CEO Dean Muscat says the Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council hopes its efforts will “open the doors” for future generations of Indigenous people. Photo: Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council.
A Far South Coast Land Council has been honoured for its work with a state-wide award – and it’s not stopping there.
Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council (ELALC) Indigenous ranger Kye Lygon often takes people out to explore Country on the Far South Coast.
It’s a chance for the proud Dharawal and Wolgalu man and his colleagues to share historic knowledge and practices around things such as bush tucker, how they use plants, and cultural practices such as canoe weaving.
“We have a basis of what we can talk about, and then we just do our own thing … It depends on the people that we have out on that tour,” he said.
“You have different things popping up throughout the season. We’ll try to tailor it to each person, in a sense.”
For his and his colleagues’ efforts, the ELALC recently won the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tourism Experiences category at the 2025 NSW Tourism Awards.
CEO Dean Muscat said the news of the win was taking days to settle in for the team.
“We were actually quite in shock, because we were being nominated for the first time … Our jaws just dropped,” he told Region.
“We’re still in disbelief.”
In recent months, the ELALC has launched new cultural experiences along sections of the Bundian Way, expanded school programs, formed cruise tourism and tour company partnerships and organised collaborative cultural tours.
“We want to attract a variety of tourists to the area, share knowledge and show them the Aboriginal way – how to care for Country,” Mr Muscat said.
“We try to provide a full, immersive experience. … There’s things about Aboriginal culture that people don’t know – they don’t know the full story.
“What we’ve set out to do is share the culture, share the knowledge.”
The ELALC runs cultural experiences along sections of the Bundian Way – a historic pathway that stretches from Twofold Bay on the South Coast to Mount Kosciuszko.
It has been used for centuries by Aboriginal people from Yuin, Ngarigo, Jaitmathang and Bidawal Country.
He said the ELALC envisioned new infrastructure, accommodation and cultural experiences along the route, which would be a multi-day walk through southeast NSW.
Mr Muscat also pointed to the revitalisation of the Keeping Place and the continued development of the Jigamy Cultural Precinct as key projects they were focusing on.
“It’s about making the workers feel proud of what their ancestors left them, as they’re sharing their knowledge with the general public.
“The biggest thing is having employment for our ranger team that can take care of Country, and keep sharing the knowledge.”
For Mr Muscat, the award win is about more than recognition.
“This is about having an idea, having a dream – bringing it all together,” he said.
“We want to show people that Aboriginal people, when they get together, can deliver goals of this proportion.
“[We want to] open the doors for younger people to come in, join the team and learn from the elders … It’s not just tourism for us.”
The community element is something echoed by Mr Lygon – he says the award honours several decades of work by the ELALC to develop community-led Aboriginal cultural tourism offerings.
“That pioneering stage was 30 [to] 40 years ago, so getting to see some of our uncles come back and teach is a really fulfilling thing to see.
“For future generations, it’s going to be a huge selling point and training point for a lot of the mob.”
