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Country, Native Title and Ecology
Abstract
The overtly technical process of making a native title application has obscured one of the central reasons why Indigenous people engage with the native title system – to affirm and promote their relationships with country. This chapter has been specifically written to bring clarity to what is meant by 'country', 'native title' and 'ecology', and how these three understandings interact in law and practice. There are three sections: 'Countries and Ecologies'; 'Native Titles' and, 'Native Title as environmental management'.
... There is a power in country that radiates to all those who live there and becomes incorporated in humans by virtue of their spiritual makeup. (Taylor, 2012, p. 21) Aboriginal people have a deep spiritual connection to their lands known as Country (Weir, 2012). This connection governs social, economic and cultural structures, as evidenced by Aboriginal Law being based on the relationship between traditional knowledge and environmental interaction (Johnston, Jacups, Vickery, & Bowman, 2007;Strang, 2005). ...
... The knowledge and interaction with Country consists of every living and non-living element, whether that is land, fire, water, minerals or animals (Burgess & Morrison, 2007). Country is dynamic, having multiple meanings for Aboriginal individuals and communities (Nursey-Bray & Hill, 2010;Weir, 2012). ...
... Therefore, it is not surprising that evidence highlights the health benefits of involving Aboriginal people in caring for Country projects (Burgess, Berry, Gunthorpe, & Bailie, 2008;Campbell, Burgess, Garnett, & Wakerman, 2011;Richmond & Ross, 2009). However, Aboriginal people are often excluded from discussions and research, in respect to their Country, and Country is often viewed as no longer relevant unless financially viable (Palsson, 1995;Strang, 2005;Weir, 2012). Shiva (1995) highlights that the marginalisation of local knowledge is a necessary method of Western monocultural thinking/action (agriculture based on singular/intensive crop production), which consequently homogenises the environment. ...
Purpose – Aboriginal people across Australia have diverse practices, beliefs and knowledges based on thousands of generations of managing and protecting their lands (Country). The intimate relationship Aboriginal people have with their Country is explored in this chapter because such knowledge is important for building insight into the relationship between social and ecological systems. Often in research Aboriginal views have been marginalised from discussions focused on their lands to the detriment of ecosystems and human health. This chapter aims to understand if such marginalisation is evident in Western human–nature relationship discourses.
Approach – This chapter provides a critical literature review which examines whether Aboriginal people’s diverse understanding of their ecosystems have been incorporated into human–nature theories using the biophilia hypothesis as a starting point. Other concepts explored include solastalgia, topophilia and place.
Findings – Critiques of these terminologies in the context of Aboriginal people’s connection to Country are limited but such incorporation is viewed in the chapter as a possible mechanism for better understanding human’s connection to nature. The review identified that Aboriginal people’s relationship to Country seems to be underrepresented in the human–nature theory literature.
Value – This chapter emphasises that the integration of Aboriginal perspectives into research, ecological management and policy can provide better insight into the interrelationships between social and ecological systems.
... Meanwhile, acting on the here-and-now situation where their lands continue to suffer desecration and destruction at the hands of the political entities with whom they currently must coexist-certainly for now and likely into the foreseeable future-Ngarrindjeri are simply materialising (through a performance of sovereign authority) their belief that they have a (natural) right and responsibility to preserve and protect the ecology that defines their existence as such. (Bignall, Hemming, and Rigney 2016, 469) Here again, I believe tourism can be seen as a significant vehicle (together with Land Councils and other authoritative bodies -see Weir, 2012) for the "performance of sovereign authority". The nature of Aboriginal tourism-showing tourists their cultural ties to the environment itself-places blackfellas immediately within the sovereignty of their own countries. ...
... 30 "Always was, Always will be, Aboriginal Land" is a popular slogan seen and heard at many rallies and protests in relation to Aboriginal matters. It appears to counteract, undermine, or correct any Western legal definitions of Native Title, land ownership in general etc. by clearly asserting Aboriginal people's prior-and never ceded-cultural and political owner/custodianship (again, see Weir, 2012). 32 and Indigenous place names are replacing or being displayed alongside prior settler-Australian designations, such as Munga-Thirri. ...
This paper further explores the importance of “becoming-Aboriginal” as a postcolonial or decolonising strategy in terms of Australian national identity, specifically through the “gateway” of Aboriginal tourism. Here, however, this strategy is tied particularly to Felix Guattari's work The Three Ecologies (1989) as part of a more urgent need to confront the crises presently facing humanity. Through focusing on one region in northern South Australia, initially visited in 1980 then again in 2020, I reflect upon my own experiences with Aboriginal culture and its ecologies in this area as a way to explore and expand upon not only my own identity and subjectivity but that of Australia's more generally. Considering Australia has always suffered something of an “identity crisis” because of its often brutal white colonial history, the concepts of cultural transversality and ecosophy could provide a further turning point in the reconciliation process between Aboriginal and settler Australians.
... Health promotion has also been criticised for being western centric, particularly for lacking emphasis on cultural determinants of health (CDoH). 4,23 For example, CDoH from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective acknowledges that strong connection to culture and land generates a stronger sense of self-identity, self-esteem and resilience. 24 A core principle of health promotion is equity, however, it is usually within a dominant western paradigm where Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) are often omitted from conventional public health approaches. ...
... 4,23 Therefore cultural determinants will be considered in the study as research shows that these determinants can provide invaluable insights into fostering the health of ecosystems and ensuring ecological sustainability. 4,23,[25][26][27][28] The exploration of the intersection between health promotion and protecting the natural environment is a relatively emerg- 29 Other studies over a similar timeframe have explored the correlation between Aboriginal connection to country and wellbeing, and researchers have emphasised the need for health promotion to embrace IKS. 5,25,30 However, there lacks investigation in an Australian health promotion context about how to practically merge CDoH into socio-ecological models that dominate contemporary health promotion theory and practice. ...
Issue addressed:
The Anthropocene is a new era in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The negative impact humans have on the earth’s systems pose significant threats to human health. Health promotion is a discipline well placed to respond to planetary health challenges of the Anthropocene. The overarching aim of this paper is to describe the elements of 21st century socio‐ecological health and apply them in a revised socio‐ecological framework for health promotion.
Methods:
A qualitative description study design was employed to explore the significance of ecological and cultural determinants of health and review models in contemporary health promotion to inform the development of a revised Mandala of Health. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit ten experts from across Australia including academics and practitioners working at the nexus of health promotion, environmental management and sustainability. Data was analysed thematically, using deductive and inductive methods.
Results:
A revised Mandala of Health could address existing gaps in health promotion theory and practice. Ecological and cultural determinants of health were considered essential components of health promotion that is often lacking in socio‐ecological frameworks. Indigenous Knowledge Systems were considered immensely important when addressing ecological and cultural determinants of health.
Conclusions:
A revised Mandala of Health could encourage development of contemporary health models, assisting health promotion to evolve with the health and environmental issues of the Anthropocene. This study highlights the need for more theoretical development and empirical research regarding ecological and cultural determinants of health in a health promotion context.
So what?
In the context of the Anthropocene, this study highlights the potential gaps in health promotion theory and practice in terms of the natural environment and health and emphasises the need of a paradigm shift to embed ecological and cultural determinants with other determinants of health.
... These projects inform practices that enhance biodiversity alongside carbon sequestration. 52 They reflect a holistic approach to land management that prioritises both carbon mitigation and cultural goals. In southern and eastern Australia, successful projects contribute to carbon mitigation and restore Indigenous stewardship over traditional lands. ...
The interconnected and compounding climate change and biodiversity crises have led to increased urgency in moving towards transformational change within how national and international sustainability efforts are viewed and operationalised. Despite the known benefit of carbon markets as part of these sustainability efforts, there has been increasing scrutiny of carbon market mechanisms, with warranted distrust present at the community level. Indigenous Peoples are key stewards of biodiverse landscapes, yet their exclusion within carbon market decision making is ongoing. With this exclusion, outstanding questions remain on the placement of Indigenous Peoples within current carbon market design and decision making and their roles have yet to be fully appreciated in wider policy and practice. Platformed on substantial inequities, marginalisation, and racism, we therefore query in this Personal View, are carbon markets a new form of colonialism? We further reflect on the challenges and the potential opportunities of carbon markets for Indigenous Peoples and anchor our reflections with examples from different regions.
... A particular challenge for managing intangible cultural values, which are defined as "part of a living cultural tradition", is in defining the ways in which those traditions may develop or change in response to circumstances and still be considered an 'authentic' demonstration of a cultural tradition. Australian custodians similarly face this problem in their assertion of native title rights (Glaskin 2003;Weir 2012). According to Ngarda-Ngarli beliefs, Law has been practiced since creation and amended as required by a dynamically changing landscape. ...
Murujuga, as the Dampier Archipelago (including Burrup Peninsula) National Heritage Listed Place is known to its traditional custodians, is on the Pilbara coast of northern Western Australia. Murujuga’s scientific values are endorsed on Australia’s National Heritage List under a range of significance criteria. This chapter describes how an Australian local Aboriginal community’s contemporary connections and significance values have been framed through the lens of Outstanding Universal Value in a world heritage nomination—and the scaffolding required to translate local and national heritage values into the global purview. The World Heritage List (WHL) criteria distinguish between natural and cultural values: an anathema to Aboriginal custodians who see ngurra (country) as both a natural and cultural domain. We describe the disjunct between Aboriginal custodial connections to country and UNESCO’s framing of Outstanding Universal Values (OUV) for a world heritage nomination. The Ngarda-Ngarli are pursuing World Heritage by documenting outstanding universal cultural values under criteria i, iii, and v). For Aboriginal custodians this journey towards international recognition provides an opportunity to assert their local connection and control over this significant place, in the belief that global recognition will increase its protection. This chapter explores whether World Heritage recognition will help its traditional custodians to manage this extraordinary heritage estate, particularly in the face of the national economic value being placed on Industry in this same landscape.
... Therefore, educating people about the uses and utility of these plants is valuable in articulating the advantage of preserving them, not only as a source of food for humans and animals, but as a shade tree for wildlife, a canopy tree in a littoral rainforest, and a key species within an ecological network. Shifting ourselves out of this humancentric, Ptolemaic understanding of the world in favour of a Copernican view which acknowledges "the person is part of a system of mutual influences" we are re-situating humanity within nature and acknowledging our connection with one another (Csikszentmihalyi, 1988, p. 366;Weir, 2012). ...
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.
... Destroy this relationship and you damage-sometimes irrevocably-individual human beings and their health'. Ongoing access to traditional lands also offers sociopolitical, economic and environmental benefits (Weir, 2012). Analysis of 2008 Social Survey data found a clear association between cultural attachment and positive socio-economic outcomes and wellbeing (Dockery, 2011). ...
Background
Dialysis for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is the leading cause of hospitalization among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals in Australia. Poor oral health is commonly the only obstacle preventing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with ESKD in Australia from receiving kidney transplant.
Objective
This study aims to improve access, provision, and delivery of culturally secure dental care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals with ESKD in South Australia through the following objectives: investigate the facilitators of and barriers to providing oral health care to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients with ESKD in South Australia; investigate the facilitators of and barriers to maintaining oral health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with ESKD in South Australia; facilitate access to and completion of culturally secure dental care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals with ESKD and their families; provide oral health promotion training for Aboriginal health workers (AHWs) at each of the participating Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, with a specific emphasis on oral health needs of patients with ESKD; generate co-designed strategies to better facilitate access to and provision of culturally secure dental services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with ESKD; and evaluate participant progress and AHW oral health training program.
Methods
This collaborative study is divided into 3 phases: exploratory phase (baseline), intervention phase (baseline), and evaluation phase (after 6 months). The exploratory phase will involve collaboration with stakeholders in different sectors to identify barriers to providing oral health care; the intervention phase will involve patient yarns, patient oral health journey mapping, clinical examinations, culturally secure dental care provision, and strategy implementation workshops; and the evaluation phase will involve 6-month follow-up clinical examinations, participant evaluations of dental care provision, and AHW evaluation of oral health training.
Results
Stakeholder interviews were initiated in November 2021, and participant recruitment commenced in February 2022. The first results are expected to be submitted for publication in December 2022.
Conclusions
Expected outcomes will identify the burden of oral disease experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with ESKD in South Australia. Qualitative outcomes are expected to develop a deeper appreciation of the unique challenges regarding oral health for individuals with ESKD. Through stakeholder engagement, responsive strategies and policies will be co-designed to address participant-identified and stakeholder-identified challenges to ensure accessibility to culturally secure dental services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals with ESKD.
International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)
PRR1-10.2196/39685
... Natural resource management is often treated as an experiment with carefully prescribed spatiotemporally transferable methodologies employing theoretical interpretations and findings are communicated in written and graphical form to seek a universal truth (Tütüncü et al. 2013). A legacy of Judaeo/Christian traditions and neoclassical science arising from the same cultural cosmology is the tendency to separate humans from nature and wild spaces as well as a focus on understanding individual biophysical mechanisms, often in isolation of contextual information (Weir 2012). The neoclassical ethos is that science and culture should not collude to avoid the influence of subjectivity and observer bias. ...
A cross-cultural approach to conservation and natural resource management will enable resource managers to access the full potential of dual knowledge epistemologies and facilitate genuine co-management. To achieve this epistemological convergence in Aotearoa, New Zealand, a framework and an ecological assessment tool are required that can employ indicators from both neoclassical ecological science and indigenous science, in particular mātauranga Māori. The Ecological State Assessment Tool (ESAT) was developed to assess quantitative scientific data using Māori ecological indicators. ESAT models population or social data weighted according to an applied Māori ecological perspective. ESAT may be applied to any conservation project to integrate Māori ecological knowledge in resource management. We illustrate the utility of ESAT in a case study of how different conservation management practices affect the ecological health of a short-tailed bat colony (Mystacina tuberculata), Pekapeka O Puketītī-Piopio. Applying ESAT shows that although pest control programs were achieving management targets, social engagement had a significant effect on ecological health outcomes for the bats. ESAT may assist territorial authorities and the Crown to meet their resource management obligations to Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi, value mātauranga and provide a way for Māori and ecologists to conceptualise and understand each other’s epistemology. Furthermore, ESAT can be adapted to include any cultural or ecological indicators, enabling its application internationally.
... The development and evaluation of trial accounts for land cover and fire demonstrates that ecosystem accounting can support NBY's environmental management objectives for RPS. As there are few regular, systematic methods available to compile information about Indigenous cultural and natural resource management practices (Weir, 2012), our study shows that ecosystem accounting has potential for providing a consistent and spatially explicit information system. ...
Ecosystem accounting is emerging as a promising tool for environmental management by offering consistent information about ecosystem change over time. Via a United Nations process, ecosystem accounting has been standardised in the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). However, there are currently no examples of ecosystem accounts developed specifically to support Indigenous people’s management of land or sea. More than 40% (3 million square kilometres) of Australia’s land and sea territory has Indigenous Title. If Indigenous managers are to use ecosystem accounting, then it is essential for them to be involved in its devel- opment. We assessed how ecosystem accounts can be developed and applied in a manner that supports the management objectives of Indigenous owners and managers. Working collaboratively with the Yawuru Tradi- tional Owners of the land and sea country around Broome, Western Australia, we constructed and assessed experimental ecosystem accounts for land cover and fire for the period 2000–2020. Three key benefits of ecosystem accounts for supporting the priorities of Yawuru managers were identified: (1) flexibility in the units used for the analysis; (2) the extended time scale of the accounts; and (3) the emphasis on consistent capturing and reporting of data. We also identified the need for further work to incorporate cultural knowledge and values within the broader SEEA, with implications for the recognition of Indigenous people, knowledge and values within accounting systems globally.
... Trees and water can become lumber and gigalitres and can then be secured as resources for the nation, to be allocated and managed by centralised institutions (Scott, 1998, p. 12-13;e.g., Arsenault et al., 2018); whilst also erasing Indigenous peoples' property rights (Weir, 2012). This instrumental view of nature-nature for human use-requires ongoing labour in human exceptionalism to maintain it. ...
Indigenous leaders and scholars demand greater respect for their governance and knowledge authority, with one priority the de/centring of the environmental management research-praxis arising out of natural science traditions (Latulippe and Klenk, 2020). That is, to de-centre colonial privilege and centre Indigenous authority. Who can do this and how involves conceptual, political and cultural expertise; yet, natural science disciplinary practices prioritise invisibilizing power, culture and perspective (Latulippe and Klenk, 2020; Vásquez-Fernández and Ahenakew, 2020). This article is an intervention into this context. As a non-Indigenous scholar, I introduce the analytical tools I use to unpack two core assumptions that confounded my ability to hear what Indigenous mentors were saying about environmental management. With two demonstrations—Xaxli’p (Canada) and Gunditjmara (Australia)—I also show how Indigenous leaders do not just present their own approaches, but re-constitute environmental management itself with their meanings, practices, and priorities, whilst environmental management also influences Indigenous knowledge and governance. My focus is with how knowledge is formed and re-formed within and between diverse knowledge holders, including my work as a reflexive modern scholar. Significantly, this article is not purely for edification: this is justice work—in support of both Indigenous people and nature.
... While it is beyond the scope of this thesis to explore this body of literature in detail, Indigenous Science has been documented by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers and can work both with and against Western norms of science in Australia (for an indepth overview in the field of education, see Snively and Williams, 2016, and in ecosystems science, see Ens et al., 2015, andWeir, 2012). What is critical to the Indigenous health narrative, as Janet suggested above, is who is in charge of the science. ...
To date, national statistics have placed Indigenous Australians and their health in constant comparison with non-Indigenous Australians. This has generated a deficit discourse, reinforcing the notion of an ‘Indigenous problem’ in Australian society. In response, Indigenous and non-Indigenous health researchers have worked together to build momentum for ‘strengths-based’ research approaches, advocating for the positive influence which Indigenous cultures have on health outcomes, and the need to quantify this relationship at the population level to challenge the deficit discourse. This thesis focuses on the development of the first national survey to measure this relationship, designed and owned by Indigenous Australians — the Mayi Kuwayu National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing. Using an Indigenist research approach, this thesis navigates the influence of social, political, and historical factors on the development of the Mayi Kuwayu Study’s methodology and survey structure. It draws on multi-sited observations of focus groups across Australia and interviews with its key researchers and Indigenous community stakeholders conducted between May 2017 and November 2018.
This thesis shows that the Mayi Kuwayu Study researchers strategically mobilised the concept of culture within their epidemiological framework. The focus groups they conducted with Indigenous community members helped to establish the credibility and validity of the metrics used in their survey. The Indigeneity of the researchers and stakeholders was seen to mediate this operational translation of culture from its lived experience. I found that the Indigenous leadership and ownership of the study altered the epidemiological research process and enhanced its potential to produce meaningful data, empowering Indigenous Australian communities and decolonising the wider Indigenous health narrative. While the survey’s ability to ‘save’ culture was limited, it was able to maintain a sensitivity to cultural diversity, and demonstrated that cultural determinants of health is a promising, strengths-based framework for large-scale epidemiological research.
... The sense of custodianship and Country is a defining characteristic of Aboriginal communities and is handed down from their ancestors and ancestral beings (Weir 2009). This sense encompasses the place where the person is nurtured, and from whence they draw their identity and life force (Davies et al. 2013;Rose 1996;Weir 2012;Weir, Crew, and Crew 2013). In the research presented in this paper, the cultural importance of connection to Country was especially apparent when participants spoke of access to wetlands and their plants and animals. ...
In the Murrumbidgee catchment of the Murray-Darling Basin, wetlands, rivers and other waterscapes are important features of Country for Aboriginal peoples. The Murrumbidgee River is the most heavily regulated river system in the Murray-Darling Basin. Discussion around the use of Murrumbidgee water is framed as a conflict between sustaining rural communities and using water to support ecological values, yet the voices of Aboriginal custodians are relatively unheard in this discussion. Using culturally important wetland plants as a starting point, this paper explores the understanding and perception of some Aboriginal people in relation to their Country and water. The grief of participants as they experience the degradation of their Country was palpable. The strong message that Country should be considered in its entirety—including ecological, social and cultural aspects—contrasts with current ownership and other institutional arrangements. Improving opportunities for communities and water managers to share knowledge and information, an openness to use Aboriginal wisdom, and careful ongoing management of environmental and cultural water have the potential to achieve positive cultural and ecological outcomes in the Murrumbidgee.
... Country might be similar to a drainage basin for a river, or be marked by a particular plant species, or not … it is multilayered and indeterminate with multiple forms and meanings. 11 On this account, country is not that familiar institution many of us learn from school, captured in the imperialistic 'spatial writing' of topographical maps. 12 Instead, country appears as the constitution of a place. ...
... Land management scholarship is often focused on technical-managerial aspects, drawing on the natural sciences, but these are also deeply socio-cultural questions. By considering the governance context, this multidisciplinary paper contributes to the growing literature on the socio-ecological aspects of invasive plant species Kleipis et al. 2009;Robbins 2004), including that literature specifically engaged with Indigenous peoples' weeds management (Barbour and Shlesinger 2012;Grice et al. 2012;Rose 1995;Smith, N 2001;Trigger 2008), and with Indigenous peoples' land management responsibilities more broadly (Altman and Kerins 2012;Dore et al. 2014;O'Donnell 2013;Weir 2012), as well as the emerging literature on the governance of native title lands (Bauman et al. 2013). In the first half of this paper, we outline native title law and administration, and report on the findings of our legal analysis into the attribution of responsibility for invasive plants management in the legislation of State and Territory jurisdictions. ...
Australian law imposes certain responsibilities on landholders to protect environmental and economic values of the land, however native title has significant consequences for understanding and attributing these land management responsibilities. In 1992, the High Court recognised Indigenous peoples' rights and interests in land could survive the assertion of British sovereignty, effectively introducing a new category of land tenure into Australian law. Reporting on both law and management practice, we consider the implications for the collective provision of land management functions across Australia - including reforms required for legislative rationale and regulatory models. Relying on a test-case, we found native title holders are substantial landholders who appear, at least in some circumstances in most jurisdictions, to owe the same legal obligations as other landholders. Much ambiguity remains, especially regarding 'non-exclusive' possession native title. Together, the legal uncertainty and poor policy alignment necessitate a substantial revision of Australia's land management laws and governance.
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Aboriginal culture intuitively embodies and interconnects the threads of life that are known to be intrinsic to human wellbeing: connection. Therefore, Aboriginal wisdom and practices are inherently strengths-based and healing-informed. Underpinned by an Indigenist research methodology, this article presents findings from a collaboration of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples to develop an Australian Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Indigenous Framework during 2021 to 2023. The FASD Indigenous Framework unfolds the changes that non-Aboriginal clinicians and Aboriginal peoples each need to make in their respective ways of knowing, being and doing in order to facilitate access to healing-informed, strengths-based and culturally responsive FASD knowledge, assessment, diagnosis and support services among Aboriginal peoples. Drawing on the Aboriginal practices of yarning and Dadirri, written and oral knowledges were gathered. These knowledges were mapped against Aboriginal cultural responsiveness and wellbeing frameworks and collaboratively and iteratively reflected upon throughout. This article brings together Aboriginal wisdom (strengths-based, healing-informed approaches grounded in holistic and integrated support) and Western wisdom (biomedicine and therapeutic models) in relation to FASD. From a place of still awareness (Dadirri), both forms of wisdom were drawn upon to create Australia’s first FASD Indigenous Framework, a new practice in the assessment and diagnosis of FASD, which offers immense benefit to equity, justice, support and healing for Aboriginal families with a lived experience of FASD.
This paper investigates a select number of examples in which largely non-literate First Nation peoples of Australia, like some First Nations peoples around the world, when faced with a judicial challenge to present evidence in court to support their land title claim, have drawn on their cultural materials as supporting evidence. Specifically, the text highlights the effective agency of indigenous visual expression as a communication tool within the Australian legal system. Further, it evaluates this history within an indigenous Australian art context, instancing where of visual art, including drawings and paintings, has been successfully used to support the main evidence in native title land claims. The focus is on three case studies, each differentiated by its distinct medium, commonly used in indigenous contemporary art—namely, ink/watercolours on paper, (Case study 1—the Mabo drawings of 1992), acrylics on canvas (Case study 2—the Ngurrara 11 canvas 1997) and ochre on bark, (Case study 3—The Saltwater Bark Collection 1997 (onwards)). The differentiation in the stylistic character of these visual presentations is evaluated within the context of being either a non-indigenous tradition (e.g., represented as European-like diagrams or sketches to detail areas and boundaries of the claim sites in question) or by an indigenous expressive context (e.g., the evidence of the claim is presented using traditionally inspired indigenous symbols relating to the claimant’s lands. These latter images are adaptations of the secret sacred symbols used in ceremonies and painting, but expressed in a form that complies with traditional protocols protecting secret, sacred knowledge). The following text details how such visual presentations in the aforementioned cases were used and accepted as legitimate legal instruments, on which Australian courts based their legal determinations of the native land title.
In this paper we introduce the concept of ‘(in)significance’ as a way to think about values in heritage, and in the attribution, recording, description, assessment and categorisation practices that characterise heritage processes. Our aim is to throw light on how this concept shapes, and is shaped by, contemporary heritage practices and outcomes. We consider the history of the idea of significance, particularly as it is defined in the Burra Charter, and trace its inheritance lines in settler nation states and capitalist economic structures, and highlight its retention of concepts of heritage value as both intrinsic and culturally attributed. Using international, mainly Anglophone examples, we review a range of case studies and examples of significance and insignificance, of significance assessment in practice, and the tensions between expert, institutional or ‘official’ values and broader concepts of heritage and attachment. We suggest that the dual or layered concept of ‘(in)significance’ might allow for heritage practices that interact with emotions, memory, place and things in ways that are often not possible in the context of official heritage regimes because of rigid aesthetic and conservation paradigms, as well as identity and ownership claims and deeply invested national narratives.
Yolŋu mathematics refers to the complex matrix of patterns, relationships, shapes, motions and rhythms of time and space that underpin the ways that Yolŋu people, Indigenous people of North East Arnhem Land in northern Australia, nourish and are nourished by their environments. Through its fundamental reliance on human and more-than-human connectivity and situatedness, Yolŋu people mobilise the concept of Yolŋu mathematics to challenge Western knowledges, including Western ideas of mathematics and environment. This paper discusses Yolŋu mathematics and the relationships between humans and more-than-humans, which co-produce a world that is living and interconnected, and which reveals all knowledge as situated.
Aquatic ecosystems are critical to the long-term viability and vibrancy of communities and economies across northern Australia. In a region that supports significant cultural and ecological water values, partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders can benefit aquatic ecosystem management. We present, as a case study from the Kimberley region of Western Australia, a collaborative research program that successfully documented Indigenous and Western Scientific knowledge of remote wetlands, using a variety of field-based activities, questionnaires, interviews and workshops. The sharing of knowledge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous research partners facilitated a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem values, threats, processes, management priorities and aspirations. These formed the basis of a management plan and monitoring tools, designed to build the capacity of an Indigenous ranger group to engage in research, monitoring and management of wetlands. The project provides a useful example of the benefits of collaborations in the context of remote-area management where local communities are responsible for environmental management and monitoring, such as is the case in northern Australia and presumably other areas of the world.
In this essay, the authors respond to several of the papers included in this special issue. First reflecting on the relation between waters, ‘First law’,1 and settler law, the authors then draw connections between some of the contributions to the issue. Water, the authors contend, is a productive site for thinking through the organs and processes of settler law, though such attention, they argue, also reveals how the ‘constitutional’ question of waters is occluded by the presence and dominance of settler law. The final section turns to Aotearoa/New Zealand as a negative example of this situation, one in which the constituting force of waters is nullified by the incorporation of indigenous politics within the processes and institutions of the settler legal order.
Aboriginal people across Australia suffer significant health inequalities compared with the non-Indigenous population. Evidence indicates that inroads can be made to reduce these inequalities by better understanding social and cultural determinants of health, applying holistic notions of health and developing less rigid definitions of wellbeing. The following article draws on qualitative research on Victorian Aboriginal peoples' relationship to their traditional land (known as Country) and its link to wellbeing, in an attempt to tackle this. Concepts of wellbeing, Country and nature have also been reviewed to gain an understanding of this relationship. An exploratory framework has been developed to understand this phenomenon focusing on positive (e.g., ancestry and partnerships) and negative (e.g., destruction of Country and racism) factors contributing to Aboriginal peoples' health. The outcome is an explanation of how Country is a fundamental component of Aboriginal Victorian peoples' wellbeing and the framework articulates the forces that impact positively and negatively on this duality. This review is critical to improving not only Aboriginal peoples' health but also the capacity of all humanity to deal with environmental issues like disconnection from nature and urbanisation.
This scoping study presents an assessment of the potential impacts of climate change on Indigenous
settlements and communities across tropical northern Australia, including the Torres Strait Islands and the
Pilbara region of Western Australia. The study region is home to about 87,000 Indigenous people, around
a quarter of the total population of 355,000. The region includes 665 settlements varying from less than 50,
to 3,500 people. Approximately 50 per cent of this Indigenous population lives within 20 kilometres of the
coast or on offshore islands.
Indigenous people in northern Australia face many existing challenges. These include: remoteness, poor
health, inadequate infrastructure, lack of educational and employment opportunities, and low incomes.
Climate change will exacerbate many of these pre-existing challenges. However, new opportunities also
exist for some of these communities from climate change. Many of these opportunities will stem from
existing roles that community members play in managing natural and cultural resources in remote areas on
behalf of the nation.
Climate change is expected to impact the study region in diverse ways. Although the magnitudes are
uncertain, impacts that are certain to occur include:
• Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels that will alter plant growth;
• Increasing temperatures that will affect human and natural systems;
• Rising sea levels that pose threats to low-lying settlements and estuarine ecosystems; and
• Ocean acidification that will endanger coral reefs and affect marine food chains.
Other impacts likely to occur but with less certainty include:
• Seasonal change in rainfall with likely increases in intensity in the rainy season for some regions which will
xaffect access and water supplies; and
• Greater cyclone intensity that will increase inundation of coastal areas.
Debate around the ecologically noble savage represents two markedly different research threads. The first addresses the issue of conservation among native peoples and narrowly focuses on case studies of resource use of ethnographic, archaeological, or historic sources. The second thread is broader and more humanistic and political in orientation and considers the concept of ecological nobility in terms of identity, ecological knowledge, ideology, and the deployment of ecological nobility as a political tool by native peoples and conservation groups.
Decades of health-related research have produced a large body of knowledge describing alarming rates of morbidity, mortality and social/cultural disruption among Indigenous Australians, but have failed to deliver sustainable interventions to arrest the deepening spiral of ill-health. This paper explores the potential of Indigenous natural resource management (NRM) activities to promote and preserve Indigenous health in remote areas of northern Australia.
A literature review of the health, social science and ecology peer-reviewed journals and secondary literature.
Effective interventions in Indigenous health will require trans-disciplinary, holistic approaches that explicitly incorporate Indigenous health beliefs and engage with the social and cultural drivers of health. Aboriginal peoples maintain a strong belief that continued association with and caring for ancestral lands is a key determinant of health. Individual engagement with 'country' provides opportunities for physical activity and improved diet as well as boosting individual autonomy and self-esteem. Internationally, such culturally congruent health promotion activities have been successful in programs targeting substance abuse and chronic diseases. NRM is fundamental to the maintenance of biodiversity of northern Australia. Increased support for Indigenous involvement in land and sea NRM programs would also deliver concrete social benefits for communities including opportunities for sustainable and culturally apt regional employment, applied education and economic development. NRM may also reinvigorate societal/cultural constructs, increasing collective esteem and social cohesion.
Prescribed Bodies Corporates (PBCs) are a corporate body designed for the native title sector. Native title holders are required under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) to hold and manage their native title rights and interests through the establishment of a PBC. In this paper, I find that PBCs are an important new form of Indigenous governance which is thwarted by the complicated and cluttered PBC governance context. To do this I review Indigenous governance issues, with a focus on the native title context. My discussion includes the recent Federal Government reforms and policy recommendations that are designed to support more efficient PBCs.
The balance of nature has been a background assumption in natural history since antiquity, but even to the present it has seldom been closely studied. The idea of a balance of nature emerged, but only implicity, in antiquity. During the 17th century, with an increased knowledge of natural history, the idea became a functional assumption, but within a theological rather than ecological context. In the 18th century Linnaeus defined the concept and attempted to make it the foundation of an ecological science. However, it remained tied to theology and was elaborated without critical examination. The existence of agricultural pests, the occasional occurrence of plagues of animals, and the possibility of species having become extinct were kinds of evidence which would have been difficult to reconcile with contemporary concepts. Lamarck was one of the few who perceived some anomaly, and he attempted to save the old concept by arguing that fossils represented early forms of existing species rather than extinct sp...
The Kimberley Aboriginal Caring for Country Plan is the result of decades of pressure from Kimberley Aboriginal people - in meetings, during consultations and in the practice of looking after the land - about the need to be resourced to keep country healthy. This can be done through the elders, through language and through cultural activities. The plan was a collaboration between four regional Aboriginal organisations: the KLRC, the Kimberley Land Council (KLC), the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre (KALACC) and the Kimberley Aboriginal Pastoralists Inc. [Retrieved from http://klrc.org.au/projects/projects/caring-for-country]
The political disputes over native title in Australia have generally been interpreted without recourse to ordinary ideological categories. The general failure to engage with ideology has hampered scholarly analysis, stunting the vocabulary and content of debate, as well as giving the content of public deliberation on the issue a curiously free-floating quality. In this article it is contended that arguments about native title are amenable to being understood as a product of the interaction of a range of well-known normative frameworks: liberalism, social democracy, conservatism, nationalism, socialism and transcendentalism. Each of these six ideologies furnishes rationales both for and against native title by focusing on different elements or preoccupations within the respective ideological traditions. A typological framework is proposed which outlines a range of ideal type positions in relation to native title.
The application of Aboriginal knowledge, the result of millennia of experience, is essential to improve ecological management and inform environmental understanding. A case study from the Kimberley in north-western Australia, however, shows that the management responsibilities of traditional custodians need to be respected if Aboriginal knowledge is to be shared in ways that are beneficial for people, their country, and the interests of the broader Australian community.
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