My experiences with Bunuba native title and our subsequent healing work have bolstered my faith in our strength and informed the approach to this Report. Bunuba women, Patsy, Millie, and Kaylene, each share their experiences with this project throughout the Report, with my team interviewing them on Country during our second Cultural Mapping Camp. These camps have seen people return to Country and hear from the anthropologists, visit locations which served as evidence for knowledge and connection to Country, and have the genealogy report explained and further details provided. The camps have also included the colonial history of the Kimberley – the maps, events, and personalities. This information reinforced and supported stories from families which had not always been accepted. The fact that some of the recorded information was directly from old people that were remembered and respected means that family connections were accepted where they had been questioned. These camps have enabled people to find their connection to Bunuba, both the Country and the community. They have provided necessary truth-telling. While truth-telling is often confronting, and has been for some Bunuba, it has built the foundation on which people can see Country through a more holistic and layered lens. It also provides them with knowledge that will inform how they wish to have a presence on Country and strengthen connection. This healing process has been both personal and collective. The focus and unity of Bunuba through this initiative has also reinforced what I have always known – that there is healing in connectedness. That is significant in relation to one of the main failures of the native title system. Neither the system, nor the powerful actors within it, considered the predictable divisions and conflicts that native title would generate and/or exacerbate. I believe the experiences heard throughout this Report would have been very different had the native title process been resourced to work with people’s connectedness rather than their separateness. There is a clear need for the system to incorporate provisions and resources for community truth‑telling and healing. The stories from women in this Report describe the various ways in which the native title system demands an individualistic and exclusionary approach. Our young people are often ignored, our women are often not recognised for their knowledges, and our traditions are often excluded from the process. The system has thus created disrespect and distrust for customary governance and decision-making. This focus on division has limited the capacity for truth‑telling – a process which demands unity. This experience mirrors what women and girls have told me throughout my time in this role. That there is a need to prioritise unity and healing as part of the journey to social justice. This includes our journey to a socially just native title system. The system’s lack of focus on unifying our people has resulted in competition when the people with knowledge ask for trust. Customary governance and decision-making are based on thousands of years of transmitted knowledge around how society functioned. Our history of removal and dispossession has limited many of our people’s exposure and access to knowledge-holders. This means we must trust those who hold this knowledge and have our collective interest in mind. The role that our past plays in this act of trust is challenging. This is particularly challenging due to the division between the Western native title system and our traditional ways. The Western system requires ‘proof’, where customary Law requires people to trust. In the native title system, we are proving connection and rights to land, language and culture. To prove our traditional connections we are required to work within the frameworks and expectations of Western society. We need to provide proof of our cultural ways 12 Women in Native Title: Native Title Report 2024