Land

"We work together so hard, we always stick together to come to every meeting and we talk about everything — like our country, our Mirrar children, we don't want them to wander off somewhere else — we want to keep them here, and help us work in our country, to look after our mother country," says Annie Njalmirama, TO.
 
At the heart of it all, traditional owners are calling for fundamental changes to the lives, opportunities and living conditions of Indigenous people in Kakadu - and that this time, the spoils of tourism will be shared equally.

Ghillar, Michael Anderson, reporting that the Sovereign Union Gathering of Nations held at the Yarramundi Cultural Centre, Canberra, from 23 to 25 November 2018 successfully dealt with key issues facing First Nations.

Those attending came from across the continent and welcomed the opportunity to raise the problems they face and to understand ways of dealing with them, while joining the dots to understand the bigger picture of forced assimilation through fraud and deceit. [node:read-more:link]

THE NOONGAR DEAL: $1.3billion (cash and in kind) is made up nearly $600 million in financial payments over 12 years, 320,000 hectares of land and an Indigenous housing project (120 houses near Perth), is to sell Noongar Country once and for all, and end any right to claims by any Noongars over Perth and the State's south west, whether they signed the deal or not.

"We draw the line today. We declare our right to our land. There is no surrender. There is no land use agreement. We are the people from that land. We’re the rightful Traditional Owners of Wangan and Jagalingou country, and we are in court to prove that others are usurping our rights”. said Adrian Burragubba. “Our people are the last line of legal defence against this mine and its corrosive impact on our rights, and the destruction of country that would occur. Senator Brandis has been disingenuous in prosecuting his argument for these changes to native title laws, while the hands of native title bureaucrats and the mining lobby are all over the outcome. [node:read-more:link]

The 'youlk' looks similar to a kipfler potato and grows in poor sandy soil, which is unsuitable for grain growing or grazing and is now being farmed by an Aboriginal growing group in south west WA as a pilot for more groups. The growing group project is expected to run like other mainstream grower groups. But it is a customised group for Aboriginal farmers as many Indigenous-owned farming properties had different management logistics to other modern-day farms. In some cases, there are 20 members and in some cases 120 members so it is a whole different dynamic to the colonial farming protocol. [node:read-more:link]

Rodney Gibbons and Wendy Moore outside Hobart. (The Australian Pic: Peter Mathew)

Stephen Fitzpatrick The Australian 12 December 2016

Constitutional recognition of First Nations people has been blindsided by more demands, with an official forum in Hobart insisting that plans for a referendum must be accompanied by Treaty talks. [node:read-more:link]

The State Government is reviewing the viability of WA's 274 Aboriginal communities, with details of the process due to be released in July, so the future of WA's 35 town-based Aboriginal reserves is set to come under the spotlight, with some residents determined to stay while others accept an offer of new houses in town. Town-based reserves are Aboriginal communities that formed around townships around the middle of the 20th century, as Aboriginal families were displaced from their bush homes and moved off cattle stations. [node:read-more:link]