Central Land Council

Barrow Creek (Kaytetye) title handover by the Governor General
27 August 2002

“We’ve been through two massacres and we’re still here. We’ve been scattered to the four winds, but remember you are not just someone living in a street or town somewhere, you are Kaytetye people”. Geoff Shaw speaking at the Thangkenharenge Resource Centre opening in April 1988.

The Handback

The Governor General will deliver a deed of grant to the Thangkenharenge Aboriginal Land Trust on behalf of traditional owners at a ceremony at Barrow Creek Old Telegraph Station at 11am on 27 August 2002. The land concerned is an area of approximately 12.5 square kilometres.

Historical significance

In 1872 the Barrow Creek Telegraph Station was built. This had a profound impact on the Kaytetye, who virtually overnight were confronted with a new human presence, new kinds of animals like goats, cows and horses and new technology, the telegraph line strung across their country.

A Kaytetye man used to tell the story of an old man who told him about first encountering the ‘singing wires’ of the telegraph line. The old man told of listening to the humming wires, and thinking the bees were alerting him to honey, or ‘sugarbag’ inside the poles. When he chopped down the pole, he found iron inside instead, which he said made an exceptional tomahawk.

The presence of permanent settlement and large numbers of stock put heavy pressure on Kaytetye resources and in 1874 a police officer was stationed at Barrow Creek to prevent cattle killing. A week later one of the most tragic events in the history of the region began. During the evening of 22 February 1874, a number of Aboriginal men descended from the hill behind the Telegraph station and fatally speared the stationmaster and linesman.

The Kaytetye say the attack was in response to the theft of their land and the exploitation of the women by the new settlers. Reprisal was swift and severe and many innocent Aboriginal people were killed in the months following the event. To this day, Kaytetye remember the stories told to them by their parents and grand parents about the frightening times. While the graves of the two Telegraph Station employees serve as historic reminders and a point of interest for tourists, there are no memorials to the many Aboriginal people who lost their lives in the killings of 1874.

The commencement and development of pastoral enterprises in Barrow Creek meant that Kaytetye people soon had to compete with livestock for water. The situation became serious during the 1890’s drought. A ration station was established at Barrow Creek in the 1890’s as a means to decrease cattle killings.

The Coniston massacre in the 1920’s on neighbouring Warlpiri lands saw many more Aboriginal people killed and those who escaped being shot fled their country.

In 1932, two developments occurred which again changed the lives of the Kaytetye people of Barrow Creek as the non-Aboriginal population in the region increased.

The first store and hotel was built with the help of a number of Kaytetye people as labourers. Also during this time the discovery of rich gold fields around Tennant precipitated a rush, which lasted till World War II. Two wolfram mines were established near Barrow Creek and Wauchope. Many Aboriginal people were employed operating windlasses and carting rock. Kaytetye people also began fossicking for minerals and selling the proceeds to local non-Aboriginals.

During World War II, an army staging base was set up at New Barrow, some 30 kilometres north east of Barrow Creek. A number of Kaytetye people were employed as labourers with the Kaytetye having fond memories of black and white working together during this time.

In the early 1980’s representatives from a number of Kaytetye families, assisted by Central Land Council staff, began moves to form a local association to obtain and develop land around Barrow Creek. In July 1986, the Thangkenharenge Aboriginal Corporation was incorporated and after title to a small portion of land was obtained
the Thangkenharenge Resource Centre, which services communities and outstations in the Barrow Creek area was formed.

Cultural significance

The traditional landowners call the claim area and its surrounds Thangkenharenge country. Significant sacred sites throughout the area have associations with the four dreamings in the region. Within the claim area is an important site, the birthplace of the Kaytetye language.

The Land Claim

The Barrow Creek land claim was lodged to the Aboriginal Land Commissioner on the 20th December 1996 by the CLC on behalf of claimants.

The Land Claim hearing commenced in April 1999 at Barrow Creek, 290 kilometres north of Alice Springs, where Justice Olney, was shown the birthplace of the Kaytetye language and culture.

Justice Olney gave his report and recommendation on the claim to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in December 1999. The Commissioner recommended that the land be handed back to traditional owners.

Despite a lack of housing and public facilities and the Stuart Highway running through the middle of Kaytetye country, traditional owners have continued to live in the area.

Secure title under the Land Rights Act will enable traditional owners to use and occupy the land in accordance with Aboriginal tradition. The security of tenure will allow traditional landowners to apply for funding for housing and essential services in the area.

21 August 2002