Dr Wayne Wonitji Webb And The Power Of Wadandi
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Dr Wayne Wonitji Webb And The Power Of Wadandi

Wayne Wonitji Webb is a Wadandi Pibulmun Elder who knows the coastline along the Cape-to-Cape region like few others. Uncle Wayne has a deep understanding of the long story of this Country and has devoted much of his life to protecting and sharing it, last year being awarded an Honourary Doctor of Letters from the University of Western Australia for his work in anthropology and archaeology. For over 35 years, Uncle Wayne has been working to protect and study hundreds of cultural sites in the area, where remains and artefacts have been found dating back over 60,000 years. Those sites include caves like Devil's Lair, which is regarded as one of the most important archaeological sites in Australia, but also extend out onto the ocean floor, where Aboriginal people lived during the last Ice Age when sea levels retreated. Uncle Wayne is also one of the area's original surfers, having first surfed the waves of the southwest in the late 1960s. He's been working for a number of years with local and visiting surfers alike to impart a greater understanding of the coastline around Margaret River and its significance to his people.

 

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