Aboriginal Co-management Meeting 2006 — Proceedings
Mungo National Park—
the meeting in the woolshed
region during the pastoral era. One of the features that
remain from this era is the iconic Mungo Woolshed.
Now Mungo National Park is jointly managed by the
Three Traditional Tribal Groups and the Department
of Environment and Conservation (DEC). The Three
Traditional Tribal Groups have worked together seeking
greater involvement in managing this significant place
for many years. The Three Traditional Tribal Groups
Elders Council developed a concept of ‘shared heritage’
and agreed that management decisions inside the
World Heritage Area boundary and Mungo National
Park were the business of all three tribes.
DECC
Workshop participants gathered at the historic
woolshed and were welcomed to Mungo National Park
by Mary Pappin on behalf of the Mutthi Mutthi people,
Junette Mitchell on behalf of the Paakantji people and
Roy Kennedy on behalf of the Ngiyampaa people.
Mary is the Chair of the Mungo National Park Joint
Management Advisory Committee and Junette and
Roy are Committee members.
Mungo National Park lies at the centre of the Willandra
Lakes World Heritage Area. This area achieved World
Heritage status because it contains outstanding
cultural and natural heritage of universal value. It
contains evidence of human remains dating back more
than 40,000 years. The Willandra Lakes World Heritage
Area is the home of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man,
and of the 20,000 year-old footprints that the Three
Traditional Tribal Groups discovered only a few years
ago. It is an area of beauty with a history that reaches
deep into the human past of Australia and the world.
The Willandra Lakes area has significant cultural
values for the Three Traditional Tribal Groups—the
Ngiyampaa, Mutthi Mutthi and the southern Paakantji.
These tribal groups have used the area as a place to
meet, to hold ceremonies and trade items for millennia.
In more recent times Mungo National Park has had a
shared history, through European settlement of the
Together, the Three Traditional Tribal Groups Elders
Council and DEC developed a new model of comanagement for Mungo National Park. This model
was the first of such arrangements to be developed
in NSW national parks. In 2001 a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) for the joint management of the
park was signed by the Three Traditional Tribal Groups
Elders Council and the National Parks and Wildlife
Service. The MOU, known as the Mungo National Park
Joint Management Agreement, established a way
forward coordinated by the Mungo National Park Joint
Management Advisory Committee.
Mungo National Park represents a working example
of how the co-management of national parks can
work. This working co-management arrangement and
the shared cultural significance of the area made the
woolshed and Mungo National Park an ideal place to
hold the meeting.
DECC
Meeting in the woolshead
Mary Pappin
Junette Mitchell
Mutthi Mutthi elder
and Chair, Mungo
National Park
Joint Management
Advisory Committee
Paakantji elder and
member, Mungo
National Park
Joint Management
Advisory Committee
Mungo has always
been a meeting
place for mobs
to come together. These days they meet to discuss
management issues. They come together just as their
ancestors did many thousands of years ago.
Welcome everyone
to Mungo National
Park to share
knowledge and feelings that have been passed from
family members about Mungo. As a youngster, my
mother used to walk with her mother from Pooncarie
to the park to play with the station owner’s daughters.
Thanks everyone for coming and I hope you all enjoy
yourselves.
‘We’re going to be looking at
Country and … our cultural
heritage that lays on the
ground out here. Make you
feel proud, make you want
to look after your Country
wherever you go back to—to
see that cultural heritage on
the ground and be proud of it.
Where else can you get 60,000
years of cultural heritage
that’s still in place. Where else
can you get a race of people
that have lived for all those
many generations … We’ve
survived—we can survive
anything—and we’re just
getting back into looking
after Country the way we did
traditionally.’
Mungo is all about sharing
and all the co-management
groups here at the meeting
will be sharing ideas and
looking at Country and
cultural heritage. They are
ensuring that the cultural
heritage—that’s been there
for 60,000 years—is there for
future generations.
Steve Millington (Regional
Manager, Far West Region,
Parks and Wildlife Division,
DEC) listened to the Three
Traditional Tribal Groups with
regard to joint management
and respected our decision
not to enter into Aboriginal
ownership until we had the
necessary training. We knew
this was vital to enable us to
look after Country and to make us better managers
down the track.
It’s been a long process and the Mungo mobs have
experienced a lot of heartache. Many of the older
people have passed on and those who remain carry
that on their shoulders. But we know we are walking
with our ancestors and carrying on from them in
looking after the cultural heritage.
Roy Kennedy
Ngiyampaa elder
and member,
Mungo National
Park Joint
Management
Advisory
Committee
The Ngiyampaa
tribe, also known
as the ‘dry land people’, come from a vast area where
Willandra Creek was the only source of running water.
We used to follow the creek and meet up with other
tribes and hold ceremonies.
There have been ups and downs since comanagement started but
there have also been a lot
‘It’s a credit to the organisation
of good times, and a lot
what’s been done … and it
of work has been done
makes me that proud, a fella
my age, I think I’ll never see
around the park. DEC
that but I’ve seen it—it’s all
should be acknowledged
coming together and it really
for the work that has been
makes me proud to be part of
done in the park and I’m
this show.’
proud to be a part of
co-management.
Aboriginal Co-management Meeting 2006 — Proceedings
Steve Millington
Lisa Corbyn
Regional Manager,
Far West Region,
Parks and Wildlife
Division, DEC
Director General, DEC
For many years, the
local elders have
been travelling
thousands of
kilometres to attend
such gatherings. It’s
great that this time people have travelled to the west
to discuss co-management, to hear from elders and
to exchange stories.
It’s symbolic that the co-management meeting was
held in the west where there are three arrangements
with the traditional owners.
Within the far-western region, there are some 85
permanent staff and 40% of them are Aboriginal
people. In the Lower Darling Area, 60% of the
permanent staff are
Aboriginal people.
‘In the far west we’ve got
three arrangements with the
traditional owners which I am
very, very proud of, very proud
of. Most of them have come
from the ground up, from the
grass roots up and they are
working very, very well.’
Mungo National Park
is about 30% of the
Willandra Lakes Heritage
Area. As well as visiting
Mungo National Park,
the group will also be
visiting Joulni, a property
which was handed back
to the Three Traditional
Tribal Groups. Joulni is of great significance to the
Three Traditional Tribal Groups because Mungo 1 and
Mungo 3 were found there—that is, Mungo Man and
Mungo Lady.
Later there will be a presentation on the footprints,
which were found in the Willandra Lakes Heritage
Area (see Michael Westaway’s presentation). Mary
Pappin Junior discovered them three years ago in a
clay pan and identified them as potentially significant
and, since then, it has been verified that they are
between 19,000 and 23,000 years old. It is the
largest human trackway in the world and has great
significance. Their discovery was kept secret for three
years but is now out in the media.
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Thank you to the Three
Traditional Tribal Groups,
the Paakantji, Mutthi
Mutthi and Ngiyampaa
people for welcoming
us here today to their
Country and for hosting
this meeting in Mungo
National Park.
It is an honour and a privilege to be here in this
Country today at this second statewide Aboriginal comanagement meeting. I think it is significant that we
are holding the meeting in Mungo National Park and
the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, because it a
place of shared heritage.
Also because Willandra Lakes
‘Mungo National Park and
World Heritage Area is the
the Willandra Lakes World
home of Mungo Lady and
Mungo Man, and the home of Heritage Area are places
of shared heritage. Shared
the 20,000-year-old footprints
heritage for the Three
that the Three Traditional
Traditional Tribal Groups,
Tribal Groups discovered not
between Aboriginal and nonfar from here, only a few years
Aboriginal Australians and
between Australians and the
ago—footprints of adults and
rest of the world.’
children going about their
lives on the edge of the lake
20,000 years ago. It is inspiring
to think about the connection between those people,
the people standing here today and this land. This
place symbolises the depth of Aboriginal people’s
relationship with this land and of Aboriginal culture.
It is Aboriginal people’s relationship with the land that
is central to co-management of national parks. Comanagement is about working together to manage
lands that are important to Aboriginal people, but also
to all of the people of NSW, Australia and the world.
The Mungo National Park Joint
Management Agreement
is a good example of comanagement in practice.
The development of the
arrangement demonstrates
what can be achieved
through cooperation. Through
discussion about the park,
‘We all want the same thing,
which is to care for country,
to respect and maintain
Aboriginal culture and to pass
on that land and that culture
to future generations.’
Meeting in the woolshead
the Three Traditional Tribal Groups Elders Council and
the National Parks and Wildlife Service developed
a Memorandum of Understanding about the joint
management of the park, called the Mungo National Park
Joint Management Agreement. This does not involve
legal transfer of title to the land or the legal recognition of
native title rights, but neither does it prevent these things
happening in the future.
The Joint Management Agreement establishes the
Mungo National Park Joint Management Advisory
Committee. Through that Committee the Three
Traditional Tribal Groups make the decisions about the
management of the park and have developed a plan
of management that reflects the Three Traditional
Tribal Groups interests and the importance of this land
to Aboriginal people. The Three Traditional Tribal
Groups are involved in all aspects of park management
and the training, and employment of the Three
Traditional Tribal Groups within the park has increased
since the joint management arrangement has started.
The Mungo National Park Discovery Program, run by
the Three Traditional Tribal Groups, received a NSW
Tourism Award in 2005. And I am pleased that we will
all get to experience that award winning program over
the next couple of hours, when we go on a guided
tour with the Three Traditional Tribal Groups. These are
only some of the significant achievements of the joint
management arrangement and over the next few
hours I am looking forward to hearing more.
It is also a privilege to be standing here with so many
people from all corners of the state. The last statewide
Aboriginal co-management meeting was held in May
2003 in Sydney and involved 14 different communities
and parks around the state. This second meeting
involves 19 communities and parks around the state.
At the last meeting, the community representatives
requested that meetings be held on a regular basis and
the National Parks and Wildlife Service committed to
having a meeting every couple of years. At that meeting
it was requested that members of the DEC Executive
attend these meetings and I’d like to introduce the
Executive members present at this meeting: Dr Tony
Fleming, the Head of the Parks and Wildlife Division, Josh
Gilroy on behalf of Simon Smith, Executive Director of the
Environment Protection and Regulation Division, who
deals with development control and planning issues, and
later today we will be joined by Russell Couch, Acting
Executive Director of the Cultural Heritage Division.
Jody Broun, the Director-General of the Department of
Aboriginal Affairs, and Steve Wright, the Registrar of the
Aboriginal Land Rights Act, are here also.
Since that last meeting was held, there have been
some significant achievements for Aboriginal comanagement in NSW, which have already been talked
about last night, but I would like to highlight some.
• Mt Grenfell Historic Site was returned to Aboriginal
ownership and leased back to the Government
in 2004 and a Board of Management established
to jointly manage the lands. This was the second
time that a park has been returned to Aboriginal
ownership in NSW.
• I am pleased to announce that Biamanga and Gulaga
National Parks were returned to Aboriginal ownership
only last week. There will be a formal celebration to
mark the handback in May 2006 and the Board of
Management should be appointed soon afterward.
• The Saltwater Indigenous Land Use Agreement was
signed in December 2005.
• In 2005 the Pilliga Nature Reserve Aboriginal
Consultative Committee entered into a
Memorandum of Understanding with DEC.
• In 2005 the Peak Hill–Bogan River Traditional
Owners Group entered into a Memorandum of
Understanding with DEC for the management
of Goobang National Park and Snake Rock
Aboriginal Area.
• The Arakwal people and the Arakwal Indigenous
Land Use Agreement were awarded the prestigious
Fred M. Packard International Parks Merit Award for
Distinguished Achievements in Wildlife Preservation
by the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature at the 5th World Parks Congress held
in South Africa in 2003. The Arakwal Plan of
Management was prepared by the Arakwal National
Park Joint Management Committee.
So the last three years
I think it is important that
have seen some
we think about what cosignificant achievements
management is about. What
for Aboriginal coare we trying to achieve and
management of parks
how do we get there?’
in NSW. The aim of this
meeting is to share
those experiences with each other. To discuss what
has worked over the last three years and what has
not worked, with the aim of learning both from our
successes and from our mistakes.
There are a range of different models for comanagement in NSW, with different legal effects, rights
and responsibilities.
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Aboriginal Co-management Meeting 2006 — Proceedings
These differences reflect that co-management should
not be a one-size-fits-all approach and different
circumstances, different communities, different parks
may lead to different approaches. However, I think there
are some key elements common to all of them, that we
need to think about over the next few days and years.
Co-management is about caring for Country and
developing a common vision for the lands and
working together to achieve that vision. It is about
recognition of rights, but also about responsibilities.
Responsibility for the land, for each other and to the
people of NSW. It is about accountability to your
communities and to the NSW public.
From DEC’s perspective
‘Co-management is about
co-management is about
getting to know each other
relationships between
and building a relationship
Aboriginal communities
over time. It is recognising that
and DEC staff and with the
we are all in this together.’
land. It is about respect,
listening to each other,
honesty, trust, give and take and a commitment
to work through issues and, where necessary, to
compromise.
It is about recognising both limitations and
opportunities. Managing parks provides
opportunities to care for Country and to educate the
public about Aboriginal culture. Co-management of
parks may form a base to manage parks and other
Aboriginal land in an integrated way. However, there
are limits to what you can do on parks and to the
economic opportunities associated with parks. DEC
has certain legislative obligations that it must meet
and may not be able to be flexible on certain issues.
Aboriginal communities have responsibilities to the
land and to their communities and may not be able
to be flexible on those. Co-management is about
working through these things and figuring out what
are the things we can achieve together and also what
are the things we can’t.
None of these things are easy and they don’t happen
over night. But I hope that through this meeting we
can get a sense that co-management is something
that is worth doing and to think about constructive
ways to improve what we are doing.
I am looking forward to hearing your stories over the
next few days and to participating in the meeting.
12
Jody Broun
Director General,
Department of
Aboriginal Affairs
I am an Indjibandji
woman from the Pilbara
of Western Australia
and feel much more
comfortable in Country than I often feel in Sydney. I
am also an artist and get inspiration for my art when
visiting home and places like Mungo.
I would like to acknowledge all the other people
who have come from different Country and different
Aboriginal nations around NSW and think it is
important that the group will be sharing information.
Co-management is an important aspect of the Two
Ways Together Aboriginal Affairs Plan. The Department
of Aboriginal Affairs (DAA) works by influencing other
agencies and trying to coordinate across agencies. To this
end, it has developed a ten-year plan to get government
agencies to work together better and to coordinate
better. To get the desired results, there are other agencies
besides DEC that need to be involved, for example
the Department of Lands, the Department of Primary
Industries and the Department of Natural Resources.
Two Ways Together represents Aboriginal people
working with government and shows that there are
two ways of doing things and that they need to be
brought together to complement one another to make
desired achievements happen.
DEC has been good at
drawing other agencies
together as part of their
action plans. There are now 35
different agencies signed up
to actions to work together.
‘In terms of the culture
and heritage aspect of the
Aboriginal Affairs Plan, it
is led by DEC and I have
to acknowledge that DEC
has done a fantastic job
in that. DEC has made a
real commitment … the
way they are working with
Aboriginal people, the way
they are promoting Aboriginal
partnerships. I think is really
important, and that’s a key
principle of the Plan.’
Other aspects of the culture
and heritage plan involve
languages. Dual naming
and signage are important.
In New Zealand Maori
language is widely spoken
and there is dual signage on
all government buildings. It
would be good to see similar signage in Australia. DAA
has also supported many language projects around
the state and established the Aboriginal Language and
Research Resource Centre.
Meeting in the woolshead
The types of activities that DAA is involved in support
co-management. Two Ways Together recognises that
all of the pieces need to fit together and cannot be
done in isolation. Culture and heritage are important
aspects of the plan and related issues cutting right
across government.
Employment is an area that DAA is keen to progress
right across government and they are pushing for
agencies to do more in terms of employment of
Aboriginal people. We want to see them employed,
not just in the lower levels and in separate Aboriginal
units but throughout organisations. We want to make
Aboriginal business a core business of agencies.
Tony Fleming
Deputy DirectorGeneral and Head,
Parks and Wildlife
Division, DEC
There have been
some significant
achievements in
Aboriginal comanagement over
the last three years. These achievements are a
result of hard work on the part of both Aboriginal
communities and DEC staff and I commend them for
that, and for their commitment to managing parks for
the benefit of all of us here and for future generations.
There are a range of different legal approaches to comanagement in NSW. There is the formal transfer of
ownership to Land Councils on behalf of Aboriginal
owners and lease back to the Minister such as at
Mutawintji, Mt Grenfell and now Biamanga and
Gulaga National Parks. There are Indigenous Land Use
Agreements (ILUAs) with native title holders such as
the Arakwal ILUA and the Saltwater ILUA. And there
are Memoranda of Understanding such as here at
Mungo National Park, at Kinchega National Park, Pilliga
Nature Reserve, Goobang National Park and Snake Rock
Aboriginal Area.
There are significantly more parks with less formal
arrangements for access and use of parks for cultural
activities. For example, there are at least 20 parks
around the state which have regular culture camps that
may or may not involve DEC staff.
Currently there are a number of negotiations between
DEC and Aboriginal communities around the state for
each of these different types of arrangements, and at
least half of the people here are negotiating new comanagement arrangements.
Arrangements and
agreements may evolve and ‘These different approaches
develop over time as people allow us to respond to different
circumstances and different
get more experience and
needs. Nor is the use of any one
build their capacity to work
approach locked in stone.’
together and to manage
land. Co-management
should be adaptive and should involve ongoing
evaluation and review of how we are going, what we are
doing, what we have achieved and where we are going.
The challenge over the last few years has been to
establish new co-management arrangements. The
challenge for the future is to make sure that we review
those arrangements and adapt and change them where
appropriate. This includes looking at what we are doing
around the state to see where things are working and
why they are working, to look at the models we are using
and how we can improve them and to look at whether
we are being fair and equitable. It is also to draw on the
experiences to date and provide information that can be
used by staff and communities around the state, so we
don’t reinvent the wheel.
The aim is that Aboriginal
‘While there are different
people make decisions
models, the aims are the same.
about management of
The aim is to care for Country,
land and are involved in
to respect Aboriginal culture
managing the land. The
and to pass on the land and
aim is that Aboriginal
culture to future generations.’
people can access and use
land for cultural activities. The aim is that government
and Aboriginal communities work in partnership and
build our capacity to manage lands. The government
and DEC are both committed to working with
Aboriginal communities to achieve these aims.
An issue raised at the last statewide meeting was
employment and training, in particular the types of
positions available and training programs that can
be run. DEC has a number of programs in place for
Aboriginal employment and training. A key program
is the Trainee Field Officers and the Cadet Ranger
program. This year there are eleven Cadet Rangers
and five Trainee Field Officers working for DEC. Six of
the Cadet Rangers are working in areas where either
there is a co-management arrangement or where a comanagement arrangement is being negotiated.
13
Aboriginal Co-management Meeting 2006 — Proceedings
Importantly, co‘Co-management
management has
arrangements have resulted
also led to increased
in increased training and
Aboriginal involvement in
employment of Aboriginal
recruitment and selection
staff, as is shown here at
of employees, through
Mungo National Park where
involvement in selection
more than 60% of the staff are
panels and decisionAboriginal people.’
making about jobs in
particular parks. This can
involve some difficult decisions about the best mix of
training and employment and the need to ensure that
employment options are sustainable given the funding
available and amount of work needed on any one park.
Another important thing to think about is that while
employment and training with parks may offer
significant benefits to communities, there will always
be a limit to employment opportunities with parks—
there are only so many jobs available.
DEC and Aboriginal communities need to consider
other potential economic opportunities associated with
co-managed parks. How can Aboriginal communities
develop businesses associated with park management,
that can grow and expand to develop business
relationships with other land managers and with the
broader community? Examples might be businesses
associated with tourism, bush regeneration, weed and
pest control, planning and education. What do we need
to do to get there? How do we figure out what the
realistic economic opportunities are? What planning is
needed? What training and development is needed?
An issue raised at the last workshop was the need
for better interpretation and education of Aboriginal
heritage. I think for co-managed parks we have
improved, but this is an area where we need to
improve further. We should use Aboriginal languages
more in education, interpretation and signs. We should
think more about what information we are presenting.
Part of this is about educating staff and DEC has spent
the last year looking at what we need to do to raise the
cultural awareness of our staff.
Another issue raised at the last meeting was cultural
heritage assessment. We have been developing new
ways to do this that emphasise the Aboriginal cultural
values of landscape. An example is the Arakwal
National Park ethnobotanical study which mapped the
culturally important plants in the park so they can be
managed and used.
14
Three new issues discussed at this meeting which were
not discussed at the last meeting are developing the
plan of management, the support needed for Boards
and Communities and managing the transition from
negotiations to co-management. Discussing these issues
reflects two things. One is that co-management has
been in place for a longer period of time and we now
have some experience with plans of management and
with issues for Boards and can discuss those experiences.
The other is that the number of co-management
negotiations is expanding, so there are more people who
have an interest in hearing what may lie ahead.
Terry Korn
Director, Western
Branch, Parks and
Wildlife Division, DEC
Terry—speaking a
short period before
retiring as Director
of Western Branch,
Parks and Wildlife Division, DEC—said that he felt very
proud that Mungo had been selected as the venue
for the meeting and was both surprised and pleased
to see such a large gathering of people discussing comanagement.
Two years ago a group from
East Timor visited Mungo. DEC
‘Who would have thought
five years ago that we
has since been working with
would have a group like this
them to establish a protected
together talking about coarea system in East Timor that
management—it’s fantastic.
will culminate in the declaration
I wish you well in your travels
of a park in August 2006. I
and doing business with
have been working on this
DEC in this important area
project since its beginning four
of co-management. I think
years ago. The East Timorese
it’s a fantastic achievement
looked at the co-management
that we’ve had in this process
over the last few years and it
process in Mungo, talked to
can only go on to bigger and
the Three Traditional Tribal
better things.’
Groups and decided it was a
good way of doing business.
In the area to be set up as the
first national park in East Timor there will be six villages to
bring together to work together in the co-management
process. I’m proud to have been associated with the East
Timor project and acknowledged that I was only able to
do that because of the work done with DEC and with the
people in the west.
Mungo field trip
Mungo National Park—the field trip
The field trip to Mungo National Park was hosted
by the Three Traditional Tribal Groups: the Paakantji,
Mutthi Mutthi and Ngiyampaa people.
The Three Traditional Tribal Groups took participants
on guided tours of the dunes (or lunettes) on the
edge of the lake and pointed out features that
demonstrate the long connection of their people
to this land. These features include stone hearths,
fossils, tools and other artefacts. They also pointed out
different plants and explained their uses and spoke
about the types of animals that are found in the area,
such as emus and kangaroos.
DECC
They explained how the Three Traditional Tribal
Groups and DEC are managing the land together and
talked about the techniques they use to protect the
land. These included a talk about the Discovery tour
programs run by the Three Traditional Tribal Groups
during school holidays. Twenty-five people have been
trained in tour guiding and the Three Traditional Tribal
Groups have developed a manual for each group that
can be used by the Discovery rangers.
The Three Traditional Tribal Groups talked about the
importance of Mungo National Park to their people
and the length of their people’s connection to the
land. They told the story of Mungo Lady, who was
uncovered in this area and who represents the oldest
recorded burial in Australia. The Three Traditional
Tribal Groups Corporation is working toward building
a keeping place to look after Mungo Lady as well as
other important artefacts and remains that have been
returned to them.
The field trip included a visit to Joulni—an area
of land next to the park that is owned by the
Three Traditional Tribal Groups Elders Council
Corporation. Joulni is the proposed location for
the keeping place. Michael Westaway, the World
Heritage Executive Officer, and Gary Pappin from
the Three Traditional Tribal Groups Elders Council,
talked about the importance of Joulni and plans to
build the keeping place.
DECC
DECC
DEC would like to thank the Three Traditional Tribal
Groups on behalf of everyone who participated in the
field trip.
DECC
15