Aboriginal Land Management Research Articles

The Wet: Shifting Seasons, Climate Change and Natural Cycles in Cape York Peninsula, Queensland

ABSTRACTLand managers in Cape York Peninsula, far northeast Australia, hold different ideas around the causes of climate variability. Understandings of changes in climate are underpinned by particular environmental knowledges, values, and practices. These understandings are articulated in the context of the wet season, when land managers must adapt to the changing duration and intensity of the rainfall each year. The wet and dry seasons function as cyclical agents that precipitate different modes of living and working among different groups of people in Cape York. Where settler‐descended cattle graziers tend to frame climate variability as ‘natural cycles’, Aboriginal rangers link climate variability to anthropogenic climate change. The tendency among Aboriginal rangers to link these changes to anthropogenic climate change is a result of the interpenetration of a Western scientific land management model with an Aboriginal land management model in the formal co‐management of protected areas. From this context, a ‘spatial vernacular’ of interculturally produced climate‐related knowledge emerges. The explanatory models different land managers draw on to understand climate variation in relation to seasonal water, changes to the wet season, and the increased frequency of extreme weather events are linked to their livelihoods, lifeways, and the forms of environmental knowledge they value.

Concurrent 11. Presentation for: INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture – proudly partnering with Indigenous Groups in the Northern Territory

Presented on Wednesday 18 May: Session 11 The INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture has established strong partnerships with the Northern Territory Government (NTG), cultural organisations and Traditional Owner groups in the Northern Territory to deliver social and environmental offset programs. The key governance model for delivery of the offset programs is the Ichthys Project Voluntary Offset Agreement (IPVOA), which commits $91 M AUD over a 40-year period through a suite of offset programs. This paper focuses on the journey to partner with the NTG-run Aboriginal Ranger Grants Program (ARGP). Through the IPVOA, INPEX and its Ichthys Joint Venture participants will contribute $24 M AUD over 22 years, to the ARGP, for Aboriginal Ranger programs addressing specific species and their associated habitat throughout the Top End. This is the first time where industry has contributed to the ARGP to deliver positive outcomes in the NT. This has been achieved by fostering collaborative, engaging and trustworthy relationships with the Commonwealth and NT governments; engaging with the Aboriginal Land Management Advisory Group; and meeting with Aboriginal Ranger groups. The key has been finding a common ground between the perspectives and the priorities of all stakeholders for how best to deliver conservation management on country in the NT. This common ground is likely to evolve over the next 22 years as the INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture and NTG deliver environmental outcomes, promote a connection to country and empower Aboriginal Ranger groups to better manage their country for future generations. To access the presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture – proudly partnering with Indigenous Groups in the Northern Territory

The INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture has established strong partnerships with the Northern Territory Government (NTG), cultural organisations and Traditional Owner groups in the Northern Territory to deliver social and environmental offset programs. The key governance model for delivery of the offset programs is the Ichthys Project Voluntary Offset Agreement (IPVOA), which commits $91 M AUD over a 40-year period through a suite of offset programs. This paper focuses on the journey to partner with the NTG-run Aboriginal Ranger Grants Program (ARGP). Through the IPVOA, INPEX and its Ichthys Joint Venture participants will contribute $24 M AUD over 22 years, to the ARGP, for Aboriginal Ranger programs addressing specific species and their associated habitat throughout the Top End. This is the first time where industry has contributed to the ARGP to deliver positive outcomes in the NT. This has been achieved by fostering collaborative, engaging and trustworthy relationships with the Commonwealth and NT governments; engaging with the Aboriginal Land Management Advisory Group; and meeting with Aboriginal Ranger groups. The key has been finding a common ground between the perspectives and the priorities of all stakeholders for how best to deliver conservation management on country in the NT. This common ground is likely to evolve over the next 22 years as the INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture and NTG deliver environmental outcomes, promote a connection to country and empower Aboriginal Ranger groups to better manage their country for future generations.

People Needs Country: the symbiotic effects of landcare and wellbeing for Aboriginal peoples and their countries

ABSTRACT Objective An innate connection to traditional land is often central to Australian Aboriginal culture. The aim of this study was to explore the symbiotic links between the health of Australian Aboriginal peoples and their Country. Method This study utilised a multiple case-study design to extract common themes from four cases of Aboriginal land management, which typify different major ecoregions found throughout Australia and featured Aboriginal voices discussing land management and Aboriginal wellbeing. Results Aboriginal wellbeing was consistently linked to the promotion of integrated landcare programs. Engaging with cultural landcare practices was perceived as beneficial to both Aboriginal peoples and their Country. Landcare was found to complement better physical and mental health in addition to community and individual wellbeing. An ongoing narrative describing the symbiotic nature of “healthy Country; healthy people” was established. Conclusions Our findings indicate that caring for Country may be beneficial for the social and emotional wellbeing of Australian Aboriginal peoples and demonstrate that further research in this area is needed. Key Points What is already known about this topic: A deep, innate connection to traditional land is often central to Australian Aboriginal peoples. Settler-colonial practices have disrupted Aboriginal peoples’ connection to Country. Aboriginal wellbeing is holistic and includes connection to Country. What this topic adds: Engaging with traditional cultural landcare practices was seen as beneficial to both Aboriginal peoples and their Country. Landcare complemented better physical and mental health in addition to community and individual wellbeing; “healthy Country; healthy people”. Further research in this area is needed to develop strength-based psychological models.

Indigenous Land Management in Peri-Urban Landscapes: An Australian Example

ABSTRACTThis article examines roles, opportunities, and challenges for Indigenous land management in rapidly developing landscapes through a case study of Bunya Bunya Country Aboriginal Corporation, a not-for-profit organization on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. An analysis of data collected through semistructured interviews, participant observation, and analysis of secondary sources reveals that Aboriginal land managers work in a variety of roles to manage issues affecting the local environment and cultural heritage sites. These efforts are challenged by the absence of Native Title and colonial land management policies, which restrict Aboriginal involvement in land management. We conclude that there is a need for alternative pathways to engage with Aboriginal land managers who cannot, or choose not to, proceed with Native Title. Decolonized decision-making tools and sustainable enterprises are viable opportunities that partially address these challenges and could deliver tangible socio-economic and cultural benefits to local Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

Once were foragers: The archaeology of agrarian Australia and the fate of Aboriginal land management

The arrival of European agriculturalists emphatically disrupted the foraging economies of Australia Aboriginal peoples. Introduced farming based on non-native species was practiced over southern and eastern Australia, while much of arid and tropical Australia supported ranch pastoralism. Thus the primary setting for culture contact between Aboriginal societies and outsiders involved agrarian colonialism. In this configuration, some hunter-foragers became herders, domestic animal handlers, and gardeners. The transformation occurred quickly, within a single generation, although was essentially 'uneven' across families, kin groups, and regions. Much of the unevenness resulted from the social and political realities of colonial Australia, alongside environmental parameters. While Australia provides insight into how foraging societies transformed when faced with farmers, these changes occurred in specific historical contexts wherein the contingencies of agrarian colonialism greatly restricted the range of possibilities for Aboriginal people while destabilizing prevailing indigenous anthropogenic environments. This paper argues for an archaeology of agrarian Australia that aims to understand the emergence of Australian historical landscapes from combined Holocene Australian and Early Modern European roots.

Negotiating Indigenous benefits from payment for ecosystem service (PES) schemes

This paper draws on research conducted with Aboriginal land managers across Northern Australia to show how and why payments for ecosystem service (PES) schemes should be framed around Indigenous rights to and relationships with their traditional estates. PES schemes offer opportunities to recognize and support Aboriginal communities' land and sea management knowledge and practices, and there is strong evidence that Indigenous communities are seeking to engage with such schemes. We focus on Aboriginal savanna landscape management, particularly traditional burning practices, to extend the ecosystem services framework to recognize Indigenous values and interactions with their lands as a critical service for Indigenous well-being. Drawing on case-study analysis of PES projects negotiated to support Aboriginal fire management programs across Northern Australia, we show how cultural ecosystem services can be applied to represent the active, dynamic and often interdependent relationships inherent in Indigenous human-environment relationships.

Biomass uptake and fire as controls on groundwater solute evolution on a southeast Australian granite: aboriginal land management hypothesis

Abstract. The chemical composition of groundwater and surface water is often considered to be dominated by water–rock interactions, particularly weathering; however, it has been increasingly realised that plant uptake can deplete groundwater and surface water of nutrient elements. Here we show, using geochemical mass balance techniques, that water–rock interactions do not control the hydrochemistry at our study site within a granite terrain in southwest Victoria, Australia. Instead the chemical species provided by rainfall are depleted by plant biomass uptake and exported, predominantly through fire. Regular landscape burning by Aboriginal land users is hypothesized to have caused the depletion of chemical species in groundwater for at least the past 20 000 yr by accelerating the export of elements that would otherwise have been stored within the local biomass. These findings are likely to be applicable to silicate terrains throughout southeast Australia, as well as similar lithological and climatic regions elsewhere in the globe, and contrast with studies of groundwater and surface water chemistry in higher rainfall areas of the Northern Hemisphere, where water–rock interactions are the dominant hydrochemical control.

Attention to four key principles can promote health outcomes from desert Aboriginal land management

We identify four principles that can promote the prospects of health outcomes for desert Aboriginal people from livelihoods engaged with land management. The principles were derived inductively using a grounded theory approach, drawing on primary research that used qualitative and participatory methods, and from relevant literature and theoretical frameworks. International and Australian literature offers evidence that supports desert Aboriginal people’s view that their health depends on their relationship with their land. Engagement with land management can lead desert Aboriginal people to feel that their own actions are consistent with their own sense of the right and proper way for them to behave towards land, family and community. This increased ‘sense of control’ impacts positively on health by moderating the impact of sustained stress from health risk factors in the environment and lifestyle. The four principles focus on underlying characteristics of Aboriginal land management that are important to promoting this increased ‘sense of control’: (1) Aboriginal land management governance recognises and respects Aboriginal custom and tradition, and is adaptive; (2) learning is embraced as a life-long process; (3) relationships are recognised as very important; and (4) partnerships give priority to doing things that all parties agree are important. These principles are presented as hypotheses that warrant further development and testing. While they do not account specifically for the impact of lifestyle and environmental factors on health, we expect that the increased sense of control that desert Aboriginal people are likely to develop when involved in Aboriginal land management that applies these principles will moderate the impact of such factors on their health. The principles offer a starting point for further development of criteria and standards for good practice in Aboriginal land management, potentially including an environmental certification scheme that integrates social and environmental outcomes.

Reinforcing alternative economies: self-motivated work by central Anmatyerr people to sell Katyerr (Desert raisin, Bush tomato) in central Australia

This paper examines an alternative economy in the Anmatyerr region of central Australia, with reference to the ‘hybrid economy’ concept. We argue that this concept has application in recognising emerging Aboriginal economies surrounding the utilisation and management of natural resources. In particular, we examine the ‘bush harvest’ of one species – where Aboriginal people sell Desert raisin (Katyerr or Bush tomato) to traders who then on-sell to manufacturers and retailers. This seasonal economy intermittently injects relatively significant amounts of cash into households (but unaccounted for in census figures). Although some groups have been selling bush harvest produce for up to 30 years, it is increasingly gaining momentum with a larger market developing. Yet, there is a risk that this burgeoning market and the mainstream interest in horticulture will fail to recognise the value of local Aboriginal motivations that drive the customary harvest activity. Nevertheless, there is increased federal government recognition, via the Central Land Council, of the value of Aboriginal people as local land managers; as rangers. This in turn has provided resources to promote and encourage this harvest through the recognition of Aboriginal land management practices, such as seasonal burning to encourage the crop’s growth.

Managing the landscapes of the Australian Northern Territory for sustainability: Visions, issues and strategies for successful planning

The Northern Territory in Australia is a unique place. The region covers one sixth of the land mass of Australia with a population of only 200 000 people. One third of this population is indigenous and just over half of the land is under Aboriginal land title (mostly communal ownership). The landscapes in this region are still in a relatively good condition yet a large proportion of the indigenous population that reside within them are seen to be living with major social and health problems. The governance of the region is a complex mixture of Federal, Territory, and local Government, as well as indigenous and non-indigenous land ownership. To date, planning has largely been ad hoc and influenced by external factors, with little regard for Aboriginal aspirations for the future. Currently there is growing interest in developing the region which would appear to be associated with a drought that is adversely affecting the agricultural potential of southern States of Australia. This paper discusses some of the issues associated with the lack of a shared vision for the future of the NT. It recommends the use of an integrated holistic approach to planning, as defined by a Leitbild, as a strategy for creating a shared vision and working towards successful sustainable landscape planning. Other strategies put forward include placing an economic value on the ecological and cultural significance of the region, in particular providing real jobs on remote Aboriginal communities through developing enterprises based on sustainable use of wildlife and payment for the ecosystem services that Aboriginal land management provides, and applying more empowering methods of participation in scenario modelling for the future using Geographic Information Systems and other visualisation technology.

Combining aboriginal and non-aboriginal knowledge to assess and manage feral water buffalo impacts on perennial freshwater springs of the aboriginal-owned Arnhem Plateau, Australia.

Aboriginal land managers have observed that feral Asian water buffalo (Bubalis bubalis Lydekker) are threatening the ecological and cultural integrity of perennial freshwater sources in Arnhem Land, Australia. Here we present collaborative research between the Aboriginal Rangers from Warddeken Land Management Limited and Western scientists which quantified the ground-level impacts of buffalo on seven perennial freshwater springs of the Arnhem Plateau. A secondary aim was to build the capacity of Aboriginal Rangers to self-monitor and evaluate the ecological outcomes of their land management activities. Sites with high buffalo abundance had significantly different ground, ground cover, and water quality attributes compared to sites with low buffalo abundance. The low buffalo abundance sites were characterized by tall herbaceous vegetation and flat ground, whereas wallows, bare ground, and short ungrazed grasses were indicators of sites with high buffalo abundance. Water turbidity was greater when buffalo abundance was high. The newly acquired monitoring skills and derived indicators of buffalo damage will be used by Aboriginal Rangers to assess the ecological outcomes of their future buffalo control efforts on the Arnhem Plateau.

Investigating health, economic and socio-political factors that need consideration when establishing Victorian Aboriginal land management projects

This article focuses on three Victorian Aboriginal1 groups (Bangerang, Boonwurrung and Yorta Yorta) to explore elements that provide or discourage development of land management projects. Results from this small qualitative study show that a number of distinct health, socio-political and economic factors need to be considered when developing Aboriginal land management projects. This study indicates that a greater involvement in Aboriginal land management projects – critical to Aboriginal peoples' health, economic and social structures - will only occur through increased community consultation, respect, training, consistency between all stakeholders involved, resources and the provision of employment opportunities. Further research is required to strengthen this evidence, allowing policy-makers to be progressive when developing land management projects for Aboriginal Victorian people as a health promoting tool.

Investigating health, economic and socio-political factors that need consideration when establishing Victorian Aboriginal land management projects

Investigating health, economic and socio-political factors that need consideration when establishing Victorian Aboriginal land management projects

Social networking for Aboriginal land management in remote northern Australia remote northern Australia

Social networks play a crucial role in linking poorly-resourced community-based Aboriginal land and sea management ‘ranger’ groups operating in remote Northern Australia with the resources and support required to fulfil natural and cultural resource management objectives. A lack of resources and piecemeal funding demands that a significant proportion of networks utilised are directed at creating capital to support land and sea management programs, in addition to networks created for undertaking land and sea management itself. Other networks have been created with neighbouring land managers to develop cooperative and collaborative management practices. The network structure of one ranger group in the west Arnhem region of the Northern Territory was analysed, and revealed a lack of resilience due to high dependence on the externally sourced coordinator. The reliance on a web of complex networks both to support the program and to undertake management activities raises questions about the viability of such programs. In particular, the time, level of skill and associated capacity required to negotiate social network construction with a range of actors brings into question the communities' capacity to maintain the functions of the program independently. Continued functionality of these land and sea management programs may depend on simplification and streamlining of funding, removal of intensive bureaucratic reporting requirements and more active skill development of participants in network creation, particularly with actors external to the community.

Human impacts on Persoonia falcata. Perspectives on post-contact vegetation change in the Keep River region, Australia, from contemporary vegetation surveys

Persoonia falcata R. Br. and Buchanania obovata Engl. seeds are consistently preserved in abundance from archaeological sites across the Keep River region from 3500 b.p. up until the contact period. Although artefacts continued to be deposited after establishment of the pastoral industry, remains of these two plant species disappear in the upper levels of all excavated deposits. The contemporary vegetation in the vicinity of these sites appears to lack P. falcata, although B. obovata remains in abundance. These observations raise questions regarding (1) the impact of changing land-use and fire regimes, (2) the impact of Aboriginal land management on particular plant species and (3) the reorientation of Aboriginal site use across the region after settlement. These issues are explored in this paper using a comparative analysis of stand structure of the contemporary vegetation around previously excavated sites, as well as from published information on recent regional fire history. Results show improved recruitment of P. falcata (that is, seedlings are recruited into adult life stages) in the only site where Aboriginal people have re-introduced customary management. Both the timing of burning and significant unburnt periods appear important to the post-contact decline and also in the future success of populations of P. falcata in the region.

Pre‐European Fire Regimes in Australian Ecosystems

AbstractWe use multiple lines of evidence, including palaeo‐environmental, ecological, historical, anthropological and archaeological, to investigate pre‐European fire regimes in Australia, with particular focus on the extent to which the use of fire by Aboriginal peoples since their colonisation of the continent at least 45,000 years ago has impacted on the Australian biota. The relative roles of people and climate (including past climate change) as agents driving fire regime are assessed for the major climate–vegetation regions of the continent. Both historical accounts and evidence from current land‐use practices in some areas support the argument that Aboriginal peoples used fire as a land management tool. Evidence for pre‐European fire regimes suggests that while large areas of savanna woodlands in northern Australia, and dry forests and woodlands in temperate southern Australia, were subjected to increased fire under Aboriginal land management; others were not. Areas where fire regime was controlled primarily by ‘natural’ climate‐fuel relationships probably included those that were difficult to burn because they were too wet (e.g. rainforests), fuel levels were usually too low (e.g. desert and semi‐arid rangelands), or resource availability was low and did not support other than transient human occupation (e.g. some shrublands). Scientific studies suggest that many fire‐sensitive woody species would decline under more frequent burning, so that the use of a small patch size, frequent fire regime – such as may have existed over large parts of Australia in the pre‐European (Aboriginal occupation) period – may have harmful biodiversity conservation outcomes if instituted without careful consideration of individual ecosystem and species requirements.

Plain facts: Tasmania under aboriginal management

Almost all researchers now accept that Australia's Aborigines were managing their country with the broad-scale use of fire when Europeans arrived. In respect to Tasmania, this article goes further, arguing that fire was not merely broad-scale, but applied variably and precisely, to make, then connect, a complex range of useful ecosystems. The article also argues that Aboriginal land management must be seen in cultural as well as ecological terms.

Accountability Constructions, Contestations and Implications: Insights from Working in a Yolngu Cross‐Cultural Institution, Australia

AbstractAccountability, a keyword in the development discourse, also takes centre stage in the practical politics of the development processes. Accountability requirements for funding, governance and recognition operate at multiple scales to ensure standards are complied with, funds are accounted for, corruption is minimised, and the impact government and other donor contributions have on the development process is maximised. However, for many intended beneficiaries, the demands of accountability procedures and the relationships they set in place create tension and can conflict with local accountability practices and governance; as is exemplified by the experiences of the Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation in Northeast Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Dhimurru, an incorporated Aboriginal land and sea management organisation, was established by Yolngu land‐owners, who have long‐standing perspectives on accountability, self‐determination, environmental protection and development that highlight the requirement and challenges of contextualising accountability in the context of local procedures and practices.

Social networking for Aboriginal land management in remote northern Australia

Social networks play a crucial role in linking poorly-resourced community-based Aboriginal land and sea management 'ranger' groups operating in remote Northern Australia with the resources and support required to fulfil natural and cultural resource management objectives. A lack of resources and piecemeal funding demands that a significant proportion of networks utilised are directed at creating capital to support land and sea management programs, in addition to networks created for undertaking land and sea management itself. Other networks have been created with neighbouring land managers to develop cooperative and collaborative management practices. The network structure of one ranger group in the west Arnhem region of the Northern Territory was analysed, and revealed a lack of resilience due to high dependence on the externally sourced coordinator. The reliance on a web of complex networks both to support the program and to undertake management activities raises questions about the viability of such programs. In particular, the time, level of skill and associated capacity required to negotiate social network construction with a range of actors brings into question the communities' capacity to maintain the functions of the program independently. Continued functionality of these land and sea management programs may depend on simplification and streamlining of funding, removal of intensive bureaucratic reporting requirements and more active skill development of participants in network creation, particularly with actors external to the community.