February 2013

Claire Stacey and Anna Dwyer presented research findings to the directors of the KTLA in Bidyadanga on 20 February 2013. The meeting forms a part of the final community visit for the project where research materials and results were returned to the traditional owners. The directors were happy to see the project documented in the community report and were keen to have more research carried out into how the KTLA can better integrate their land management aspirations to meet the challenges created by climate change.  The directors wanted to see the research contribute to better policy making with respect to RNTBCs and their involvement in decision making processes affecting adaptation activities.

Earlier in the year, Tran Tran and Gabrielle Lauder travelled to Kowanyama to return research materials and results to the Kowanyama community on 21 January 2013. Unfortunately, Tran and Gabe only managed to circle the community a few times but were unable to land due to damage caused to the Kowanyama runway by Cyclone Oswald.

Joseph Edgar, Gordon Marshall Teddy Bernard and Rodney Whitfield will be coming to Canberra in March to participate in a final project seminar on 26 March 2013. The seminar will be a great opportunity to speak to a policy and academic audience about project findings and outcomes. As Rodney says “lets hope Oswald does not have any brothers or sisters”.

Dr Lisa Strelein, Dr Jessica Weir, Anna Dwyer (Nulungu Centre for Indigenous Studies) and Claire Stacey (Image: Bruce Gorring)

December 2012
A Karajarri climate change meeting was held on the 14^th of August in Bidyadanga community, Western Australia. The meeting combined two NCCARF projects: “Changes to Country and Culture, Changes to Climate: strengthening institutions for  Indigenous resilience and adaptation” (AIATSIS); and “Learning from the past adapting to the future: Identifying pathways to successful adaptation in Indigenous Communities” (University of Melbourne). The meeting was focused on learning about Karajarri priorities and how they can be used in climate change adaptation strategies.  This included understanding the impacts of increased risk of cyclones and storm surges from climate change to Karajarri country and learning about what Karajarri want to do about climate change, who they need to speak to about it and the things that need to be changed for action to happen (including the KTLA relationship with the Bidyadanga Community Council).  Throughout the day the KTLA identified a range of impacts to Karajarri country from climate change. Each impact was then linked to a relevant government stakeholder and discussed in reflection with the current capacity of the KTLA.

The identified stakeholders were then invited to attend a stakeholder meeting planned for October 2012, however this was unable to go ahead due to a death in the community. However discussions between AIATSIS and the KTLA continued, particularly regarding the decision making process for the KTLA in deciding whether to declare an Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) on their country.

AIATSIS has also employed Anna Dwyer from the Nulungu Centre for Indigenous Studies at Notre Dame university in Broome, as a community researcher. Anna has been busy interviewing KTLA directors, Bidyadanga Councillors and Bidyadanga council staff, to collate in depth perspectives on the current role of KTLA in decision making processes for Karajarri country, as well as opportunities for the future.

KTLA Chairman Mervyn Mulardy and
Abm Elgoring Ambung Managing
Director Rodney Whitfield presenting at
the conference workshop
(photo: Gabrielle Lauder)

June 2012
A project workshop entitled 'Changes to country and culture, changes to climate: reflections on Indigenous resilience and adaptation', was convened by Dr Jessica Weir and Tran Tran at the Native Title Conference in Townsville in June 2012. It was chaired by Professor Marcia Langton and included presentations by traditional owners from the Karajarri Traditional Lands Association (KTLA), Abm Elgoring Ambung and Yanunijarra Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC (with Sonia Leonard from the University of Melbourne). Dr Weir and Tran also presented on the interrelationships between native title and climate change, and the presentations were followed by questions from the floor. AIATSIS is currently writing up the workshop report, which will be published in October 2012, discussing Indigenous adaptation to climate change; how climate change will affect Indigenous cultural practices; how the general institutional marginalisation of RNTBCs extends to the climate change context; and Indigenous challenges to climate change literature.

General Manager Rodney Whitfield and
Abm Elgoring Ambung director Glenette
Greenwool (photo: Tran Tran).

Flooding along the main road
(photo: Tran Tran).

Tran Tran in the Abm, Elgoring Ambung
RNTBC office with Rodney Whitfield
and traditional owner Leslie ‘Monty’ Gilbert
(photo: Jessica Weir).

February 2012
Tran Tran and Jessica Weir travelled to Kowanyama to work with the Abm Elgoring Ambung RNTBC, which was formed in September 2009 after a successful determination of native title over the traditional lands of the Yir Yoront, the Kokoberra and Kunjen, in Kowanyama People v State of Queensland [2009] FCA 1192. Kowanyama has a long history of asserting its independence and practising ‘sovereignty’ in its decisions about land management, research, and the development of community capacity and resources. Prior to native title, a significant amount of land management work has been carried out and supported by the Kowanyama Natural Resources Land Management Office. Despite being, one of more developed and independent communities in the Western Cape the community is still threatened by the centralisation of community councils under the Local Government (Community Government Areas) Act 2004 (Qld).

Increasing government pressure on Indigenous organisations undermines the ability of communities to manage their land and natural resources. The health of Country and the strength of culture, and the important links between them, are also threatened by the changes to the climate and environment that are occurring in the region. Tran worked with the directors of the Abm Elgoring Ambung RNTBC, Darby Horace, Glenette Greenwool, Anzac Frank, Michael Yam, Teddy Bernard, Raven Greenwool and Charlotte Yam, Evelyn Birchley, and its general manager Rodney Whitfield. They discussed the vision and operations of the RNTBC, and the institutional environment in which their native title work is framed.

Native title holders are expected to maintain their traditional lands without adequate support or investment in their RNTBC. Rodney suggested that native title can be compared to a poorly made house:

Normally you dig in the ground, and put in the foundations to make sure there is good support and structure to build a house. But the Native Title Act has built the roof with no walls or foundations. There is nothing holding it up.

The trip was a great opportunity to meet with the directors of the RNTBC and learn about their experiences and aspirations as the traditional owners of Kowanyama.

Karajarri coastal country (photo: Tran Tran)

October 2011
Dr Jessica Weir and Tran Tran travelled to Broome and Bidyadanga in October 2011 to discuss the research project and the outcomes that KTLA wanted to achieve. They met with Mervyn Mulardy Jnr and Joe Edgar from the KTLA at Notre Dame University in Broome and with Thomas King, KTLA ranger coordinator in Bidyadanga, to discuss the objectives of the climate change project and present the research agreement for consideration.