The Returning Indigenous Corporation

Our programs aren’t just services - they’re pathways back to cultural connection, community healing, and right relationship with Country. From Elder retreats that honor our knowledge keepers, to postpartum support that wraps new mothers in care, to language classes that keep our voices alive - every program we run strengthens the threads that bind our community together. This is healing through culture. This is community care in action. Ready to be part of it? Swipe to learn more

We’re The Returning Indigenous Corporation - an Indigenous-led, women-centered organisation creating culturally-safe spaces for healing and connection on Bundjalung Country. Our mission is simple: bring all people back into right relationship with self, community, and Country. We do this through circular leadership, community care, and programs that honor both cultural wisdom and modern needs. This is who we are. This is how we work. This is why we exist. Swipe to learn more about our approach

Colonial systems weren’t designed for us to thrive. They were built to extract, control, and keep us small. Every program we run, every space we hold, every decision we make is intentionally designed to counter colonial systems that harm Indigenous people, mothers, and women. We’re not trying to fit into existing structures - we’re creating new ones based on our values, our ways of being, and our understanding of what true wellbeing looks like. This isn’t about excluding others - it’s about creating spaces where those who’ve been most disenfranchised can finally breathe, heal, and remember their power.

We’re officially beginning the setup of our Bundjalung Bush Food Nursery and we want you to be part of it! Uncle Mark is stepping into his role as Nursery Manager, and we’re taking the first physical steps toward making this vision reality. Join us for a community working bee where we’ll prepare the nursery space together through site preparation, infrastructure setup, soil preparation, and land care work. This isn’t just about getting tasks done, it’s about community building and contributing directly to something that will create Indigenous employment, preserve cultural knowledge, and strengthen our connection to Country. -Monday, May 25th -Conscious Ground, Myocum -9am arrival for 9:30am start -Lunch provided (organic meat & vegetarian options) -Finish approximately 2pm We’re calling on all available staff, volunteers, community supporters, and extended networks to come together for this important day. Whether you can dig, organise, clean, or simply be present - there’s a role for everyone. Spots are limited so we need people to sign up in advance. This is your chance to help build the future of Indigenous-led solutions on Bundjalung Country. Ready to get your hands dirty for a good cause? Link in bio to RSVP.

Important update: Kids Caring for Country, Guyahyn Playgroup, Aboriginal Family Support , Kinship Festival and Bunyarabugalma Wellbeing are now officially part of The Returning Indigenous Corporation. This transition was led by the Aboriginal women who’ve been delivering this vital work for years. They chose to bring their programs into an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation to ensure they remain held in culture, on Country, and within community. We came together for a blessing ceremony to honor our new beginnings. We made fire, shared smoking ceremony, sat in respect circle, built a gunyah representing the collective mother, and danced together. This is how we mark important transitions - with culture, ceremony, and community. This is more than a transition it’s a strengthening of community-led care and a rejection of colonial competition in favour of cooperation and collaboration. We look forward to sharing more details on the programs with you soon. Buglebeh

For two weeks only, you can win incredible prizes while supporting an Indigenous-led community program. We’ve partnered with amazing local businesses to offer luxury stays, fashion, wellness experiences, and so much more. Every raffle ticket purchased directly supports our project to establish a Bundjalung Bush Food Nursery that will provide training, education, and employment for our Mob. This is your chance to win big while making a difference. Raffle runs for two weeks only, so don’t miss out! Link in bio to enter now. Tickets on sale Monday 18th May. Raffle closes 1st June

Grateful for my people. Grateful for my tribe. Yesterday was a day of deep reconnection — a weaving back together of story, knowledge, and belonging. A day where our next generation stood shoulder to shoulder with a Bundjalung Elder and knowledge holders, learning not just about Country, but from Country. Listening to the old ways, feeling them in practice, in rhythm, in silence, in laughter. A beautiful coming together through @the_returning_ Bundjalung bush food program, alongside @nidala.barker @intuitivefooddesign and @consciousground — spaces where food is more than food. It is memory. It is medicine. It is responsibility. Welcomed in the most beautiful way by the one and only Aunty Danza, we spent the day cooking, yarning, sharing — as First Nations women have always done. On Country. Around food. Around truth. We made mandarin and native ginger marmalade, the fruit picked only moments before from Country — still carrying the warmth of where it grew. We created a flourless mandarin marmalade and native ginger cake, simple, honest, and full of story. And a macadamia butter chicken with aniseed myrtle rice — nourishing, fragrant, and grounded in the flavours of this place. Yum, but more than yum… it was connection on a plate. This is matriarchy in motion. Not something new. Something ancient being remembered. Women holding knowledge systems. Women holding language, food, and spirit. Women holding the line so the next generation can walk stronger, deeper, more connected than the last. There is something powerful about watching young women connect with Country — not as separate worlds, but as one continuous story. This is what it means to come home to culture. This is what it means to return to Country. This is what it means to be held by our old ways — and to carry them forward. Forever grateful. #nativefood #bundjalung #firstnations #ironcladco #consciousground

For us, this has always been about remembering. Remembering that food is care. That nourishment is not just physical, it’s emotional, cultural, ancestral. It’s the quiet ways we show up for each other - especially for mothers stepping into one of the most tender, transformative times of their lives. With The Returning, we’re honouring that postpartum window the way it was always meant to be held - with softness, with rest, with community wrapped tightly around it. Partnering with @ironcladco feels deeply aligned. For every purchase between now and Mother’s Day, one is gifted to a mother in our Mother Care program. This is about more than giving. It’s about restoring. Reconnecting. Returning.

In our culture, food has always been more than something we eat - it’s how we care for one another. It’s how we nourish, how we connect, and how we hold our mothers, especially in those first moments of bringing new life into the world. Through The Returning, we create space for women in that postpartum time. A time our elders knew should be wrapped in care, in rest, in community... not isolation. We’re proud to partner with @ironcladco to bring this vision to life. Between now and Mother’s Day, every Ironclad piece purchased means one is placed into the hands of a mother in our Mother Care program. Cast iron naturally adds iron to your food - giving new mothers the extra nutrition they need during postpartum recovery. Each piece becomes more than cookware. It becomes a vessel for nourishment, a symbol of support, a continuation of cultural care practices. This is how we return to what we’ve always known. Cooking care back into community. Buy one → Give one → Strengthen a mother, a family, a community. Shop with intention - support a mother’s journey.

Camp brings us back to connection, back to family, back to country and back to kin. We find healing in country. Five days in the bush, no WiFi connection just fire, friends and family connection. Creating community and being the change we wanna see in the world. Biggest Bugelbeh to our incredible Blak facilitators Uncle Mark Cora Aunty Deidre Currie Kylie Caldwell Indira Arnold Camille Noter Kyra Togo Yami Currie Mudjai Eve White Jahvis Loveday & mob and Angel White Bugelbeh to our volunteer core crew who make these camps possible through their dedication to their roles. Bugelbeh to our scholarship and ticket holders who chose to take up this space created for rest and reconnection. And lastly, Bugelbeh to our jarjum who are the reason we continue these programs. We budgera whalu. Apply for a full scholarship for our September mob and Pacifica only camp

This quarter we completed our 6th round of the Doobai Bundjalung Bush Food Program, and the impact continues to ripple through our communities. We’ve created employment for 9 women to share their cultural knowledge while being fairly compensated. Through our partnership with TAFE NSW, 15 Aboriginal teens earned nationally recognised qualifications in food safety and barista training - but that’s just the beginning. What makes this program different is that we don’t separate culture from industry. Cultural knowledge sits alongside practical skills. Participants learn to process lomandra and weave, conduct Acknowledgments of Country, understand ochre’s ceremonial role, and work with native foods and pollinators. The real achievement? The shift in confidence, identity, and belonging. Young women who came carrying uncertainty about their place in education and industry have left with renewed pride - not only in their skills, but in the value of their cultural knowledge. Bush foods are living knowledge systems that hold stories of place and care for Country. By embedding this understanding into hospitality training, we ensure that as native foods gain global attention, our people are leading and protecting the integrity of our knowledge. 66 Aboriginal girls engaged. 9 returning as peer teachers. Sisterhood built. Space reclaimed. This is how we ensure our knowledge stays in our hands.

The Returning is one of only 1% of Indigenous charities across Australia with DGR (Deductible Gift Recipient) status. This isn’t just a fancy title - it’s a game-changer for how you can support our work. When you donate to us, it’s tax deductible, which means: - More money back in your hands at tax time - More money in our account to support communities -Less money going to government systems that often fail us Your donation becomes a win-win-win situation. You get financial benefits, we get sustainable funding, and our communities get the support they deserve. This rare status means your support goes further and costs you less. When you redirect your tax dollars from government to grassroots Indigenous-led solutions, you’re putting money where it creates real change. Ready to make your money work harder for community healing? Every dollar you donate reduces your taxable income while directly funding programs that transform lives. Link in bio to donate and reduce your tax bill while supporting Indigenous-led change.