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Currie Country Social Change
Our Mission
Currie Country Social Change is a matriarch-led, sovereign First Nations organisation advancing environmental, cultural, and economic justice through Country-led governance.
Guided by ancestral law and grounded in First Nations science, we work with women and communities who hold intergenerational knowledge of living systems, stewardship, and responsibility. Our mission is to restore balance between people, Country, and institutions by embedding Indigenous worldviews into climate action, biodiversity repair, governance, and sustainable economies.
We operate across community, policy, and international spheres, advancing Indigenous-led approaches to nature repair, biodiversity indicators, climate finance, and governance reform. Through culturally grounded, non-hierarchical practice, we support communities to assert sovereignty, exercise jurisdiction, and lead transformative change at local, regional, and global scales.
Currie Country Social Change (CCSC) was founded by descendants of the original custodians of the Tweed and South East Queensland regions — proud members of the Bundjalung Nation and Mibbany language Nations. We are a First Nations–led organisation committed to intergenerational transformation through Country-centred governance, cultural authority, and an ecologically grounded worldview.
Since 2020, CCSC has worked at the forefront of environmental and cultural leadership, contributing to policy development at local, national, and international levels. Our work bridges First Nations knowledge systems with decision-making structures, ensuring that Indigenous law, science, and governance inform responses to climate, biodiversity, and systemic change.
Our work is guided by three interconnected pillars:
Economic Participation
Advancing First Nations economic empowerment through culturally safe, self-determined, and just pathways that strengthen community governance and long-term resilience.
Environmental and Natural Resource Stewardship
Caring for Country through Indigenous-led land and water governance, biodiversity restoration, and the integration of First Nations science with contemporary environmental practice.
Spiritual and Cultural Connection to Country
Recognising Country as a living entity, with rights and responsibilities upheld through cultural governance, law, ceremony, and intergenerational knowledge transmission.
We lead with purpose and collective responsibility, grounded in values of care, kinship, and obligation to Country and future generations. Our work seeks not only to influence policy, but to shift worldviews — affirming Indigenous governance as foundational to environmental justice and sustainable futures.
Currie Country Social Change supports and advocates alongside Aboriginal communities across Northern New South Wales and South East Queensland. We centre cultural authority and community-led solutions, particularly where they strengthen the voices, agency, and circumstances of those most affected by historical and ongoing injustice.
Currie Country Social Change (CCSC) emerged from crisis and care, established in the aftermath of the Black Summer fires on Bundjalung Country in response to the urgent need for a First Nations–led, community-controlled organisation grounded in Country, law, and collective responsibility.
From its inception, CCSC has been shaped by an Aboriginal worldview — one grounded in First Nations sciences, ancestral law, and governance systems that have sustained land, water, and communities for tens of thousands of years. These knowledge systems continue to guide how we protect Country, govern change, and build enduring solutions.
Our purpose is to safeguard and restore environmental, cultural, and economic systems through Indigenous-led governance, self-determined development, and community-based leadership. We work to ensure that First Nations authority is recognised not as advisory, but as foundational to decisions affecting lands, waters, and futures.
Our values are relational and intergenerational. We are accountable to Country, guided by Elders and Ancestors, and committed to the transmission of knowledge, responsibility, and care across generations. Climate justice, cultural continuity, and the exercise of Indigenous jurisdiction are central to our work.
CCSC operates as a First Nations knowledge and policy institution, shaping environmental, cultural, and climate governance across local, national, and international contexts. Our work bridges Country and community with policy, law, and global climate and biodiversity frameworks — translating lived custodianship into systems change.
We advance collective leadership, First Nations science, and matriarchal governance as essential foundations for resilient societies. Our work affirms that enduring solutions emerge when Indigenous knowledge, law, and authority are embedded at the centre of environmental and climate decision-making.
Our People - Our Purpose
Climate Justice Through First Nations Leadership
At Currie Country Social Change, our work is sovereign, strategic, and grounded in place. We are guided by ancestral law, accountable to Country, and led by First Nations women and communities who carry intergenerational responsibility for land, water, and living systems.
We do not respond to crises as isolated events. We work to transform the systems that produce them — advancing long-term, Country-led solutions grounded in First Nations sciences, governance traditions, and cultural authority.
Our approach recognises that climate justice is inseparable from Indigenous jurisdiction, cultural continuity, and the restoration of right relationships between people, Country, and institutions.
How We Work
Our work is shaped by principles that prioritise authority, accountability, and care:
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Cultural authority, not tokenism
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Country-led frameworks, not extractive or imposed metrics
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Matriarchal, non-hierarchical leadership, not top-down control
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Relational accountability, not transactional engagement
These principles guide how we design, govern, and deliver work across all contexts — from local Country to international forums.
Where We Work
We operate at the intersections of culture, law, and systems change, including:
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Policy and governance reform
Engaging across local, state, federal, and international processes, including climate and biodiversity forums. -
Cultural diplomacy and Indigenous leadership
Strengthening First Nations and Pacific matriarchal leadership and advancing Indigenous-led global engagement. -
Country-led environmental stewardship and nature repair
Advancing Indigenous governance in biodiversity restoration, invasive species management, fire and land practices, and emerging environmental and nature repair markets. -
Climate resilience and emergency preparedness
Supporting community-led responses to floods, fires, displacement, and long-term climate adaptation.
The heart of Currie Country
1. Cultural and Environmental Governance
We protect and uphold Indigenous cultural governance systems that care for land, water, and living systems, including totemic relationships, sacred places, and knowledge laws.
Our work strengthens Country-led environmental stewardship by embedding cultural authority and First Nations science into land use planning, conservation, biodiversity protection, and environmental management. Through this work, we support the restoration and protection of ecosystems while maintaining cultural integrity and intergenerational responsibility.
2. Education, Policy, and Systems Literacy
We deliver education and knowledge-sharing that strengthens understanding of First Nations governance, environmental law, and climate systems across community, institutional, and policy contexts.
Our work builds environmental and governance literacy by translating Indigenous knowledge systems into planning, policy, and decision-making processes. This includes educating governments, institutions, and communities on culturally grounded approaches to climate action, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development.
3. Climate Education and International Knowledge Exchange
(Primary DGR category: Education | Supporting: Environment)
We support Indigenous-led climate education and knowledge exchange across Aboriginal Nations and Pacific First Nations, with a focus on women’s leadership and environmental stewardship.
Our engagement in international forums contributes to the sharing of First Nations environmental knowledge, climate adaptation practices, and governance models. This work strengthens global understanding of Indigenous approaches to climate resilience, biodiversity protection, and environmental responsibility.
4. Community-Led Environmental Futures
We work with Traditional Owners and Aboriginal communities to design culturally grounded, environmentally responsible futures for land, housing, infrastructure, biodiversity, and development.
Our work supports community-led environmental planning and education that strengthens local governance capacity, protects Country, and promotes sustainable, climate-resilient outcomes informed by Indigenous law and knowledge systems.
At Currie Country Social Change, we lead with Country — accountable to it, governed by it, and guided by its law.
We are a matriarch-led, sovereign First Nations organisation working across Bundjalung Country and the Mibbin language chain, and in collaboration with other Aboriginal Nations, to strengthen cultural governance, protect land and waters, and advance climate and environmental justice through Indigenous-led systems change.
Our work is grounded in an Aboriginal worldview and draws on First Nations sciences, ancestral law, and Indigenous diplomacy to shape enduring, Country-centred futures. We operate at the intersection of culture, law, environment, and governance — translating lived custodianship into policy, practice, and structural reform.
We do not operate as a service provider.
We work to transform systems.
Our role is not to replace government, but to re-centre Indigenous law, authority, and self-determination within the decisions that shape land, water, climate, and community futures.
We design and advance long-term, Country-led pathways that honour sovereignty, strengthen governance, and uphold responsibility to present and future generations.