Corporate Kinship

Barunga Statement, left side painted by Dula Ngurruwutthun

Much achieved in this world is done by networks of people with capacity to co-create. Perhaps they come together payed within some corporate structure but networks also form more organically as disparate communities. The network that is knowledge water, although unique, can be replicated with appropriate attention to detail. Here are a few key ingredients.

Indigenous Business Development Knowledge Water meeting in early stages

Knowledge Water is the coming together of three previous discrete networks. This has made the development not only possible but almost inevitable. One network is the Yolngu one centred around the family at Mandjawuy and explicitly mapped through Gurruthu, the yolngu kinship system. Significantly within this network there are individuals past and present with both capacity and expectation to influence the future. The left hand side of the Baranga Statement was painted by Dula Ngurruwutthun and the whale motif at the bottom represents his country, Yarrinya, where members of the Knowledge Water network can be seen hunting below.

Walking next to the spring fed rainforest that also supplies Knowledge Water

There have been several crossovers with Australian educational and academic networks but this connection with the Australian business network is the critical new dimension.

Elelevencom & Mandjawuy community hunting at Yarrinya

Knowledge Water comprises of the Mandjawuy network connection with a Sydney business network and another of expatriate professional Tasmanians. The connection between Rod Baker and Elevencom can be identified as the moment where a critical mass of capacity and conviction was achieved.

Networks are woven and evolve and moments of introduction can seed very productive relationships. Rod Baker has been working with Mundjawuy for years and asked a mate with a business in Sydney if he knew of any appropriate marketing people. He went network, asked around for a few weeks and came back with Elevencom. A number of capable advertising agencies had been approached but Elevencom were the standout match.

Gurruthu - Kinship structure of Yolngu people

Before that Knowledge Water was nurtured through its early development by Cultivate NT, a network of various government agencies and ALPA. The last 18 months since the Elevencom connection seem like a moment of crystallisation in what will become a long history of this enterprise. Numerous relationships have been established between these networks and beyond to connect the people bringing knowledge water into being.

The explicit nature of the gurruthu system gives the imagery of the where everyone fits and the what their functions are within the Knowledge Water network. A loose series of networks are condensing into an organisational chart and a new business is born. Exciting times!