Central Land Council

Mungkarta cattle deal gets the thumbs up

Traditional owners and a lessee to a five-year pastoral agreement, Wally Klein, from Orange Creek station south of Alice Springs, have given the thumbs up to the first 12 months of the deal at a meeting on the land trust south of Tennant Creek.

The deal requires Mr Klein to pay a leasing fee to run cattle on the land trust, which he uses to upgrade infrastructure such as bores and fencing on the property.

Traditional owners have committed their leasing fees to upgrading the infrastructure on Mungkarta and about half a dozen young men from the community are being employed by Mr Klein on the land trust.

The agreement has been coordinated under the Indigenous Pastoral Program which involves the Central Land Council, the Indigenous Land Corporation, the Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry, Fisheries and Mines and the Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association.

Traditional owner David Duggie says the deal with Mr Klein has brought some real benefits for the Mungkarta Land Trust.

“We look at what he does and you know it’s really good yeah. Probably you know we got to look him up and check on what he do and how he’s getting on and yeah he’s doing very well,” MrDuggie said.

“Been a change yeah like before anything didn’t change and now we see everything is changing.

Another traditional owner Joe Murphy agrees with the positive outlook.

“Everything is good. Fine,” he said. “It’s good yeah.

“We talk to each other.

“Young people working with him on the job working, cleaning up, doing all the right things.”

Mr Murphy said the deal requiring the lessee Wally Klein to renovate the property means traditional owners will have a station in good order when the agreement ends.

“It’s going to be good for the future. When everything’s all set up properly,” he said.
Another benefit of the deal is the training and work opportunities for young men in the Mungkarta community.

“That’ll come (young people trained up and regularly working) and they know they can do it,” Mr Murphy said.

“We are all happy. Young people working on it - that’s good.

“It’s good for the country too. It’s looking different now. It’s all working good. I’m happy about that too.”

The lessee Mr Klein said the pastoral agreement with the Mungkarta land trust had given his business a lifeline after years of drought.

“We’ve been here for 12 months now and it only took us 12 months to set this lease up where we could put cattle here and we’re very fortunate we had somewhere to go like I’ve said we’ve had seven years of drought and we’re very very happy with the way we’ve been able to replace the improvements and the fencing and that and very very happy with the help we’ve been getting from the traditional owners and the young fellas here have been excellent,” Mr Klein said.

“So far it’s been really good. The enthusiasm we’ve been getting here is unbelievable. We’ve still got our drinking problems and the days when they don’t come to work but the opportunity is there and they’ve been really really good and helpful.

“I can see it just getting bigger and better every year and to get to a stage where it’s a viable proposition.”

Mr Klein said he’d recommend the pastoral agreement path to other pastoralists.

“It’s good and there’s miles of Aboriginal country available and well, Aboriginal people themselves are asking to have something done with their places and for bores to be reconstructed and they can see that what’s happened in the past is just totally neglected.

“They want it to happen and the other groups and other places can see like Ooratipra, the things they are doing there, they are quite a few years in front of us but they’re very very happy with those sorts of projects. Which is good I reckon. They can see some future down the end of the line.

"I also get some satisfaction out of being able to help. I think it’s a good step in the right direction," Mr Klein said.

“There’s miles of opportunities out there and it’s got to be good for both parties. When I went to school there was no division and I think in the last 20 to 30 years the division between the cultures has, could have caused a few problems. I honestly do, so I think these people are asking for something to be happening for their country and they are really enthusiastic about it. They are.”