The Jack Thompson Foundation believes that Indigenous Australians in homelands need to build and own their own homes and infrastructure:
JTF’s mission is to help communities achieve this aim using “the living ground” ¬– the natural resource materials they have to hand in their own homelands. The ‘Living Ground’, refers to the natural resources that are available ‘On Country”, that can be used in c
onstruction of buildings. This could be for example: surface stone, timber, gravel or sand and clay for rammed earth structures. The ‘Living Ground’, is the key to culturally appropriate work and ongoing employment outcomes. The ‘Living Ground’ has sustained the local Indigenous populations for over 40,000 years. The Jack Thompson Foundation Way:
The 'Jack Thompson Foundation Way' is a two-way concept, the "Living ground” and “Two-way learning” the use of these concepts in all we do ensures respect and preservation of cultural values, both in the project community and in the country as a whole. We achieve this through -
- Two-Way Learning
- Discovering our common humanity
- Living & Learning together
- Respecting and Learning the Aboriginal way
- Individual respect
- Respect for law
- Respect elders
- Respect for family
- Our knowledge has to be relevant
- Our knowledge has to be presented to fit into an Aboriginal worldview
- Our knowledge has to fit into their belief systems
The Foundation ensures success of the projects it facilitates by following these guidelines and encouraging local aboriginal people to have ownership of their own projects.
