Central Land Council

CAMEL MUSTER SENDS OFF 40 CAMELS ...... Only 400,000 more camels left to go

Traditional owners from an Aboriginal land trust west of Hermannsburg are hopeful a trickle of camels being transported to an Alice Springs abattoir will become a flood in the near future.

The 40-odd camels taken from the Undurana Camel Farm near the Undurana Outstation recently were processed at Gary Dann’s Wamboden Abattoir.

Mr Dann is hopeful he’ll be able to take an increasing number of the feral animals as markets develop.

The camel farm was officially opened two years ago, but its progress as an enterprise for the traditional owners has been limited by a lack of viable markets, but with support from Santos’ Indigenous Enterprise Program, traditional owner Anslem Impu and the outstation are pushing ahead with the plan.

Improved prices are helping to make the project economically viable.

“We hope we can send more camels next time,” Mr Impu said. “It’s good for our young people to have work.

“We hope we can make some money by catching more camels.”

The main goal of the project is for it to lead to meaningful employment for traditional owners still living on their country.

The Central Land Council assisted with the recent muster on the Undurana Camel Farm through its staff in the rural enterprise unit.