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Sam has seen the impact of climate change on the desert land. She takes her fight to the United Nations
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Sam has seen the impact of climate change on the desert land. She takes her fight to the United Nations

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Sam Murray remembers hearing about the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef.
Living in Cosmo Newberry on Yilka Country, over a thousand kilometers inland from the coast of Western Australia, didn’t stop her from worrying.

“I was eight hours from the nearest ocean and stressed that there would be no fish left in the reef,” she told NITV.

It was this fear that led to a lifelong passion for the Yilka/Wongutha/Nyoongar woman.
She will soon leave for COP30, the 2025 United Nations climate conference in Belém, Brazil, the center of the Amazon rainforest.
This is Ms Murray’s second COP conference, but it is her first as CEO of the Indigenous Desert Alliance (IDA) – a membership-based not-for-profit organization that supports indigenous desert rangers in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and parts of Queensland, caring for land.
“As Aboriginal people we know how to best care for our country,” she said.
‘That knowledge has been passed on from our ancestors for a long time.

“It is a proven fact around the world that wherever the First Nations mafia takes care of the environment, the biodiversity in that area [is] always much better.”

Proud Yilka/Wongutha/Nyoongar woman, Sam Murray is the CEO of the Indigenous Desert Alliance. Source: Delivered

Ms Murray will travel to COP30 with a delegation of other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It will be her first time in the largest rainforest in the world.

“I hope I don’t see too many big, gigantic snakes that way! I know we have snakes here, but I hear they have much bigger snakes than us, so I hope I don’t see too many of those snakes,” she laughed.

She would like to share the impact of climate change on the desert and desert communities on an international stage.

It’s getting harder and hotter to live there.

“Those impacts… include desert temperatures getting warmer, more natural disasters in the environment, such as out-of-control wildfires… flooding, impacts on remote communities,” she said.
“It is difficult to live and work in remote communities in the desert, with infrastructure problems… that is the reality of people in remote communities and in the desert.

“It’s getting harder and hotter to live there.”

Despite these hardships, Ms. Murray knows firsthand that many in these communities have no plans to give up their homes, instead focusing on solutions.
“A large part of my gang will never leave these communities. I’m sure my uncle and my family in Cosmo will never leave Cosmo.
‘It’s our country, it’s their home.

“We need to look at how we support First Nations people … to live lives in places that are potentially going to become harder to live in.”

There are already many positives to share, she says.
“Aboriginal people who regularly visit or live on their lands … are seeing the changes caused by climate change,” she said.
“But that doesn’t mean we never care about it again. We can take care of Country, we can heal Country.
‘It has been proven that in places where Aboriginal people are given the space to care for pieces of Country, that care heals.
“While there are concerns about the environment and climate change, I also want to highlight the positive – the passion that Aboriginal people have for caring for the environment and knowing that we can heal – we need support to do that.”
Ms Murray said there are a limited number of delegates present who have experience of living in a remote community or town in a desert area.
She feels a deep sense of responsibility to advocate for desert communities.
“What drives me is always making sure deserts are on the map. Making people realize that a whole part of Australia, a third of the country, is considered desert country and there are people who work there and look after it,” she said.

“Making sure they’re not missed at the table, making sure their voices are heard… those gangs in really remote communities, especially in the desert, should have the same opportunities to come to the table.”

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Rangers use traditional knowledge to burn parts of Country in Kiwirrkurra IPA. Credit: Salty Davenport

The conference starts on November 10 and lasts eleven days.

While Ms. Murray’s priority is to stand up for her gang, she looks forward to meeting and learning from other First Nations brothers and sisters from around the world.
“You find similarities, care for the country, the culture and the community – it’s the same. They’re also trying to uplift and defend their gang… we just connect and it’s very beautiful,” she said.

“I think that’s the beauty of these types of events. It brings together different people from different places, but ironically we’re the same and advocating for the same things.”

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