Land Council Research Articles

Welcome Home, Yukun: A Family’s Spiritual and Emotional Healing Through the Repatriation of Their Ancestor

ABSTRACT The repatriation of human remains has gained significant momentum in recent decades; however, little attention has been given to the experiences of recipient groups through these repatriations. This paper is centred on Central Australia, where repatriations have become a regular occurrence against a backdrop of strong social and racial tensions. These tensions wax and wane, lessening around regular cultural events and heightening with the summer heat and the strain of frequent sorry business (mourning). In this context, this paper follows the repatriation of an Anangu man, Yukun, to his close family who reburied him at Uluru in October 2022. The land council anthropologist who mediated the repatriation wrote this piece collaboratively with two senior descendants of Yukun. In 1934, police officer Bill McKinnon unjustifiably killed Yukun. Without the community’s knowledge, his remains were later exhumed during a Commonwealth Inquiry. Yukun’s death was well-known to Anangu and well-documented; his repatriation has not been examined in the same depth. Throughout the truth-telling process, the family was confronted with acts of historical violence, but this culminated in Yukun being finally laid to rest. This paper explores how processing this information conveyed emotional challenges that ultimately resulted in the family finding closure. The reburial enabled the constructive reintegration of Yukun into their lives. Finally, this paper considers the role of the anthropologist in supporting the family or community throughout the process. The aim of this is to provide insights encouraging a more humane approach which prioritises the recipients’ emotional needs in reconciling past injustices.

Attitude of Community Members towards the Capacity of the Village Land Councils in managing land use conflicts between farmers and pastoralists in Tanzania: A cross sectional Case study Analysis.

Village Land Councils have been established to resolve land use conflicts in rural Tanzania. The history reveals that Tanzania has been mostly affected with the endless land based conflicts between farmers and pastoralists.The presence of VLCs in rural Tanzania has brought significant changes in rural areas where farmers and pastoralists compete to utilize and possess scarce resources. However, rural dwellers have different opinions on the worthness of the respective local organs in resolving land use conflicts between farmers and pastoralists. This study therefore intended to explore attitudes from the community members towards the capacity of the Village Land Councils in managing land use conflicts between farmers and pastoralists. Sem-structured interviews were used to collect data where semantic differential scale was used as the appropriate tool for exploring attitudes from the respondents particularly: farmers and pastoralists who mostly rely on VLCs for mediation services. NVivo software was used for analyzing such data. The results indicated that majority of respondents (farmers and pastoralists) in Mbarali and Kilosa District Councils had positive attitude towards VLCs due to their performance in resolving land use conflicts between farmers and pastoralists. Similar response was obtained from the farmers operating in Tunduru District Council. However, some pastoralists in Tunduru District Councils had remained skeptical on the capacity of the VLCs to resolve conflicts and create conducive working environment for both conflicting parties. Their doubts relied on injustice practices such as corruption, nepotism and tribalism that were directly associated with VLC members. Based on the findings, the study suggests for more capacity building programs for enhancing the capacity of VLC members to act firmly and objectively and for the community members so that they develop a sense of responsibilities in supporting the VLCs’ operations for the common good.

Factors affecting the performance of the Village Land Councils in managing land use conflicts between farmers and pastoralists

The current study evaluated the variables influencing Village Land Councils' (VLC) ability to resolve land disputes before they are twisting out of their control. Pastoralists would often transhumance, taking their herds far from their villages in search of pastures and water, and sometimes they would let their animals to graze on agricultural fields. The Tanzanian government was prompted to divide village holdings into sections designated for farmers and livestock keepers to resolve the tensions between farmers and pastoralists to prevent ongoing conflicts. Key informant interviews and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data. NVivo software 14 was used to evaluate the qualitative data. The results indicate that the low literacy rates of their members, the absence of VLC capacity building, the absence of a chain of command in the conflict mediation and resolution process, biased choices, and corruption all contributed to the village land councils' limited ability to mitigate land conflicts. As a result, in defiance of the Village Land Act of 1999's instructions, communities arraign land disputes in public courts. It is found that village land councils, which were intended to hold reconciliation sessions and serve as village tribunals for reconciliation at the village level, have not succeeded in achieving the goals set forth, notwithstanding the limitations of the Village Land Act. The report suggests that the Village Land Act be reviewed, that VLC members' capability be increased, that secondary education be made a requirement for council participation, and that corruption be eliminated.

Aboriginal Self‐determination, Land Rights, and Recognition in the Whitlam Era: Laying Groundwork for Power Sharing and Representation

The Whitlam Labor government (1972–75) is remembered for ushering in a new era in Indigenous affairs, with the move to “self‐determination”, abandoning the longstanding insistence on “assimilation”. The new government intended to deploy the Commonwealth's new legislative power established in the 1967 constitutional referendum to bring in a range of reforms, responding to consistent demands from Indigenous leaders, activists, and supporters through the previous decade. Whitlam's campaign speech promised anti‐discrimination legislation, provisions to allow Aboriginal communities to incorporate, and legislation of a system of land tenure. The government faced considerable political obstacles, ultimately curbing the ambitious reform agenda. Nevertheless, these initial efforts to conceptualise representation, recognition, and compensation laid important foundations for the current public debate about “Voice, Treaty, Truth”, following the Uluru Statement from the Heart. This paper explores self‐determination through the path‐breaking work of the Woodward Aboriginal Land Rights Commission and the establishment of well‐resourced land councils as authoritative and legitimate representatives of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. The Whitlam government's willingness to experiment with power‐sharing in the sensitive area of land ownership provided a valuable prototype for genuine engagement with First Nations people today, as Australia contemplates the failure of the constitutional referendum around a Voice to parliament.

Institutional Capacity of the Village Land Councils in Managing Land use Conflicts between Farmers and Pastoralists: across Case Analysis of the selected Districts in Tanzania

Institutional Capacity of the Village Land Councils in Managing Land use Conflicts between Farmers and Pastoralists: across Case Analysis of the selected Districts in Tanzania

Cultural care and Aboriginal land rights in New South Wales

AbstractAn appreciation of Aboriginal land rights in New South Wales (NSW) is characterised by two dominant narratives. One is that land rights are central to achieving and advancing recognition and support for the existence and survival of Aboriginal peoples in the settled spaces of south‐eastern Australia. In this view, Aboriginal land rights realise intrinsic political power. The second dominant narrative is that the land estate restituted to Aboriginal people's Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs) is to be “activated” and “leveraged” for economic prosperity of collectively defined groups and shared to support and sustain individuals and families. This perspective holds that land enables realisation of wealth and prosperity. Although these narratives are based in truth, they have served to make some important work and values held by Aboriginal people less visible in any evaluation of the benefits of land rights. It is this less visible work the work of care that is unique to Aboriginal worlds and made possible by the resources and structures of LALCs realised through the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, 1983.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR WATER POLLUTION IN MALAYSIA: AN ANALYSIS

Despite the increasing importance of water resources sustainability in the country, river pollution issues in Malaysia remain critical and unresolved. This paper focuses on the legal framework concerning water pollution in Malaysia as a means to identify some possible gaps since the Federal Constitution was drafted post-independence, albeit with latter revisions and amendments. Data were obtained from documents retrieved from primary and secondary sources. Analysis of data showed that serious water pollution issues can be dealt with through several options. First, to examine existing constitutional provisions, laws and policies and to identify the gaps, and where necessary, to address the shortfalls. For instance, to amend the constitution so that there is a clear definition of “environment”. Second, to consult the National Land Council in matters involving the State and Federal. This paper contributes to literature by offering insights into the possible measures in tackling water pollution issues, despite the gaps existing in the constitutional provision, which had not been explored in the same level of detail in existing literatures.

Roles of village land councils in mitigation of land conflicts in Ngorongoro district, Tanzania

The present study assessed the roles of Village Land Councils (VLC) in mitigating land conflicts before they got out of their control. Data was collected through questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews, and document reviews. A total of 136 participants were involved. The qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using content analysis and SPSS, respectively. Findings show that village land councils had a minimal role in mitigating land conflicts due to the low literacy level of their members, a lack of VLC capacity building, a lack of chain of command in the conflict mediation and resolution process, biased decisions, ethnism, and corruption. As a result, communities use public courts of law to resolve land conflicts, contrary to the directives of the Village Land Act of 1999. It is concluded that, despite the shortcomings of the Village Land Act, village land councils that were designed to conduct reconciliation meetings and be village courts for reconciliation at the village level have failed to achieve the set objectives. The study recommend a review of the Village Land Act, capacity building for VLC members, setting secondary level education as one of the eligibility criteria for council membership, and weeding out corruption.

Many Bodies, One Heart

Many Bodies, One Heart

Communicating as Community: Examining Power and Authority in Community-focused Environmental Communication through Participatory Action Research in the Ourimbah Creek Valley

In this paper we argue that the making of meaning is a powerful creative act that occurs within social and cultural contexts where there exists a multi-directional flow or interconnected relationships within a system of communication (McIntyre, 2012). This little explored set of ideas echoes Rogers and Kincaid’s earlier systems-based proposition that “the communication process has no beginning and no end, only the mutually defining relationship among the parts which give meaning to the whole” (1981, pp. 55-56). Similarly, Ali et al. have suggested that the “holistic, relational, interactional, and process-nature of Indigenous ontologies and epistemologies resemble the tenets of systems theory” (2022). With this theoretical foundation in place – located in complex and interconnected systems rather than a Western reductionist worldview (Gadgil et al, 1993) – this project uses action research as a methodology, reframing participants from ‘subjects’ to co-researchers. We assert that “people’s right and ability to have a say in decisions which affect them and claim to generate knowledge about them” (Reason and Bradbury, 2011, p. 9) can empower them on multiple levels to enact change (Freire, 1970; Reason, 2005; Reason and Bradbury, 2011). From this position, “we acknowledge our lives are in connection with multitudes of other beings” (Weir, 2012, p. 4) and that many of the key concepts of this project are rooted in Indigenous knowledges. As such, traditional notions of top-down power are challenged in favour of an even and diffuse power distribution within a communication act (Foucault, 1980). The specific act of communication under examination is found in the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE) and various communications to the public concerning the necessity of preserving threatened species. The DPIE’s perception of a lack of public awareness led to the planning and execution of a pilot programme to engage public understanding and acceptance of the issues faced (PRIA, 2011). The project team, including DPIE and Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, set out to create a participatory community of inquiry in the Ourimbah Creek Valley, located on the Central Coast of New South Wales. This valley is home to 48 threatened fauna species and at least 12 threatened flora species and is critical to their survival. To engage with this action-research approach, residents were invited to a workshop which included a site visit, a bush-food inspired morning tea, and a collaborative art-making activity to share knowledge and build community awareness of and encourage stewardship of two threatened species. This paper reports on the findings of this action-research process.

Restoration and Activity of the Land Committees in the Perm Province under the Government of A. V. Kolchak: November 1918 – July 1919

During the Civil war, A. V. Kolchak's government had no time to resolve numerous practical issues. That is why his government restored the former public authority and self-government institutions. The local population was concerned about the land issue, but the government provided no answer. Instead, they restored land committees as per the legislation of the Provisional government. Their main task was to elaborate on the land reform. However, the status of the institutions was uncertain, and they were not easily restored in the region after the Soviet rule. Following the necessity to regulate land relations on the spot, the authorities had to reform the restored committees. The Decree of the Provisional government dated April 21, 1917, attributed these structures with both elements of public authority and local self-government. Kolchak's government tried to apply the experience of the Perm province in Siberia, so the local committees were transferred completely to the local self-government system as departments of the regional "zemstvos", or municipalities. Lacking respective powers, the local self-government failed to solve the land issue within the short period of Kolchak’s rule. In the wake of military losses, Kolchak's government set up the Land Council in May 1919. However, the Perm region was re-occupied by the bolshevists in June-July 1919, and all the institutions were replaced by the Soviet ones. Unfortunately, A. V. Kolchak’s agrarian policy received almost no scientific attention. This article features the activities of the land authorities in the Perm province during the regime of Kolchak’s government. Its scientific novelty lies in a comprehensive systematic study of the restoration of land committees in the Perm province and their further transformation. Archival data made it possible to define the place of land authorities in the system of state and public structures under the brief rule of A. V. Kolchak.

‘Too smart’: Infrastructuring the Internet through regional and rural smart policy in Australia

AbstractSmart infrastructure is positioned as central to the liveability and viability of rural and regional towns in Australia. The Australian Government's Smart Cities Plan and Regional Connectivity Program includes Smart Investment in regional areas and the New South Wales Government has prioritised connectivity and telecommunications infrastructural development through the Regional Digital Connectivity program. And yet regional and rural communities are typically excluded from the evidence base for smart technologies and services. Local Aboriginal Land Councils are also important stakeholders in managing the digital processes associated with information and infrastructure moving across different Countries. This paper draws on data from the ‘It just works!’: Regional and rural consumer understandings of smart technologies in North West New South Wales project, including over 130 survey responses and interviews with shire councillors, land councillors, and consumers on smart development and Internet infrastructure in the region. In the areas surveyed, smart regional policy is variously emerging, non‐existent, or assembled from existing policy domains and regulation involving the Internet, telecommunications, regional development, First Nations, and local government. We argue that regional and rural understandings of growth and development are experienced through the infrastructuring processes of Internet quality, availability, and speed.

Die Staatsverwaltung des Protektorats Böhmen und Mähren (1939–1945). Ein Grundüberblick und die Entwicklungstendenzen

During the era of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, it is essential to distinguish between the Reich (German)administration and the autonomous (Czech) administration. The Protectorate was afforded a degree of autonomy bya decree of the Führer from 16th March 1939, however this autonomy was eroded by the Nazis over time. Most of thegovernmental bodies of the autonomous administration were retained from the era of the Second Czechoslovak Republic.The Parliament was however abolished. The autonomous administration was headed by State President Dr. EmilHácha and the Protectorate government. Several new administrative bodies were formed, such as labour offices, a landlaw office or a supreme price administration office. At the head of the occupational (German) administration was theReich Protector. At a local level, it was represented by Oberlandräte (High Land Councils). German judiciary andsecurity organs were also established in the Protectorate.

Availability of drinking water in rural and remote communities in New South Wales, Australia

Many rural communities in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, have poor-quality water supplies. The lack of a palatable alternative increases the risk of the high consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, a significant contributor to adverse health outcomes. This disproportionately effects Aboriginal people living in these towns, who are also profoundly affected by the social determinants of health. Therefore, examining health inequalities linked to water access is important. This study investigated the availability of drinking water fountains in rural and remote communities in NSW. Telephone interviewer-assisted surveys were conducted with 32 representatives from local government councils or Local Aboriginal Land Councils in NSW from communities with a population of <5000 and an Aboriginal population of at least 3%. The results were analysed descriptively. Towns and communities with a higher population of Aboriginal people and lower median weekly income were less likely to have access to free refrigerated and filtered water within the community or at local schools compared with towns and communities with a lower Aboriginal population and higher median weekly income. The availability of free, clean and refrigerated water in rural and remote communities is critical to reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and the promotion of water as the preferred drink.

Taking control of the production of heritage: Country and cultural values in the assessment of Aboriginal cultural heritage significance

ABSTRACT Cultural heritage management produces hundreds of archaeological assessments each year. However, the level of input from Aboriginal people into the significance assessment of places uncovered during this commercial archaeological work is minimal at best. Assessment outcomes continue to privilege scientific archaeological concepts of significance. To address this, the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation has led the development of a tailored approach to significance assessment that is framed by the concept of Country. The criteria that have been developed integrate scientific archaeological approaches with Aboriginal cultural values and community perspectives in a balanced assessment methodology, which creates space for Aboriginal control of the assessment process and allows Aboriginal community perspectives to inform management/protection outcomes. Framing significance assessment within Traditional Owner perspectives of Country provides the opportunity for generating archaeological data that can address research questions and cultural significance at landscape or regional scales that are meaningful to the Traditional Owners, decolonising understandings of the past, and directly contributing to the protection of heritage places through improved and sustainable management outcomes.

Transformative or Tokenistic?

Transformative or Tokenistic?

R. Lamilami, 1957–2021: Negotiating two worlds for cultural heritage

The late R. Lamilami1 had a rich and remarkable life, engaging in many activities and career paths to benefit his community, including working for the Northern Land Council, Kakadu Health Services ...

Knowledge co-production for Indigenous adaptation pathways: Transform post-colonial articulation complexes to empower local decision-making

Co-production between scientific and Indigenous knowledge has been identified as useful to generating adaptation pathways with Indigenous peoples, who are attached to their traditional lands and thus highly exposed to the impacts of climate change. However, ignoring the complex and contested histories of nation-state colonisation can result in naïve adaptation plans that increase vulnerability. Here, through a case study in central Australia, we investigate the conditions under which co-production between scientific and Indigenous knowledge can support climate change adaptation pathways among place-attached Indigenous communities. A research team including scientists, Ltyentye Apurte Rangers and other staff from the Central Land Council first undertook activities to co-produce climate change presentations in the local Arrernte language; enable community members to identify potential adaptation actions; and implement one action, erosion control. Second, we reflected on the outcomes of these activities in order to unpack deeper influences. Applying the theory of articulation complexes, we show how ideologies, institutions and economies have linked Indigenous societies and the establishing Australian nation-state since colonisation. The sequence of complexes characterised as frontier, mission, pastoral, land-rights, community-development and re-centralisation, which is current, have both enabled and constrained adaptation options. We found knowledge co-production generates adaptation pathways when: (1) effective methods for knowledge co-production are used, based on deeply respectful partnerships, cultural governance and working together through five co-production tasks—prepare, communicate, discuss, bring together and apply; (2) Indigenous people have ongoing connection to their traditional territories to maintain their Indigenous knowledge; (3) the relationship between the Indigenous people and the nation-state empowers local decision-making and learning, which requires and creates consent, trust, accountability, reciprocity, and resurgence of Indigenous culture, knowledge and practices. These conditions foster the emergence of articulation complexes that enable the necessary transformative change from the colonial legacies. Both these conditions and our approach are likely to be relevant for place-attached Indigenous peoples across the globe in generating climate adaptation pathways.

Cross-cultural encounters: reconceptualising shared histories on the Bundian Way

ABSTRACTThe Bundian project is an initiative of the Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council on the far south coast of New South Wales, Australia. Aboriginal Elders and activists working on the project are restoring an Aboriginal pathway that stretches from the coast to the high country. This article examines the experiences of four young Aboriginal men employed to work on the project. Drawing on qualitative research, I analyse how these young men are using and reconceptualising settler histories of early cross-cultural encounters to propose new ways of living well in settler-colonial Australia and to contest the dominant settler historiography that has positioned Indigenous people as either ‘violent, ignoble savages’ or the fading victims of colonisation. In their rearticulation through the project, these stories of early cross-cultural relations are reclaimed as powerful critical histories of settler colonisation. Through this project, Aboriginal people are critically interrogating discourses of settler colonisation while opening up new historical spaces that speak to the ‘truth’ of Aboriginal lived experience in contemporary Australia.

Mapping Boarding School Opportunities for Aboriginal Students from the Central Land Council Region of Northern Territory

The 2014 Wilson review of Indigenous Education in the Northern Territory recommended boarding school models as the preferred secondary education option for very remote Aboriginal students. This study considers boarding uptake by Aboriginal students from the Central Land Council region of the Northern Territory. An examination of boarding programs available to Aboriginal students in this region found that scholarship access is largely determined by socioeducational advantage and the perceived social stability of the family and student. To increase access and participation in boarding, more flexible funding assistance programs are needed. An expanded role for brokering could also increase retention and completion rates. Ultimately, more investment is also required in remote community schools, and in the development of ‘both ways’ capital if the social and educational aspirations of young Aboriginal students and their families in this region are to be realised through a boarding school model.