Central Land Council

The Land is Always Alive

Pushed off our country

The lack of progress on community living areas and excisions has been a source of great frustration for the CLC and traditional owners ever since the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was passed. Many Aboriginal people have been forced off their traditional land by the pastoral industry and forced to move into town or squat without secure title or decent services.

The need for government action to address the needs of these people has been clearly identified by government reports since 1971 when the Gibb Report recommended that these groups be given small excisions on pastoral leases to establish community living areas. But because of opposition from the Cattlemen's Association and the Northern Territory Government very little has been achieved in more than twenty years: Aboriginal people are locked out of the pastoral stations that were built with their labour.

The argument for justice was eloquently expressed by one senior Arrernte man: We worked hard but we got nothing.

We've been pushed off our country. We've got to go back there. My poor people they've forgotten their ways today. They've gone mad and lazy. We've got to go back to our country. We've got to make the deaf listen We've got to teach our people.

Tired of waiting, this man and his family set up camp at Undoolya Bore and began squatting on a stock reserve with nothing more than a few tents. Unfortunately this old man died before he saw any land provided for his family