our story
Born from the fire, drawn in the sand, and carried in the stories of those who came before.
Chapter: 0
It began, as all sacred things do, with the land. Not in ink or on screens, but in the quiet hum of Country, in the language of fire, smoke, and symbols drawn in sand. We say The VA Network was not built – it was remembered. Born beneath a sky mapped by those who came before, where the stars are not just distant lights but waypoints, ancestors gathered in skycamp, tending fires that have never gone out.
This campfire we started that night was never just about warmth. The fire does more than heat the body – it illuminates the spirit, casting light on the pathways we have forgotten how to walk. The VA Network exists to rekindle that knowing, to bring back the stories, the wisdom, and the deep kinship that ties all things together. Beside it knelt Dig, his hands moving with precision drawing symbols, stories embedded in each curve, each line, each dot he embedded in the hot dirt. The earth beneath his fingers seemed to exhale, you could hear it sing, alive with meaning as he brought them to the surface.
These aren’t just marks, they’re maps. They show you how to move through the world – not just to survive, but to care, to live in balance with all things: land, people, spirit, and time.
The smoke spiralled upward, carrying whispers of connection, braiding threads between the seen and unseen, the known and all that could be known. The fire spoke of something deeper – a truth we’ve forgotten. That the threads tying us to the land, to each other, and to the spirit world have always been there, strong and unbroken, waiting for us to reach out and hold them again. Waiting for us to remember.
The fire didn’t just burn for warmth – it burned for meaning, for connection, for the truth that lies in the spaces between all things, the truth we all know. The truth of the VA.
What was to become ‘The VA Network’ was drawn in the sand by the fire that night, breathed into this world from the land of spirit and carried back by the smoke into the constellations overhead.
A promise etched into the earth, carried by the flames and held in the space between Us.
The VA Network came from a promise to create a space where the world could gather – not just to listen but to learn, to act, and to remember. A campfire that transcended time and space, land or people. A place where all could sit, and share their story, share their fragment of the pattern of creation, and connect.
In the sands beside that fire we sung the story of what would become The VA Network into the world, drawing the blueprints for a space to carry that fire forward that all are welcome around. We knew then that it couldn’t just be a platform. It had to breathe, to resonate, to flow like the knowledge it was meant to hold. It had to be a living space, a digital campfire where ancient wisdom could meet modern storytelling, where stories could thrive, not just survive, stand the test of time and leave behind the only tool that will last and always be relevant: good story.
So, we created it, we built the platform, then we tore it apart, set it on fire, and invited the world to sit by the flames around this digital campfire.
The VA Network is more than a streaming service or social network, it is a relational network, a movement, a living, breathing web of connection that spans lands, peoples, and generations. It’s a space where ancient wisdom meets modern technology, where the voices of the past guide the choices of the present to create a future rooted in balance and care. This is not about amplifying voices for their own sake – it’s about weaving them into the sacred web that holds us all for the benefit of us all.
These stories shared around the fire are the medicine for a sick world. They hold the power to heal, to guide, and to transform. Each film, each image, each voice, each story added is another stick in the fire, a spark that illuminates the patterns of creation, of survival, resilience, and love that have been passed down through generations.
The stories shared here are part of the large pattern of creation, a map not of earth but of spirit. They teach us how to live in harmony, how to care for the land, for the animals, for each other, and how to rebecome custodians of the world we’re part of. These are stories that hold the keys to survival, not just for us, but for every living being we share this planet with.
If you forget the story, you forget your place. If you forget your place, you forgot who you are. But we can find our way back. We all hold a piece of it, a piece, a fragment of the pattern. We just need to bring them all together. Share them around the one fire. This fire. And see the pattern that emerges from the sand.
We are living in a time when this knowledge, these ways of knowing and being are more important than ever. We see it, we feel it, we know it, deep within us. We see the threads that once tied us to the land, to each other, and to spirit are fraying. Some think its too late, but the wisdom hasn’t disappeared. It lingers in the stories, in the languages, waiting for those with ears to hear and hearts ready to act. The VA Network exists because the world cannot wait any longer. These stories are not just lessons – they are tools, medicine for the fractures of our time. They hold the power to heal, to inspire, and to guide us back to balance.
The VA Network is a fire Dig sparked, that we grew together, that we invite the world to gather around, for it takes all of us to tend, to sustain, to increase, and bring everyone back under the lore. This fire belongs to us all, and we all need its warmth. Caring for this flame is an act of remembering and reimagining, of creating a future where every voice matters, every story lives, and the fire burns brightly for those yet to come.
So come sit with us. The fire is lit, the stories are waiting to be heard, waiting to be told. Each story shared is an ember in the fire, a spark that carries the wisdom of the land, the people, and the spirit to those who need it most. So we invite you to bring your stories alongside, add your log to the flame, and keep the fire of creation burning bright. These stories will teach you to see the patterns, to feel the rhythm of the land, and to remember your place in creation. It’s in you, in all of us, we only have to remember.
The fire isn’t yours to keep. It’s yours to carry. To tend to. And if you carry it well, it will light the way for generations to come.
Story is the Meditjin
Stories are medicine. They heal us, guide us, protect us, and connect us. They show us who we are – not just as individuals, but as a collective, a community, one people, one fire. Stories root us in our ancestors’ footsteps and point us toward futures shaped by wisdom, knowledge, experience and care. They are the songs of survival, the maps of meaning, and the sparks of transformation that light the way forward, back to the brilliance of living in symbiosis with the land, and all its creatures.
The VA Network exists because these stories cannot be allowed to fade. They are the key to rebecoming custodians – of the land, of each other, and of the knowledge that can guide us through the challenges we face today.
Each story we share is a piece of medicine, a fragment of a larger narrative that holds the power to heal the fractures of the world. The VA Network is here to ensure that this medicine reaches everyone who needs it, creating a space where stories don’t just survive but thrive – guiding, healing, and connecting us all.
A journey through fire, sand, and story – meet the one who carries the embers forward.
A Life in Story, in Relation, in Responsibility.
Every story carries a rhythm, a pulse that moves through the land, the people, and the spirit of place. It’s not just seen or heard; it’s felt – in the way the light touches the earth, in the patterns of shadows stretching across the ground, in the way the wind whispers through the trees, in the calls of the animals echoing through the valley. Everything I do, being a photographer, a writer, a storyteller, is a way of holding the threads of connection that bind us all together, braiding them into something that honors the past, illuminates the present, and creates pathways for the future. Everything I do is for the next generations, for all those who come after, and with the short time I have left on this earth I realized, I was shown, the only thing that matters, the only thing will last and that will always be relevant is Good Story. And that is my purpose. To share that story.
My journey as a photographer and storyteller took a profound turn when I met my mentor, Dig. He changed everything when he taught me who I was, my connection to country, my connection to my ancestors, to the inherited knowledge from generations I held within me and my relations. He taught me how to listen, how to see, how to be in relation with the land, to the people, and to the stories that exist in the spaces between. Sitting by the fire under skycamp, Dig drew symbols in the sand – a map of connection, a blueprint for what would become my way forward, my purpose for being. Dig spoke of relation, of reciprocity, and of the deep responsibility we all share to amplify the voices of those who need to be heard. To carry the fire forward. That’s all that matters.
My work, the images, the stories I share, are rooted in this philosophy of connection and relation, grounded in the lore and in our ways of knowing – not in the things, but in the processes, not the objects but the ways of being. Dig gave me some tasks to do in this life; and when an old person asks something of you, you do it. The VA Network and my other projects; my documentary photographic work, my films, writing, the Ngarra project, the Earth Legacy social good creative studio, the ITA Foundation – There are my answer to that request. Across different mediums in different ways I am lighting digital campfires where right story is shared, knowledge is exchanged, and people come back into relation with one another, with the landscape, with the spirit of all things.
What was drawn up in the sands out on Wiradjuri country redirected my entire life, everything now centred around this task, this ask, this thing I have to do with the limited time I have left to walk these lands. For me its not just about the photography, or the films, the prose, the words or the content – it’s about the connections it fosters, the conversations it sparks, and the change it inspires. It’s a way to honor the wisdom of ancestors who came before, to hold and pass on the stories and lore to our descendants who come after.
I do not like to say that I’m founder, or a CEO, a photographer, mingari, storyteller or any other hollow label from a marketplace that gets thrown around; I view myself as just tending to fire Dig left me, a custodian of a small part of the pattern of creation, a human, with a few stories and a couple of good yarns to share before I join my ancestors in skycamp. The VA Network is one of the ways of inviting the world to sit by the fire, to listen, to see, and to remember that we are all part of one shared story. One people. One fire. Wangra.
Though Dig walks beyond the horizon, his wisdom remains – a guiding ember in every story, every step, every breath of this journey.
Carrying the Fire Forward
While Dig is no longer walking Country beside us, his presence is felt in every step of this journey. This project, as you see it today, is a testament to his vision – a campfire that calls to all who are ready to sit, listen, and share. It is a space to honor the past, celebrate the present, and envision a future where humanity remembers its place in the great pattern of creation. Guided not just by the wisdom of Indigenous cultures, but by the deep, ancient processes they embody. This campfire invites us to step into relation, to see ourselves in the pattern of relation, and bring all our stories along side each other – for each of us carries a fragment of this pattern, a fractal of the whole. One of the most powerful ways to bring the world back into harmony is through the eyes of its children. Because they see a truth we have been trained out of seeing. When we let the youth tell their stories, When we let the youth tell their stories, when we hand them the tools to share their vision, we’re reawakening that truth in ourselves. We’re allowing their clarity, unburdened by centuries of grown-up forgetting, to remind us of the patterns that hold us all. And in that remembering, we step closer to the harmony we’ve been seeking all along.
This project goes beyond documenting life – it’s about reclaiming a way of being, a way of human-being. It’s about moving in the world with respect for the land, honoring the threads of connection that bind all life, and ensuring that every voice has a place in the circle of creation. Through the lens of a child’s camera, the global community is invited to rediscover the processes that sustain life – the reciprocity, the interconnectedness, the stories that hold us all.
Holding the past in our hands protecting what lies ahead.
We are the ancestors of the future
This is our responsibility, our mission, our obligation to the generations that will come after us. It is a task I have been asked to do, and I will spend every day of what is left of my life to taking a few steps forward, knowing that those who come after me will carry it so much further.
Come, sit by this fire. Bring your stories, your ways of seeing, and your ways of knowing. Let us gather what we’ve each learned from the lands we call home, weaving together the threads of all cultures and all places in respect and reverence. In doing so, we honor Dig’s memory: a vision of a world that is just, regenerative, and deeply interconnected. Where every step we take heals not just the land, but the spirits and the people who belong to it. The way forward is in us all, we just have to remember, and retake our role as custodians of creation.
For those who came before us, who carried the stories, who sat by the fire and passed the embers into our hands.
For Dig, and for all the ones we’ve lost – the ones who shaped us, who whispered the old ways into the wind, who reminded us that we are never alone in this great web of life. Their voices still move through the trees, their wisdom still ripples through the land, their stories still burn in the fires we keep. And now, it is our turn. To tend the flames, to listen deeply, to carry these stories forward – not as relics, but as living teachings. For those who come next, for the ones we may never meet, for the generations yet to be. This fire is not ours to keep; it is ours to pass on.
We gather around this fire with gratitude in our hearts for two extraordinary spirits who shaped our path: Dig, who taught us how to listen – to the land, each other, and the stories that bind us; and Louisa, whose love and passion for making a difference in children’s lives fuelled our mission to empower the next generation, and all those we have loved and lost along the way who continue to inspire us, drive us, guide us. Their teachings remind us that every breath of wind carries wisdom, every ember holds a memory, and every child’s dream deserves to be realized.
May we honor their spirits by walking gently, sharing openly, loving completely, and keeping the flame of connection alive – so that every voice is heard, every land is cherished, and every life lights a fire for those yet to come.
