Central Land Council

Rural Enterprises

The Rural Enterprise Unit of the CLC actively assists Aboriginal landowners with the development and operation of land based enterprises that meet the needs, satisfy aspirations and help build capacity and self reliance for the landowners. Recently the unit broadened its focus to include other enterprises such as tourism, harvesting of feral animals and the bush foods industry in addition to pastoralism.

Pastoral Industry

The CLC supports the Aboriginal Pastoral Industry by providing planning and management support to new and existing large and small scale pastoral enterprises. This ongoing assistance includes the restructuring of existing pastoral operations; support for Aboriginal Directors, assistance to access training; support in accessing Government programs and coordinating links with other organisations with the resources and skills to support Aboriginal enterprises.

In mid 2003 the CLC combined with the Department of Business Industry and Resource Development and the Indigenous Land Corporation commenced an Indigenous Pastoral Development Project in the CLC region. The project's aim is a an industry joint approach to increasing pastoral production from Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory while fostering direct Indigenous participation in management and maximising Indigenous training and employment outcomes. The project has commenced the initial phase of identify and working with landowners wishing to work with the project to improve pastoral production

Tourism

Tourism industry surveys have found the majority of tourists visiting Central Australia are unable to satisfy their desire to experience Aboriginal culture and interact with Aboriginal people. There is undoubted potential for Aboriginal tourism enterprises to supply this market through appropriate forms of tourism involving Aboriginal land and culture.

The CLC assists landowners wanting to seek more information and assistance on tourism ventures on their land. The CLC is currently assisting landowners with cultural tourism enterprises at a number of locations in Central Australia .

One of these is a joint venture involving an indigenous family with an Alice Springs based four wheel drive tour operator. Tours are coordinated from Alice Springs while landowners manage all tour activities on their land 450 km east of Alice Springs . As the business grows and through further marketing and promotion the enterprise is expected to be a useful model for other landowners.

Harvesting of Feral Animals

This industry in Central Australia has been experiencing steady growth and is currently generating a good deal of interest, chiefly because of increasing live exports to overseas markets and the interest in establishing a multi-species abattoir in the Northern Territory for the slaughtering of camels, buffalo and cattle. Current estimates for Central Australia put the feral camel population at around 500,000 with large numbers of these animals found on Aboriginal land.

Experience has shown that it is difficult to base an industry on the problematic harvesting of feral animals in the wild. The camel industry needs to be based on more controlled capture, handling and holding of animals to meet the varied market requirements. The CLC has provided planning and ongoing support to landowners of the Haasts Bluff Land Trust west of Alice Springs who are well advanced in on ground implementation of their enterprise for the capturing and marketing of feral camels. This enterprise has received support from industry bodies and is a pioneer development for the camel industry. It has also generated a great deal of interest with both Aboriginal and white landowners and as markets continue to grow, requests will follow for its replication by other Aboriginal landowners keen to set up enterprises to provide income and employment for their communities.

Bush Foods Industry

Because of the variety of bush food species found on Aboriginal land in Central Australia and their importance to Aboriginal culture there is a unique opportunity for increased indigenous involvement in the developing Australian bush foods industry. There are currently no indigenous owned bush food enterprises in Central Australia .

The industry has recently been valued at $14 million based on the harvesting of bush foods and medicines across Australia . In recent times the profile of bush food products received a significant boost through the "Taste of Australia" marketing campaign run through Coles Supermarkets. Coles have also established an Indigenous Food Fund which provides grants of up to $25,000 to Aboriginal groups wishing to become involved in the bush foods industry.

CLC has a strong interest in identifying opportunities for indigenous landowners to establish enterprises based on commercial utilisation of bush foods found in Central Australia and has recently undertaken a bush food research project at the Ambalindum Aboriginal community east of Alice Springs with funding support from the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.