Central Land Council

Rose Report One

Executive summary and recommendations

This study has found that Aboriginal attitudes and perceptions of land management issues differ considerably from those of mainstream land managers. Among Aboriginal people attitudes to particular issues vary widely as a result of a number of influences including historical association, practical experience and current land tenure situation. Aboriginal attitudes are shaped by Aboriginal world views and are inseparable from the economic and social situation in which people find themselves. Many of the concerns of non-Aboriginal land managers are not shared by Aboriginal people.

Explanations for the nature and condition of land and resources have their root in Aboriginal culture rather than in the western scientific paradigm. This is an issue of great importance when looking at any of the activities which take place on Aboriginal land. A key recommendation of this report is the need for improved dialogue and information flow between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal land managers.

Aboriginal people see caring for country as an integral part of living on their land. Caring for country forms part of the relationship individuals have with each other and with the land. It is not seen as a separate activity which must be "carried out". From this perspective the most important issues are land ownership and access to land so that Aboriginal people can care for their country. The responsibilities individuals have under Aboriginal Law to take care of the land are then able to be carried out. Sacred sites are looked after and the proper relationship between people and their land can be maintained. The stories for the country are passed to the younger generation and the land is looked after according to Aboriginal Law. Increasingly Aboriginal people are taking on "western" perceptions related to land issues into their world view. Increasing contact with white land managers and the need to face a range of new challenges in the management of their land are the principal agents for this change.

Changes in the ecology of the lands and the introduction of feral animals and weeds are forces beyond Aboriginal control which require new and different approaches to looking after the land. Aboriginal people consulted in this study expressed a variety of views about the use of fire in relation to looking after country. On most of the Aboriginal Land Trust areas people said that fire is actively used to protect sacred sites and to maintain areas used for hunting. Using fire is seen as a natural part of being on the country.

An issue identified by some respondents on Land Trusts was that lack of access to reliable transport reduced the amount of burning they could do in the more remote areas. For people with limited control over their land, for example those living on pastoral properties, burning was often seen as a bad thing to do. Stories were recounted where white pastoralists had explained that burning country was not an acceptable practice. Some people no longer burned the country because of the damage it would cause to fences, bores and cattle. Aboriginal people have a strong sense of the need to look after their land. Most respondents were firm in the belief that they had the knowledge and ability to look after their country in the traditional Aboriginal way. At the same time there are land management issues to which traditional Aboriginal knowledge does not apply.

Aboriginal people need to have access to information about these new issues and to find a balance between the traditional and new methods that are needed to look after their land today.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the Land Councils, ATSIC and representative Aboriginal organisations: Foster and support Aboriginal land management knowledge through:

promoting the recognition of Aboriginal rights as landowners and as people practicing an indigenous culture to control and manage their lands and resources. developing a structured statement of environmental and land management policies based on considerations important to Aboriginal people such as ownership and access to traditional land, protection of sacred sites, establishment of communities and living areas, maintaining cultural and social control and maintaining traditional land use and management practices.

promoting formal recognition of the role of Aboriginal land management practices in contemporary Aboriginal land use.

Carry out research in order to develop guidelines and recommendations on a range of issues related to sustainable land use planning for Aboriginal land. Such research would establish an Aboriginal context for sustainability by focusing on: the sustainability of contemporary land uses including resource use around communities and living areas and bush tucker collection, culturally appropriate planning processes, providing opportunities for Aboriginal land owners to have access to scientific knowledge in order to make decisions about land use and land management.

Seek to establish programs for information transfer from Aboriginal people to government agencies and the broader public identifying: the aspirations and perceptions of Aboriginal landowners the information needs of Aboriginal land managers

Seek to establish information transfer programs to provide information to Aboriginal people about the land management issues and priorities of government departments and their programs and policies.

It is recommended that government departments and land management agencies: Tailor their extension programs to take account of Aboriginal perceptions, recognising that: the land management priorities of Aboriginal people may be very different to those of non-Aboriginal groups the issues which drive extension programs may not be recognised as issues by Aboriginal people. Land degradation The overall priority of land degradation issues for the majority of Aboriginal people is low. There is more emphasis placed on gaining access to a basic level of services such as water, health and housing. While these needs remain, Aboriginal people will not be able to place the same emphasis on land degradation issues as do other sectors of society. Aboriginal people perceive land degradation issues differently to Europeans.

The general level of awareness of land degradation issues (as they are understood by European land managers) among Aboriginal people in central Australia is extremely low. Conversely, the nature of the "degradation" issues which concern Aboriginal people is not well understood by the broader society. When discussing land degradation issues the terminology usually associated with these issues was not understood by Aboriginal people consulted.

For example, it was possible to discuss how the country might change when there are too many cattle but not to discuss the concept of overgrazing. There is also an inability for some people to take appropriate action even where they are concerned over land degradation issues. Aboriginal people are not well informed about organisations and institutions that deal with land management issues. The majority of land management organisations are seen as inappropriate for Aboriginal needs. Aboriginal people need access to information which is appropriate for their current level of awareness and the current problems they perceive.

There have, to date, been few opportunities for Aboriginal people to access this sort of information. One of the main ways Aboriginal people get information about land management is through exposure to the practices and attitudes of other Aboriginal land managers. An effective avenue for the provision of new information would be through demonstration projects, visits to other land holders and communities and workshops or meetings on Aboriginal land Recommendations

It is recommended that the Land Councils, ATSIC and representative Aboriginal organisations: Support Aboriginal landowners in initiating Aboriginal landcare programs based on their particular aspirations and concerns for their country through; supporting initiatives to provide greater access by Aboriginal landowners to national, State and Territory land management and Landcare programs integrating the development of Aboriginal landcare programs with employment and training programs based on community aspirations seeking to establish ongoing funding support for Aboriginal land management and landcare programs based on the continuing need for stewardship of the arid lands.

It is recommended that government departments and land management agencies use the information on Aboriginal aspirations and perceptions provided in this report to: Assess the relevance of their programs for Aboriginal land managers. Review their programs for Aboriginal land managers taking into account the need for:

effective and ongoing local and regional consultation processes to improve the relevance of their programs at the local level.

identifications of the land management and degradation problems which are priorities for Aboriginal people and those which are not.

the provision of information in a form and at a level that is relevant to the intended users of that information.

Develop communication strategies for discussing land management issues which are not Aboriginal priorities.

Pastoralism

Aboriginal people have been involved with the pastoral industry from its earliest days. Whist for many people pastoralism brought dispossession from their traditional lands it also provided employment and the ability to remain in contact with country. For many Aboriginal groups today pastoralism has become a vital part of living on their country. Pastoral aspirations vary as a result of past experiences both with cattle work and with the bureaucracy controlling Aboriginal cattle enterprises. There will continue to be interest in setting up cattle projects as more Aboriginal people gain access to land. One of the main reasons people want to have pastoral projects is that they know cattle work and identify with that lifestyle. In communities associated with cattle projects the benefits in terms of employment and activity are seen as very important. Income generated from a project was also consistently cited as a key benefit derived from such projects. It is difficult to gauge the level of support across a community for individual cattle projects. Those involved with the project are generally very positive about the benefits accrued and the merits of the project continuing.

Outside of the cattle project, however, support can be low. Many people feel that cattle projects attract more than their fair share of funding support. A further complication is that people outside of the project can be reluctant to criticise if they are not traditional owners of the country. Many older men involved with cattle projects complain that the young men are no longer interested in carrying on the work because of problems with grog and other interests. However, many pastoral projects are the focus of work and other activities for the young men and are therefore seen as a way to overcome problems such as alcohol or substance abuse. These positive aspects of pastoral projects were often mentioned by the women from a community. In many situations the expectations of the benefits which might be gained from setting up cattle projects can be unrealistically high. In some areas there also appears to be a lack of knowledge about the responsibilities and requirements of people involved in pastoral enterprises at a number of levels. Many cattle company directors are not aware of their legal liabilities and of the roles required of them in the running of the cattle company. Managers often have poor financial management skills and tend to focus on animal management rather than land management.

Aboriginal stockmen place an emphasis on animal handling skills but lack the desire to take on further tasks such as those requiring technical expertise. The Aboriginal cattle projects which were approached during this research were usually small ventures carrying relatively low stock numbers. Discussion about management plans and strategies for management during drought was limited indicating that these issues were of little concern to these projects. There is generally little preparation for management in dry times as decisions are made on the spur of the moment, rather than on the basis of a longer term plan. Some cattle projects have been run with little or no funding support from outside bodies. In some cases this has occurred by choice as the managers of the project feel that funding lessens their control. Several cattle projects have refused to apply for funding on these grounds.

The long history of innapropriate projects being imposed on communities and the bureaucratic requirements of funding agencies has limited Aboriginal perceptions of the possibilities for managing the direction of projects themselves. Very few people have a clear idea of where they fit into a picture which is clouded with a plethora of government departments, each of which has its own area of responsibility and may be represented by a different face each time it visits the community. For many people project funding has meant that a management regime is imposed from outside. As a result opportunities to manage projects for themselves, learn from their own failures, and be accountable for their own actions, have been limited.

Recommendations

It is recommended that:

• The future development of Aboriginal and pastoral projects involve detailed consultation over Aboriginal aspirations, perceptions and skills and that these factors should be central to any further planning for pastoral development.

It is recommended that ATSIC and the Central Land Council:

Continue to support the development of pastoral operations which are desired by Aboriginal landowners only where pastoralism: can be managed sustainably within environmental constraints and within the context of other desired land uses and the aspirations and skills of all community members. is recognised as one part of a suite of activities which may be undertaken on Aboriginal properties,

Carry out further economic and environmental research into the sustainability of pastoral land use with reference to: the costs and benefits of a range of models for pastoral activity which integrate with other land uses, integrating commercial aspects with social and cultural benefits.

Play a central role in the development and implementation of training and education programs focusing on: training for cattle company directors emphasising liabilities and responsibilities, financial and land management skills for cattle project managers, technical and management information for cattle company workers.

Tourism

Aboriginal people gave a complex and diverse range of responses to tourism issues.

They recognise a general shift in their attitudes to tourism, with increasing acceptance of tourist activity on their country. There is also increasing interest in becoming involved with tourism ventures, albeit with little awareness of what such involvement might realistically entail. In general the presence of tourists on country is passively accepted provided there are certain "safeguards". There are many places where tourists should not go and unless these places are restricted there is likely to be little support for tourism development. Tourists are likened to children, ignorant of the important things in Aboriginal Law and as a consequence they have to be kept under control, perhaps kept to particular areas, and shown country only with traditional owners who can guide them properly.

The outstation environment can be seen from a different perspective. Tourism is often not welcome to most outstation residents. A motivation for setting up outstations is to limit contact with others thereby fostering a more healthy focus on family and country. For this reason outstations are often aligned to sacred and significant sites associated with the Dreaming which gives the outstation community its identity. Aboriginal people face many difficulties in their attempts to develop tourism enterprises. There are many skills required to run a small business operation such as a tourism enterprise. Few Aboriginal people have these skills and it is difficult to gain access to the training and experience needed to develop them. Many people seem to harbour misconceptions about the amount of work that might be needed to run such ventures. Those who are currently involved with tourism suggested that the level of support provided to assist them was inadequate.

Recommendations

It is recommended that: The Central Land Council and representative Aboriginal organisations continue to seek the inclusion of Aboriginal interests in the future development of tourist industry policy and tourism enterprise development. Aboriginal landowners interested in tourism and related ventures are provided with information and training to allow them to make informed decisions about the nature of their future involvement with the tourist industry.

Conservation

European notions of conservation are not well understood by Aboriginal people. This stems from the way Aboriginal people relate to the natural world through their framework of understanding as set down in the Dreaming. The non-Aboriginal concept of conservation management involves active intervention in the natural world to attempt to control the processes and events occurring there. It relies on the premise that the relationships and interactions occurring in the natural world can be understood and thus managed.

Aboriginal "management" of the environment is understood through song and ceremony. It is seen to be more of integrated process whereby knowledge of the natural world is gathered through personal experience and passed on through tradition and culture. Aboriginal management links people to their environment rather than giving them dominion over it.

Aboriginal relationships to land are defined in terms of culture and site protection, land usage and harvesting of natural resources. To be accepted and understood by Aboriginal people conservation practices need to be consistent with those things. It follows then that an essential component of considering Aboriginal involvement in conservation management on Aboriginal land is a recognition of the important Aboriginal values in relation to owning, controlling and managing land. Because of these differences in perception the motives of conservation management agencies are often obscure to Aboriginal people. An example is the confusion caused by feral animal control programs.

It is not clear why conservation managers should select some animals (native species) for protection and not others (introduced species). Aboriginal people believe that all animals have a right to be on country. Rangers should take care of all of them, they say. The worth of an animal lies in its ability to live and flourish in the environment, not in its claim to being an original component of the fauna. There are many explanations from Aboriginal people as to why native species have declined. The main reason given is that the old people who held the Law for those animals have passed away.

People have been alienated from their traditional lands and have not been able to take care of them through traditional practices as set down in Aboriginal Law. The strong ties between people and the land have been changed by the coming of Europeans and the balance between people and the environment has changed. For many Aboriginal people the extinction of the animals which form such a substantial part of their culture is not fully accepted. They believe that they must exist somewhere, perhaps in remote parts of the country, or in the cities where white people live. Some people believe that the native animals have been taken away by whitefellas who sometimes bring them back as dead specimens. Aboriginal people seem to have passively accepted that these species have gone and have adapted their activities to fit in with the changes in their environment. Aboriginal people are generally supportive of proposals to reintroduce endangered species to their country, but they also have a not unreasonable scepticism about the likelihood of these programs succeeding. In their opinion the animals might be brought back but whether they will be able to survive without the proper Aboriginal Law to look after them is uncertain. Researchers have used the re-introduction argument to recruit Aboriginal support for their work but the outcomes hoped for have not been forthcoming. As a result some Aboriginal people question the motivation for such programs.

Recommendations

It is recommended that:

Conservation agencies acknowledge the importance to Aboriginal people of gaining secure title to land or entering into joint management arrangements over land where there is a conservation management interest.

The Central Land Council continue to support traditional owners in carrying out their traditional land management activities through seeking to have government land management instruments recognise and support traditional management practices.

responding to Aboriginal requests for information and assistance with management activities. providing assistance for the practical implementation of management activities where applicable.

The land councils and representative Aboriginal organisations examine the issue of Aboriginal intellectual property and environmental knowledge rights to: develop provisions to protect Aboriginal rights of ownership of this knowledge. increase Aboriginal control over the directions and outcomes of environmental research using Aboriginal knowledge.

facilitate the involvement of Aboriginal people in conservation research of benefit to Aboriginal people.

Feral Animals

Feral animals which are often regarded as pests by non-Aboriginal people are viewed differently by Aboriginal people. Through long association with these species they are seen to belong on the country and in some cases they have taken on important roles in Aboriginal life. Where feral animals are in large numbers and damage the country Aboriginal people recognise the impact but generally do not connect such issues with a need to carry out special forms of management. In general Aboriginal people do not understand the rationale for feral animal control programs.

The effects of feral animals on the country are not seen as a cause for concern. It is seen as a natural phenomenon that animals eat the grass and raise a bit of dust. To separate the impact of feral animals from native species on these grounds is not seen as logical. People see the contemporary ecosystem as an integrated whole so they don't see some species as belonging while others do not. In many areas feral animals are looked on as a resource of the country. Their presence confirms that the land is productive and people derive pleasure from seeing them in the wild. Aboriginal people are generally happy to support programs for harvesting feral animals and to receive the benefits that these programs provide. Control programs which are aimed at reducing numbers or eradicating local populations without making use of the animals are not generally supported. Shooting animals to waste was seen as the least desirable method for control.

Recommendations

It is recommended that: Continued assistance be provided to Aboriginal landowners to develop feral animal capture and utilisation programs concentrating on: marketing information and assistance, technical and financial management information and assistance, accessing funds to establish locally based capture programs, regional networks which integrate and coordinate individual capture programs, the identification and development of avenues for value adding for animal products. The Land Councils and representative Aboriginal organisations should support Aboriginal representation in industry bodies involved with the utilisation of feral animals and animal products. Further research be carried out on the local and regional benefits of feral animals utilisation with special reference to: the economic implications of income substitution processes and local trading in feral animals and feral animal products.

Mining

Aboriginal people have a range of attitudes to mining. Some people support mining on their country because of the financial rewards they can accrue. Others are against mining because of the disruption it can cause to the physical and social environment. One of the main concerns that people raised when they said that they did not want mining on their land was that mining operations were dangerous because of their possible impact on sacred sites and through the physical danger of the mines themselves.

It is believed there is danger to those carrying out the mining, to Aboriginal people who should be looking after the land and, in some cases, to the rest of society through the possible cataclysmic consequences of transgressions of Aboriginal Law. Other concerns Aboriginal people have about mining relate to social impacts. Mining interest on Aboriginal land and the distribution of mining royalties place pressure on Aboriginal social and cultural structures. Some of this pressure relates to a perceived gender bias which has occurred during consultations and in royalty distribution. There is also a general lack of understanding of the roles and interactions of the various agencies involved with mining on Aboriginal land. There is a need for educational programs covering such issues as the rights of traditional owners and mining companies, royalty payments from mining, consultation with women, the role of the Land Council, the reasons for the consultation process, the functions of the Aboriginal Benefits Trust Account.

Recommendations

It is recommended that: The Central Land Council further investigate the concerns of traditional owners in relation to mine-site rehabilitation and ensure that traditional owners understand the extent to which existing mine-sites will be rehabilitated.

• The Central Land Council continues to ensure that traditional owners are given access to appropriate information on the environmental impacts and the likely costs and benefits of mining activities on their lands.
• The Central Land Council ensures that information is available in an appropriate form explaining the roles and responsibilities of the Land Council, mining company and traditional owners in all phases of mining activity.
• The Central Land Council continues to monitor the social and cultural impacts of mining and royalty distribution and provide information to traditional owners on these impacts.