Case studies

2025

Building Australia’s energy future together with Traditional Owners

Engagement is the bridge to understanding, practical reconciliation, and ensuring that First Nations people benefit directly from energy projects on First Nations Country.” – David Wilson, Head of Community Engagement.

Cultivating understanding

Australia’s energy transition represents its most significant economic shift since the industrial revolution, and it is vital that First Nations people and communities are at the heart of this transformation.

David’s team connects EnergyAustralia people working on new energy projects with local Traditional Owner groups. “Before we start a project, we seek to understand Country by listening, learning and reflecting, guided by Traditional Owners and Elders,” David said.

For example, in the Latrobe Valley in the Gunaikurnai nation, the Yallourn, Jeeralang and Wooreen Battery Storage Project teams have all spent cultural immersion days with Gunaikurnai Land and Water Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC).

“It was important for our relationship that GLaWAC representatives had the chance to visit the Yallourn Power Station and Mine” said Nicholas King, Community Engagement Lead at Yallourn. “We’re working together on the mineʼs land rehabilitation, but it’s much better to share perspectives and contribute ideas when you’re on Country.”

Elsewhere, in Lithgow on Wiradjuri Country, early engagement helped inform a safe and respectful cultural engagement approach for the Lake Lyell Pumped Hydro Project.

“Over two days with Mingaan Wiradjuri Aboriginal Co-operative we had the opportunity to understand local cultural heritage and yarn about how we can engage respectfully with local Aboriginal parties” said Mike de Vink, Lake Lyell Pumped Hydro Energy Storage Project Director.

Embedding reconciliation in the energy transition

The energy transition offers a meaningful opportunity to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, by creating place-based partnerships that restore Country and promote long-term economic and environmental outcomes. For example, on Dharawal Country in Wollongong, we worked with the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council (ILALC) to reconnect with land surrounding the Tallawarra Gas Fired Power Plant. This site, previously degraded by coal-fired operations, is now being regenerated through a partnership with ILALC and the Wollongong Botanical Gardens. Together, we have planted over 1,800 native trees and restored habitat that ILALC continues to maintain, creating employment, strengthening cultural connection, and improving biodiversity.

In Lithgow, on Wiradjuri Country, we sought the guidance and wisdom of Traditional Owners and Elders in our study of the biladurang (platypus) and in identifying archaeological finds. This collaboration not only enriched our understanding of Wiradjuri knowledge systems but also addressed historical exclusion by valuing First Nations voices in the cultural research process. In these ways, we supported cultural preservation, strengthened our connection to Country, and took meaningful steps toward reconciliation and shared stewardship.

Sharing sustainable benefits

By engaging meaningfully, we honour the wisdom of First Nations communities and their deep connection to Country – to land, water, sky, and everything within. We are also guided by First Nations people, Traditional Owners and Elders in ways of sharing the opportunities and benefits Earth’s elements provide in powering a clean energy future.

Across Wiradjuri Country and the Gunaikurnai Nation, our engagement extends to forming partnerships with First Nations communities that deliver sustainable, long-term benefits for these communities, for instance through employment programmes and opportunities, targeted STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) scholarships, operational funding and capacity building, revenue-sharing grants, support in establishing cultural centres, and ongoing arrangements with First Nations ranger programmes to care for Country.

“We want to ensure Wiradjuri cultural heritage is properly identified, recorded and managed”, said Mike.

Aunty Helen and Aunty Ellen from Mingaan Wiradjuri Aboriginal Co-operative transferring artefacts for a cleansing ceremony

A cultural and environmental restoration initiative being led by the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council at Tallawarra Power Station.