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The 20th anniversary of the handback of Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park to its Aboriginal traditional landowners, and its subsequent leaseback to the Australian Government is a celebration of not only Aboriginal people getting their land back but also one of the first examples Aboriginal people entering into a partnership with Government, the Central Land Council said today.
"Today is extremely significant," CLC director David Ross said. "Today we tend to take agreements and partnerships for granted, but back then in 1985 it was groundbreaking. I think these arrangements of joint management, whereby the traditional indigenous owners and the Government entered into an agreement to jointly manage the Park for their mutual benefit, were a world first.
"There have been some extraordinary achievements from joint management * the Aboriginal traditional owners are able to still protect their sacred sites and still own the country and the Park has been listed as a World Heritage site partly because this living culture remains so strong.
"We have Aboriginal companies like award-winning Anangu Tours and Maraku Arts who have grown with the Park, and there are some Aboriginal rangers who have been trained and mentored within this Park to become professional rangers who are able to work anywhere.
"However, joint management isn't always easy and there are a number of challenges ahead, in particular, increasing the number of Aboriginal people employed within the Park and at the resort. In addition, all agencies and the community must work together to improve the grim situation confronting the people at Mutitjulu which is within the Park boundaries," he said.
At the end of the day, there can be no room for complacency. Joint management is an evolving entity, constantly changing as different governments come and go, different generations of traditional owners become involved and the dynamics of the affected communities change.
"There needs to be a fundamental commitment by both sides to see it work. Sometimes that is difficult and sometimes it takes a lot of valuable resources but the reality is that genuine joint management requires hard work, mutual respect and resources.
"The Central Land Council is always happy to participate in any process that improves joint management.
Recently a reinvigorated Joint Management Partnership with Parks Australia was put in place resulting in an expansion of the Management Partnership team and the Board of Joint Management currently enjoys strong leadership," Mr Ross said.
26 October 2005
