Trisha Ellis has spent her lifetime learning and teaching her Brinja-Yuin culture.
After a childhood "hanging around the elders all the time", she has been a TAFE teacher for more than 35 years and worked with her siblings to revitalise the Dhurga language.
She formed Minga Aboriginal Cultural Services in 2017, offering guided walks and culture camps on her ancestral country on the NSW far south coast.
Ms Ellis shares her rich knowledge of local plants and bush medicines and how to make rope and weave baskets from lomandra grass.
Ms Ellis has led groups from all corners of the world but is noticing a growing interest in Aboriginal culture among domestic travellers and locals.
She is one of 13 Indigenous tourism operators on the NSW south coast who are being mentored to develop their businesses as part of an initiative from the NSW government's Business Connect program and the Department of Primary Industries.
On a wider scale, new not-for-profit Welcome to Country launched its online retail site in 2019, promoting more than 220 Aboriginal tourism experiences across Australia, from Aboriginal astronomy in Western Australia to cultural stand-up paddleboard tours on the NSW Mid North Coast.
The national platform fills a gap for international visitors who have found it hard to find and book Aboriginal experiences when they visit Australia.
Standing on the water's edge at Mystery Bay near Narooma, Sharon Mason points out the shells of abalone, pipis and periwinkles — foods that sustained her saltwater people for millennia and are still eaten today.
The shells adorn her dress and hair when she performs with the Djaadjawan Dancers.
As artistic director of the group, Ms Mason has spent years reviving traditional dances and songs, and touring and performing.
But taking the first steps to realise a long-held dream of starting a tourism business has been daunting.
"If I talk to someone in the industry, it's too much to take in," Ms Mason said.
"Do I need a booking system, where will I run this, will I need an office?"
Ms Mason is now working with Narooma-based tourism operator Sally Bouckley, whose business, Southbound Escapes, has a strong focus on boosting the visibility of local Indigenous tour operators.
Teaching through experience
Palawa man Tim Sculthorpe from Welcome to Country believes that tourism is one of the best ways to help Australians embrace Aboriginal culture.
"All Aboriginal history and culture has been taught through ceremony, through dance, through storytelling, through the Dreaming, and those are all things that can't be written down," Mr Sculthorpe said.
Mr Sculthorpe also welcomes the growing interest and respect for Aboriginal culture from within Australia.
"We had our languages taken from us, we had our land taken from us. We've been left out of economic opportunities and left out of teaching our culture," he said.
Learning without judgement
At 28 years old, Walbunja man Jordan Nye is the eldest member of Muladha Gamara, a mentoring, consultancy, and tourism company he founded with his cousin, Adam. He is the first person in his family to own a business.
Mr Nye said Muladha Gamara, which means "wise man, wise woman" in the Dhurga language, is focused on "helping to bring our mob back to culture", but also offers the wider community a "safe cultural space, where they are not judged when they come to learn."
For Mr Nye, the greatest challenge has been to find the meeting place between culture and commerce.
"I go to my elders and cultural mentors for guidance, to keep culture sacred and not turn it into business," he said.
Mr Nye believes his generation is well-placed to bring the community together through culture.
For Ms Ellis, the rise in Aboriginal cultural tourism is a sign that "people are ready to listen".
"Unless people can tell their story and be heard and acknowledged, we can't move on. So it's a really big deal to actually be able to tell your story," Ms Ellis said.
