In this twelfth edition of Connect to Country, a digital publication presented by Tourism Australia and Discover Aboriginal Experiences (DAE), we invite you to wake before dawn, venture deep into extraordinary landscapes, test what you think you know about Australia and its First Nations cultures, and discover some of the oldest coastal knowledge on Earth.

In our Immerse collection, Traditional Custodians lead the way across sand dunes, rainforest, outback stations and ancient cultural landscapes. You can discover the survival knowledge of the Worimi people, hear stories shared through dance, explore bush foods and medicines, and learn how culture continues to shape life on Country today.

Need a good reason to set an alarm on holiday? We give you three. At Uluru, a laser-projected artwork by three leading Anangu artists illuminates the desert before the Rock puts on its own sunrise show. On the New South Wales South Coast, guests rise in the dark to take part in a Djiringanj sunrise ceremony on Yuin Country. Further north, Yellow Water Billabong comes alive as the first golden light reveals crocodiles, sea eagles, kingfishers and the vast wetlands of Kakadu.

In a choose-your-own-lux-adventure feature, we invite you to select your preferred style of indulgent travel; romantic, wild, unique or chill. That choice will unlock the perfect accommodation for you from the Luxury Lodges of Australia collection, and pair it with incredible First Nations-led tourism experiences. Here, the real extravagance is not simply found in beautiful rooms, but in what lies beyond them; ancient rainforest, wildlife-rich floodplains, remote escarpments and Country holding stories across thousands of years.

This edition also asks how much do you really know about Aboriginal Australia? Think Again is the quiz you will probably fail, and that is very much the point. From language to engineering, the answers reveal the extraordinary diversity, complexity and innovation of the world’s oldest living cultures. There is no shame in getting one wrong. Just another great reason to learn more on an experience with a First Nations guide.

Oysters have sustained communities along Australia’s coastline for countless generations and have always been more than simply food. The middens left behind hold records of harvesting, ceremony, occupation and environmental change, while the knowledge surrounding when to take, and when to leave, reflects an ancient and sophisticated approach to caring for Sea Country. In Shucked Stories, we learn how Europe’s love of mother-of-pearl oysters impacted the Aboriginal communities at the Dampier Peninsula region of Western Australia forever.

The same communities were impacted by waves of different foreign missionaries and we learn how Aboriginal peoples managed to maintain their proud cultures, family and connection to Country through these periods of profound disruption. These stories are not frozen in the past. They are carried and shared by Traditional Custodians whose tours reveal resilience, survival and cultural continuity, while offering visitors a deeper understanding of the places they travel through.

We hope this edition encourages you to rise a little earlier, look a little closer and perhaps rethink a few things along the way.

Happy reading!