Central Land Council

Land Rights News

Tennant Creek Rangers

Like many places in the Northern Territory , Tennant Creek can be tough for young Aboriginal people. But a group of young Warumungu men and women calling themselves the Muru-warinyi ankkul Rangers (meaning 'from the bush') have been hard at work fencing, monitoring wildlife and studying at Batchelor College in a bid to get themselves jobs and careers in land management.

The group – assisted by the Central Land Council – are now finding they are in some demand by mining company Giants Reef, the Heritage Commission, Parks and Wildlife and pastoralists wanting land management work done.

They are particularly proud of 17 kilometres of fencing around the Philip Creek Mission block to keep cattle out of the waterholes. The group are all Traditional Owners for this country.

"We did it together – us and the fellas," says Anthea Graham. "We had a camp at a waterhole for two months and it was great. We did the droppers and the fellas put the posts in."

Now that the cattle have been kept off the block the group are monitoring the return of wildlife and vegetation by noting what birds are living in the area and what small creatures are living in the grey mud at the bottom of the waterholes.

The rangers say the permanent waterholes were clearer and had plenty of lilies and fish in their parents' day but are now muddy and lifeless after years of cattle watering at them.

"Right now we are setting up photo points to see changes. We are hoping to see this country change next year. It looks better than it did," Ingrid Williams said.

The rangers have been busy on other projects also.
"We did some plant and weed surveys at Davenport Murchison National Park and and we did weeding at Muckaty Station. We're doing studies at Batchelor in land management and conservation and we're writing a book on plants in our language (Warumungu).

Graham said their group also did work for mining companies such as fencing and filling up holes with cracker dust.

"Maybe they will want revegetation next year. We also did some work looking for signs of Bilbys and digging trenches in the Tanami to look for marsupial moles. We are mainly looking for animals that are endangered or extinct," she said.

Other work has included fixing soil erosion problems at Kunjarra (Devils Pebbles), learning where and how to look for bush tucker with older people and landscaping.