Birthing on Country: More Than a Place
Gundungurra and Dharug Country, NSW. 28 September 2026
We often hear Birthing on Country in maternity policy, research and health-service planning. But do we share a clear understanding of what it means?
Our newly published paper, What does ‘Birthing on Country’ mean?, explores this question alongside a freely available 20-minute educational documentary. Together, the article and film challenge narrow interpretations and show why Birthing on Country matters to the future of maternity care in Galiwin'ku but also Australia.
Photo credit: Pat Josse. Promotional poster for the educational documentary.
One question, many perspectives
The research grew from the 2022 Best Start to Life national gathering in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), co-hosted by the Molly Wardaguga Institute and Central Australian Aboriginal Congress.
The gathering brought together 245 First Nations Elders and leaders, community representatives, health practitioners, researchers, policymakers and service managers.
Filmmaker Pat Josse and I set up a video booth and asked delegates: What does Birthing on Country mean to you?
Seventy-seven people shared their knowledge, experiences and aspirations. Their responses reflected diverse cultures, identities and relationships with Country, while also revealing a strong common foundation.
More than giving birth in a particular place
People sometimes interpret Birthing on Country as simply giving birth on ancestral lands. Others wrongly equate it with giving birth “in the bush” without skilled clinical support.
Both interpretations miss its breadth and purpose.
Participants described Birthing on Country as being grounded in First Nations governance, cultural authority, connection, safety, choice and justice. Giving birth on ancestral Country may hold deep significance, but location forms only one part of the picture.
For women who must travel away from their communities to access birth care, Birthing on Country can mean bringing family, language, cultural knowledge and connection to Country into the place of birth. Women should be able to receive clinically safe care without leaving their cultural identity at the hospital or Birth Centre door.
Our analysis identified seven connected themes. Birthing on Country:
carries different meanings across people and communities;
connects people with kin, Ancestors, lands, seas and the non-human world;
recognises that every baby born in Australia is born on First Nations Country;
supports women and families to feel safe, healthy and well supported;
strengthens cultural knowledge and practices;
creates space for learning and guidance; and
advances First Nations rights and reproductive justice.
Together, these themes place First Nations women, families and communities at the centre of maternity care.
Local leadership, structural change
The diversity of Birthing on Country strengthens the movement. First Nations communities hold distinct languages, laws, kinship systems, cultural practices and relationships with Country. Governments and health services cannot impose one model across every community.
Each community must define and govern Birthing on Country according to its own priorities and circumstances.
At the same time, a service cannot adopt the name by adding a cultural activity or employing one First Nations staff member while retaining the same structures of power.
Birthing on Country requires structural change: First Nations governance, a strong First Nations workforce, genuine partnerships, continuity of care, and culturally and clinically safe services designed around women and families.
It asks us to consider who governs maternity care, whose knowledge carries authority and whether women hold genuine power over decisions about their bodies, babies and birth experiences?
From recognition to action
Every baby born in Australia enters the world on First Nations Country. This creates responsibilities for all maternity services, including large metropolitan hospitals far from a woman’s ancestral lands.
Health services must also recognise how colonisation continues to shape maternity care. Colonisation disrupted First Nations birthing knowledge, removed services from communities and forced many women to leave Country and family to give birth.
Birthing on Country seeks to return authority and control to First Nations women and communities. Evidence shows that this service redesign can improve clinical outcomes, increase antenatal engagement and provide cost-effective care. Yet access remains limited, particularly in rural and remote Australia.
Including Birthing on Country in policy is important. Governments and health services must now turn that recognition into sustained investment in First Nations governance, workforce and community-based maternity services.
Research people can read....and also watch
This project produced two connected research outputs.
The peer-reviewed article presents the detailed analysis. The 20 minute educational documentary, What does Birthing on Country mean to you?, allows audiences to hear directly from participants.
Stylistically influenced by Yann Arthus-Bertrand's film Human, the educational documentary, stands alongside the article as a research output in its own right. It makes the knowledge accessible to communities, students, practitioners and policymakers beyond the readership of academic journals.
Our work does not impose a final definition. It documents a shared foundation while acknowledging the right of each community to determine what Birthing on Country means in its own context.
Many thank the 77 delegates who shared their knowledge, our research partners and my fellow authors Pat Josse, Sue Kildea, Donna Ah Chee, Res McCalman, Sarah Khaw, Emily Armstrong, Jyai Allen, Sue Kruske and Yvette Roe.
Learn more
Human the movie Directors cut
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