (now repaired). Take it slowly (40 – 60km/h) – especially if you’re unfamiliar with the road – and expect to encounter puddles of water.

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The road is certainly 4wd only and those travelling to Yarralin are recommended to have a good set of mud tyres. The road between Sandy Creek and Yarralin itself is quite churned up and muddy. Pick what looks like the driest path, try and avoid the deeper ruts, and you should be fine.

Sandy Creek itself has been up and down all season this year. If you do reach it and it’s too high (usually above 0.6 meters), you may wish to wait for the creek to drop before attempting crossing (although this may take a few hours, if not a day).

AIG came out to see how our store was going today. Walangeri Ngumpinku contract AIG to manage our store. The visit included a walk-through of the store with Directors, and our new Managers Shannon and Jess, talking about the items on sale and identifying any issues.

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The visit included a clothing give away and BBQ for community members and concluded with governance training held at at our local office.

For those thinking of travelling to Yarralin by road for the next few months, you may wish to call ahead to make sure you can get here. Constant rain for the last 3 days has seen the rivers rise, with Sandy Creek crossing currently at 1.1M deep and flowing steadily. Attempting to cross is not recommended.

Walangeri Ngumpinku are pleased to announce Samantha Campbell has been elected as Chair at our recent AGM and Board meeting held on the 1st December, delayed by a day due to sorry business.

We congratulate Sam on her appointment and look forward to an exciting new year with all our elected Directors. John de Koning was also re-appointed as a non-Member Director, with the Board welcoming his advice and input.

Our newly elected Directors are as follows:

• Samantha Campbell (Chair)
• Selina Campbell (Deputy Chair)
• Brian Pedwell
• Brian Darby
• Colin Campbell
• Wesley Campbell
• Johnny Dan
• Sharatine Campbell
• John de Koning (non-Member Director)

We also held a meeting to discuss the creation of Kyang-Kyang Aboriginal Corporation. A subsidiary that will look after our Yarralin Community Store. The following members were elected to be the inaugural Directors of Kyang-Kyang:

• Selina Campbell (Chair)
• Johnny Dan (Deputy Chair)
• Sharatine Campbell
• Wesley Campbell
• Brian Darby

The Board are also pleased to announce that Martin Schahinger has been appointed the CEO of Kyang-Kyang. There will be a lot of work as we transition the Yarralin Community Store from Walangeri Ngumpinku and over to Kyang-Kyang, but this structure will provide us with a clear separation for accounts and other purposes.

Ngarinyman Bush Soap is a local business venture started with some grant funding a few years ago. Local community harvest wild native plants and turn them into soap and other body care products. With the support of Walangeri Ngumpinku, the soap is now re-entering production.

Photos above show harvesting Dimilan and Bardigi plants,
our soap labels, and the finished soaps.

Each different variety of soap has a natural and unique colour and smell and has: No SLS, SLES, Palm Oil, and is Stearic Acid free. We’re currently working with Tanya Egerton of Circulanation about taking production to the next level.

We hope to have pricing, ordering details, and other information available soon. For now, you can follow us on Facebook.

The NLC visited community today to talk about a number of upcoming leases and section 19 applications for Yarralin.

Later that day, they joined our Board meeting to discuss the community’s interest in township leasing.

It’s voting time again, with polling officials setup at our community store today.

A steady stream of voters has been going through all morning. The polling booth will be open until 1 pm, before moving onto the next remote community.

The local community store at Yarralin returned to community ownership today. From now, owned by Walangeri Ngumpinku Aboriginal Corporation, representing the Yarralin community and managed by AIG.

You can watch some of the speeches from today below.

We’d like to thank everyone involved, especially Victoria Daly Regional Council and the team from AIG – Steve, Dominic, Carol, and our new Store Managers Scott and Hine, who all worked hard to make the transition happen. Not forgetting One Tree Community Services who provided the salad.

Laurie and Wes from the Aboriginal Government Management Program came to community today to meet the Board and help us with decisions around our management structure.

We’ve been using video conferencing during the COVID-19 lockdown, which allowed AGMP to run some workshops in April focussed on understanding financial reports.

Today was about Walangeri Ngumpinku taking over management of the community store. Laurie and Wes worked with the Board to help us understand our options and make the choice that is right for Walangeri.

We’d like to thank Laurie and Wes and the team from AGMP.

Katherine West Health visited community today to talk to community about COVID-19.

They spoke about the actions they were taking, including stopping travel to community for anyone who had been overseas until they’re sure they’re safe. They also discussed the importance of:

• Washing your hands with soap,
• If you are sick, stay home away from other people
• Cough into your elbow or a tissue, put your tissue straight into the bin and then wash your hands
• Try to keep your hands away from your face.
• Don’t share drinks or smokes.

We thank them for coming to community and explaining the current situation.