WelCome To Putama
The word ‘Putama’ is from the Waluwarra language and means “ Dreaming Into The Future”.
Putama delivers a comprehensive model that integrates truth-telling, cultural safety, and systems change. Our approach is immersive, grounded in culture, and experiential, and has a strong focus on practical application. Putama that involved deep listening to lived experience.
Putuma is in our dreaming from yesterday, for today, and tomorrow (all at the same time). My Indigenous knowledge and knowing is from Putuma, an ancient history of Australia’s oldest surviving culture. We have the responsibility of committing to a truth-telling process that promotes an honest and respectful pathway for our future generations to build a connection through our culture with Waluwarra language to our Country.
co-create or co-design the space of storytelling (with our stories) to outline our identity and connectedness with voice to Country.
Team Putama
Cynthia Rowan
Cynthia Rowan
Cynthia is a Director on the Edmund Rice Education Australia Board which oversees 55 schools across all Australian States and Territories. She is Co-Chair of the Wisdom Council for Indigenous Knowledges, a newly appointed body within the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Queensland. The Wisdom Council for Indigenous Knowledges will provide cultural and strategic advice on matters in Teaching and Learning, and Research, with a strengths-based community engagement.
Thelma Parker
Thelma Parker
Through her collaborative leadership and co-facilitation of the truth-telling programs, which have been delivered to more than 10,000 participants. Further, providing the Archbishop of Brisbane the Blanket Exercise as a direct result of his learnings from the program, the archbishop publicly endorsed the Uluru Statement, a powerful symbol of the Church’s commitment to the Reconciliation Action Plan that calls for solidarity with First Nations Peoples. .
At a global level, she is currently working with KAIROS Canada and have co-designed the World Blanket Exercise, a truth-telling process for First Nations People globally, presented at WIPCE in 2022. Recently work with other Universities to provide Truth-Telling and reconciliation models has contributed to matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in the higher education sector.
Our Mission
Putama is committed to fostering a future grounded in truth-telling and cultural safety, inspired by the ancient wisdom of the Waluwarra people. Our mission is to create immersive, culturally rooted experiences that deepen understanding and connection to Country. We honor the lived experiences of Indigenous communities, promoting a collective responsibility to respect the stories that shape our national identity.
Through experiential learning and co-creating spaces that uplift Indigenous voices, we aim to preserve and share the rich cultural heritage of Australia’s oldest surviving culture. Our programs, including the Australian Blanket Exercise, are designed to bridge the past, present, and future, ensuring that our ancestors’ knowledge continues to inform a more just and inclusive society.
We are dedicated to closing the gap by fostering meaningful dialogue and building a shared commitment to truth. Our mission is to ensure that the voices of our ancestors guide us as we collectively dream into the future, creating a space for all to learn, connect, and grow in respect and understanding.
