Central Land Council

The Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority informs Lands Housing Minister Max Ortmann that, after reviewing its decision, it stands by its refusal to issue a certificate for work on the Junction Waterhole dam.

The Land Commissioner recommends that the entire Tanami Downs land claim area be returned to traditional landowners.

The Minister for Lands and Housing Max Ortmann announces that he will override the decision of the AAPA and issue a certificate authorising work to proceed on the proposed Junction Waterhole dam. He admits in his staement to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly that the dam will destroy sacred sites and that custodians oppose the project.

On 13 March Mr Ortmann and the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Robert Tickner meet with custodians near Junction Waterhole. When the discussion becomes heated Mr Ortmann insults the custodians and walks out of the meeting. On 20 March Mr Tickner issues and emergency declaration to stop work on the dam for thirty days, using his powers under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act.

The Dam site is a very sacred thing and we cannot say much about it. Our Dreamtime is what keeps us. It is something that is really alive. We don't need the dam. The old people are saying it. Everybody is saying it. The whole town knows, even the children. It is going to cover a whole lot of areas. Children will not be able to see those things, or hear the stories that go with them. They are very strong and need to be kept sacred. Agnes Palmer, a custodian for Junction Waterhole.

The CLC learns that Mr Carl Strehlow is trying to sell a substantial number of sacred objects colleted by his late father, Professor Ted Strehlow. Most of the objects were taken from the CLC region of Central Australia and under Aboriginal Law are owned by the traditional landowners. The CLC approaches the South Australian Government and Mr Strehlow.

The CLC opens a western regional office based in Papunya.

The CLC and the Northern Territory Police Force (Southern Division) jointly announce new police procedures to prevent the release of names and photos of deceased Aboriginal people to the media. Aboriginal people avoid using the names or images of deceased people as a mark of respect and bereavement, and the publication of names and photos in media reports about tragedies has often caused great offence and distress to family and community members. The CLC welcomes the police decision to withhold these details as 'a sign of the police force's growing sensitivity to Aboriginal cultural values'.

The Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Robert Tickner appoints Hal Wootten QC to prepare a report on whether the proposed Junction Waterhole dam should be stopped under s.10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act. Mr Wootten is a former Royal Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The Minister extends the temporary stop on work to sixty days to provide time for Mr Wootten's inquiry, which considers submissions from all parties.

The CLC meets with government agencies and industry groups to examine the long-term prospects for industries based on camel products. A number of communities in the CLC region are interested in devloping camel enterprises but have found only limited market opportunities. The CLC joined a steering committee to examine means to develop this industry.

The Power and Water Authority (PAWA) disconnects electricity at Kaltukatjara (Docker River) and Yuendumu. Although their power costs are being paid by Commonwealth grants, The Northern Territory Government is determined to force remote Aboriginal users to pay for their household power. In both Kaltukatjara and Yuendumu the whole community is disconnected- individual householders have never been approached to sign on as PAWA customers. It is almost three weeks before the power is reconnected so that individual households can make their own decisions.

The South Australian Minister for Environment and Planning orders Carl Strehlow to surrender the sacred objects he has offered for sale. The objects are photographed and catalogued by the South Australian Department of Environment and planning and the Northern Territory Governments Strehlow Research Centre. The CLC employs a consultant anthropologist to identify and consult the Aboriginal owners of the objects.

On 22 April 1992 the Chairman of the Central Land Council, Mr Long Pwerle, passed away at his home in Alekarenge. He had been Chairman of the CLC since 1988. Mr Long Pwerle was forty-six years old.

Titles for two Aboriginal- owned pastoral properties - McLaren Creek and Ti-Tree- are handed back. Ti -Tree Station, 22 kilometers north of Alice Springs, was purchased in 1976 by the Aboriginal Land Fund. McLaren Creek, 11 kilometers south of Tennant Creek, was purchased in April 1985 with money earned through mining on Aboriginal land.

The Minister for Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander Affairs Robert Tickner issues a declaration to protect the complex of sacred sites near Junction Waterhole for twenty years and prevent the construction of the proposed dam under s.10 of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage Protection Act. The Minister's action follows the recommendations of the Hal Wootten who was appointed to inquire into the issue. The dreamings that form these sites connect Aboriginal groups throughout the region. Luritja, Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara, Wlapiri, Warumungu and Yankunytjatjarta people have all actively supported the Arrents custodians throughout their long fight to defend these sacred sites.

Today's decision is a turning point. Too often in the past the development of Alice Springs has been destroyed and desecrated and the protests of Aboriginal people have been rubbished and ignored. Now at last we have seen some justice. Kumantjayi Ross, CLC director.

Papunya community meets with power and Water Authority (PAWA) representatives to discuss the Northern Territory Governments new power billing system. Community members are angry that they are being asked to pay while the non- Aboriginal employees who live in papaya get their power free of charge. The community meeting tells PAWA they would rather go without electricity than pay, and Papunya householders refuse to sign connection forms.

The Central land Council elects Mr Kunmanara Breadon as Chairman at the Councils meeting at Atnwengerrp. Mr Breadon is a Luritja man who lives at Wanmara, near Kings Canyon. He was a founding member of the CLC and served as Deputy Chairman between 1980 and 1986, and Acting Chairman in 1986.

A lot of people in Central Australia are still waiting for their land and for excisions on pastoral land. As Chairman I'm going to be strong and push for all those Aboriginal people who have nothing'. Kunmanara Breadon, CLC Chairman.

The South Australian Department of Environment and Planning seizes sacred objects and other material from the office and residence of Mrs Kathleen Strehlow, the widow of Professor Ted Strehlow.

On 3 June 1992 the High Court overturns the doctrine of terra nullius and recognises the existence of native title in the case of Eddie Mabo and Others v the State of Queensland. The decision brings Australian common law into line with international precedents and historical fact, by recognising the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders had, and in some cases still have, property rights in their traditional lands.

The Northern Territory Aboriginal Pastoral Industry Working Group initiates a major research project to support Aboriginal cattle enterprises and develop management plans for Aboriginal-owned pastoral properties.

The Northern Territory Ombudsman finds that the Power and Water Authority (PAWA) misled Hermansberg residents when they signed on as customers. At a community meeting the residents were told that their first bill would only be a 'sample' bill and not for payment. Later PAWA told the community residents would not only have to pay the first bill but would have to pay for power used since April - six weeks before they signed on. PAWA eventually agrees to start charging from 1 July.

More than sixty women from the CLC region join Aboriginal women from Western Australia, South Australia and other parts of the Northern Territory in a five-day meeting of celebration and ceremony at Yukawala Bore, south of Halls Creek.

Thirteen communities from the CLC region meet together at Papunya to form the One United Voice Association. The Association, sparked by the PAWA billing dispute, will promote greater autonomy for communities.

Representatives from One United voice join other Aboriginal community leaders to meet with the Commonwealth Grants Commission in late July to push for Commonwealth grants to be paid directly to communities rather than channelled through the Northern Territory government. ,

A consultant anthropologist reports that most Aboriginal custodians want sacred objects collected by Professor Ted Strehlow returned. The report identifies the custodians and rightful owners for over 150 sacred objects offered for sale by Professor Strehlow's son, Carl.

In the over whelming majority of cases the custodians asked for the objects to be returned directly to their control.

These objects are part of a living Aboriginal culture and law. Now that the custodians have been located and properly consulted there can be no question that the objects must be dealt with in accordance with their wishes. Kumantjayi Ross, CLC Director

The CLC and the Northern Territory Government negotiate an agreement to settle the Kanturrpa-Kanttaji land claim without the need for a hearing before the Aboriginal Land Commissioner. The historic agreement provides for 150 square kilometers to be granted as Aboriginal land under the Land Rights Act, with public access to Cabbage Gum bore and a guaranteed water supply for Tennant Creek. The CLC and the Northern Territory Government negotiate and agreement

Deputy Director Tracker Tilmouth and artist Frank Nelson Jakamarra to attend the tenth session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous populations tenth session in Geneva. They present a replica of the Barunga statement and a painting by Mr Nelson to the WGIP Chairperson, Madame Erica Daes.

Mistake Creek Cattle Station sells 1,300 Brahman-cross steers to Indonesia in an export contract worth $300,000. The Northern Territory Government takes legal action to assert ownership of the sacred objects and other material collected by Professor Ted Strehlow which was surrounded and seized by the South Australian Government. The Northern Territory Government claims that the objects belong in its Strehlow Research Centre.

The CLC meeting at Mistake Creek, west of Katherine condemns the Northern Territory Governments action and calls for the return of objects to Aboriginal control.

Aboriginal pastoralists from the CLC region meet at Hamilton Downs to discuss the development of management plans, an industry strategy and the work of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Pastoral Industry Working Group. The CLC opens an eastern regional office at Atnwengerrp.

The CLC meeting at Atula elects Rex Granites Japanangka to replace Barry Abbott as Deputy Chairman.

Governor - General Bill Hayden hands back title for 4,000 square kilometers of land to traditional owners for the Wakaya- Alyawarr land claim. The hand back ceremony at Purukwarurr, southeast of Tennant Creek, is the second attended by a governor-general. The first was the Uluru-Kata Tjuta handback in 1985.

Chief Minister Marshall Perron announces that his government will provide $600,000 in funding to any Aboriginal groups willing to establish breakaway land councils to breakdown the power of the CLC and NLC

What Mr Perron wants everyone to forget is that the CLC and NLC are representative organisations with statutory responsibilities to protect Aboriginal people's rights and represent the wishes of Aboriginal landowners. What seems to upset Mr Perron about the land councils is that we're good at our job. Kumantjayi Ross, CLC director.

Traditional landowners buy Loves Creek pastoral lease with the assistance of the CLC and a land claim is lodged on behalf of traditional landowners. The Central Australian Aboriginal Investment Corporation (CAIC) enters a joint venture with Peter Kittle Toyota and Peter Kittle Mitsubishi.

The Investment Company is an independent corporation backed by the CLC and other Aboriginal organisations to promote long-term investments for the Aboriginal community. Chief Minister Marshall Perron states in a speech to the legislative Assembly that his government is willing to discuss genuine offers but will wait to see the detail of Mr Perron's proposal.

In a cabinet reshuffle Mr Perron appoints Steve Hatton as Minister for Aboriginal Development. Arrernte, Anmatyerre, Pitjantjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra and Yankunytjatjara women from Central Australia meet to celebrate their victory in stopping the proposed dam at junction Waterhole six months earlier.

Three years after the memorandum of Agreement on living areas the Northern Territory Government approves the first new excision in the CLC region. The small living area on Huckitta Station was approved after agreement was negotiated between the traditional landowners and the pastoralist.

Prime Minister Paul Keating speaks at Redfern Park, Sydney, to mark the start of the Year Of Indigenous People.

By doing away with the bizarre conceit that this continent had no owners prior to the settlement of Europeans, Mabo establishes a fundamental truth and lays the basis for justice. It will be much easier to work from that basis than has ever been the case in the past. For that reason alone we should ignore the isolated outbreaks of hysteria and hostility of the past few months. Mabo is an historic decision- we can make it an historic turning point, the basis of a new relationship between indigenous and non- aboriginal Australians. The Message should be that there is nothing to fear or to lose in the recognition of historical truth, or the extension of social justice, or the deepening of Australian social democracy to include indigenous Australians. Prime Minister Paul Keating, 10 December 1992

The title for Kunoth Bore and Mount Solitaire stock reserves are handed back to traditional landowners. These are the last twenty-six stock reserves and stock route sections in the CLC region handed back under the 1989 Memorandum of Agreement between prime Minister bob Hawke and Chief Minister Marshall Perron.

The hand backs represent the fulfillment of the Commonwealths side of that agreement, but despite three years of applications not a single new community living area has been created for Aboriginal people by the Northern Territory Government. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Robert Tickner frequently criticizes the Northern Territory Governments failure but the Commonwealth takes no stronger action despite its constitutional power to do so.

Title to 3,090 square kilometers of the Warumungu land claim area is handed back at Kurraya outstation, east of Tennant Creek. This is the second part of the Warumungu lands to be returned but does not include the areas recommended for grant near Tennant Creek town boundaries.

I was happy to get the land, but sad that the relatives that started the fight for the title passed away witout seeing it come back to their kids and their grandchildren. Our main aim now in town is to teach the Europeans about our black history and what's happened there so they can fully understand why the land has been handed back, so we can work in with the community for our kids and for everyone. We want to keep a strong tie with the land and the culture. Ross Williams, Warumungu traditional landowner.