Community development

A core requirement of all the CLC’s work is to consult traditional owners about decisions and developments that may affect their land.

For more than 30 years it has performed this function with outstanding success.

Large tracts of land have been claimed and won back for Aboriginal people under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and numerous agreements have been made with private companies and governments wishing to mine or otherwise use that land.

Above: The workshop at Areyonga built with rent money from
Uluru and chosen as a project by traditional owners

Since its formation in 1974, the CLC has worked hard to maximise the benefits of land ownership for Aboriginal people in its region.

While the amount of land Aboriginal people in the CLC’s region own seems vast – 385,392 square kilometres – it is remote, arid or semi arid, and boasts inadequate roads, housing and infrastructure with few services.

In addition, Aboriginal people in the region suffer from a severe lack of education and employment opportunities and live in appalling poverty and living conditions.

In 2005 the Central Land Council initiated two extremely significant community development projects – the Uluru Rent Money Project and the Warlpiri Education and Training Trust (WETT) - funded by Aboriginal traditional owner rent and royalty payments.

The launch of the partnership between World Vision Australia
and WETT Tto deliver early childhood cares in remote
Warlpiri communities in November 2008

Since then these projects have expanded significantly and delivered real and tangible benefits to the communities involved in them.

Community participation and ownership are central to the success of all the CLC’s community development projects and it undertakes other projects using the same principles with very positive outcomes for Aboriginal people in the bush.

All of these projects involve local people identifying their most important issues, drawing on their knowledge about appropriate solutions and using their own resources to put their solutions into place.

In collaboration with CLC, Aboriginal communities across Central Australia are investing their own money wisely, immediately, in a better future. The CLC is working to ensure that thorough planning is undertaken and sufficient resources are available to give these investments the best chance of lasting success