Led by Aboriginal women. Driven by justice.
Wundirra is a First Nations, Aboriginal women-led organisation working to interrupt violence, challenge systemic racism and create safer futures for our communities.
Grounded in lived experience, cultural authority and professional expertise, we work at the intersection of trauma, violence, hyper-incarceration and systemic disadvantage affecting First Nations women, children, families and communities.
While women and children are at the heart of our work, lasting change requires stronger families, safer men and systems that are accountable. We work alongside women and children to strengthen safety and self-determination, while building the capacity of men to become healthier fathers, brothers, partners, uncles and leaders.
We create change by strengthening people, communities, organisations and systems through advocacy, workforce development, culturally safe practice, leadership, research, capacity building and community-led solutions.
We exist because our communities deserve more than crisis responses. They deserve justice, healing, accountability and the opportunity to thrive.
What the Name Means
Wundirra is a Wiradjuri word meaning “to stand in one’s own light.”
It reflects the strength and self-determination of Aboriginal women and children to reclaim their stories and shape their own futures, free from violence, racism, and structural harm. It is our commitment to walking alongside them as we strengthen culture and stand confidently in their own light.
Our Story
Wundirra was born from eight years of grounded, community-led work under the name Deadly Connections Community and Justice Services Ltd, named ABSEC Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation of the Year in 2020.
That work showed us something we could not ignore: individual service delivery alone was never going to be enough to change the systems shaping people’s lives. So Wundirra was developed to go deeper, into the specific needs of communities facing the greatest systemic harm, and broader, building the capacity of the whole ecosystem around them.
The move to Wundirra is not a departure from that purpose. It is a deepening of it: a dedicated Aboriginal women-led organisation, grounded in Matriarchal principles, culture, strength, leadership, and self-determination.
Over that time, Deadly Connections built a track record communities and the sector recognised. Programs like Deadly Families, Youth Frontiers, Breaking the Cycle, Bugmy Project, Walanmarra, and Deadly Brothers worked directly with Aboriginal men, women, families, children, and young people at the sharpest points of systemic racism, disadvantage, justice involvement/impact, child removal, incarceration, violence, and intergenerational trauma. The organisation built relationships with communities across Sydney and consistently showed up where other services did not reach.
The consistent voices of the women leading us and in other spaces, in addition to the women we walked alongside, and our own lived and professional experience, pointed to something that could not be ignored. The systems that shape women’s lives, domestic violence, child protection, the criminal legal system, housing, economic exclusion, and health, were not adequately responding to the needs of women navigating them. Not just Aboriginal women. All women who fall into the space where systems intersect and fail.
We shifted from a predominantly frontline service model toward capacity building, consultancy, training, community development, and systems change. Not because direct support does not matter, but because sustainable change requires more than one organisation showing up. It requires the whole system and sector to be and do better.
The move from Deadly Connections to Wundirra signals a new chapter grounded in the strength, leadership, and self-determination of Aboriginal women: a commitment to culturally safe spaces where women can access support, build confidence, strengthen their leadership, and realise their full potential, unapologetically and with pride.
Our Approach
Transformative Justice
We seek to prevent and interrupt harm by addressing its root causes, strengthening community accountability and transforming the systems and conditions that perpetuate violence, while centring the safety, dignity and healing of those impacted.
Healing-Centred Engagement
Healing-Centred Engagement moves beyond trauma-informed practice by recognising healing as an asset-driven, collective process rooted in culture, identity, hope and civic action. It supports individuals and communities to heal while transforming the social conditions that shape their lives.
Matriarchal Leadership
We recognise Aboriginal women as knowledge holders, decision-makers and agents of change who have always led through culture, care, courage and collective responsibility. Wundirra exists to honour, amplify and invest in that leadership to drive healing, justice and lasting systems change.
What We Bring
Our cultural authority is grounded in Aboriginal women’s leadership and shaped by lived and professional experience. This unique combination enables us to understand the complexities of people’s lives, deliver culturally safe and evidence-informed responses, and drive meaningful change for individuals, families, communities and the systems that serve them.
Our Values
Transformation
We don’t manage harm, we create the conditions for lasting change.
Justice
We disrupt harm, challenge systemic racism, and work towards accountability, healing and structural change.
Healing
Healing is grounded in culture, identity, connection, hope and self-determination.
Safety
We create culturally safe, trauma-informed environments where people are respected, heard and free from judgement.
Culture
Our leadership, knowledge and practice are grounded in Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing.
Community
Lasting change is community-led, built through relationships, collective responsibility and shared strength.
Belonging
Everyone deserves to feel seen, valued and connected without having to prove their worth or explain their story.
Sisterhood
We honour the strength, wisdom and leadership of Aboriginal women, walking alongside one another with courage, care and collective responsibility.
Lived and Professional Expertise
We bring lived experience, cultural authority and professional expertise together because meaningful change requires all three.