TRADITIONAL Owners have vowed to intensify Country's healing with an energy blueprint inspired by worldviews that should never have been marginalised.
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They hope the renewables strategy will place the Dja Dja Wurrung deeper in the heart of care for Djandak, or "Country" in English.
The mob unveiled its plan on Wednesday, at a time when people are increasingly comfortable talking about the past injustices that forced Indigenous people out of their roles as custodians.
"I know in mentioning it, there's uncomfortableness for others, but our Ancestors were disrespected by those who came to our homelands," Dja Dja Wurrung Group chief executive Rodney Carter told those gathered.
"There was no value or beauty seen in the Old People and the knowledge they had."
Those ways can now make everyone's lives better, Mr Carter said.
Nyauwi Mutjeka will help 'keep the sun'
Mr Carter says the new strategy will help guide the Dja Dja Wurrung and hold it accountable as it makes its green energy shift.
Its name, Nyauwi Mutjeka, means "to keep the sun" and hints at one of the key ideas in the document: harnessing solar energy.
Djaara - the Dja Dja Wurrung's registered Aboriginal Party - is now planning a host of changes including to its fleet of vehicles and ways to help people make transitions in their homes.
"For whatever reason, people find it hard to make that first step and get the benefits from programs for renewable energy, so the Dja Dja Wurrung's going to invest in our people, if they want to have a more climate conscious home," he said.
RACV Solar is among Djaara's renewable energy partners and is planning to launch a slew of Indigenous apprenticeships on Djandak soon, the group's residential general manager Liz Greenback said.
"There's so much opportunity here for job creation, to build knowledge, to upskill and to work towards self-determination in this space," she said.
One step towards 'energy justice' for Indigenous peoples
Djaara has already used a state government grant geared to slash greenhouse gas emissions to finance a solar system at its Forest Street offices.
Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio lauded it for its leadership and said "energy justice" was critical for Cultural healing.
"This is an historic renewable energy strategy and solar project, set to slash energy bills and emissions while advancing self-determination and economic independence," she said.
Djaara general manager Cassandra Lewis thanked artists Daikota Nelson and Natasha Carter for the artwork they contributed to the strategy document.
Ms Carter's work depicts Nyauwi, the woman in Dja Dja Wurrung lore who is the spirit of the sun. Ms Nelson's represents energy connecting.
Ms Lewis also thanked everyone who had helped shape the strategy including children and young adults.
"It was essential the children had a voice on the matters that affect them and we know renewable energy and climate action is everyone's business," she said.
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Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
