Noongar People, Noongar Land the Resilience of Aboriginal Culture in the South West of Western Australia
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NOONGAR PEOPLE, NOONGAR LAND THE RESILIENCE OF ABORIGINAL CULTURE IN THE SOUTH WEST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA NOONGAR PEOPLE, NOONGAR LAND THE RESILIENCE OF ABORIGINAL CULTURE IN THE SOUTH WEST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA Kingsley Palmer First published in 2016 by AIATSIS Research Publications Copyright © South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council 2016 All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (the Act), no part of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Act also allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this paper, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied or distributed digitally by any educational institution for its educational purposes, provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) GPO Box 553, Canberra ACT 2601 Phone: (61 2) 6246 1111 Fax: (61 2) 6261 4285 Email: [email protected] Web: www.aiatsis.gov.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Creator: Palmer, Kingsley, 1946- author. Title: Noongar land, Noongar people: the resilience of Aboriginal culture in the South West of Western Australia / Kingsley Palmer. ISBN: 9781922102294 (paperback) ISBN: 9781922102478 (ebook: pdf) ISBN: 9781922102485 (ebook: epub) Subjects: Noongar (Australian people)—History. Noongar (Australian people)—Land tenure. Noongar (Australian people)—Social conditions. Native title (Australia)—Western Australia—South-West. Aboriginal Australians—Land tenure—Western Australia Aboriginal Australians—Western Australia—History. Dewey Number: 305.89915 Front cover images: Each of the six photographs on the front cover shows an important place within the six main regions of Noongar country. These places have been of significance to Noongar people since kura (a long time ago), continue to be so yeye (today) and will be important boorda (tomorrow) and into the boordawan (future). Top (from left): Whadjuk country — Floating sculptures on Dyarlgaroo Beelya (the Canning River) show the contemporary artistic cultural expression of Noongar artists; Yued country — Sunset at Mogumber, site of the Moore River Native Settlement; Gnaala Karla Booja country — Minningup (on the Collie River), a place of mythological and spiritual significance for Noongar people. Bottom (from left): South West Boojarah country — Nannup Cave, Caves Road, Boranup Karri Forest; Ballardong country — Wave Rock, an iconic feature for Noongar people, a part of their natural and cultural geography, serving as a ceremonial meeting place; Wagyl Kaip/Southern Noongar country — Sleeping Beauty (Stirling Ranges), the outline of the many peaks of the ranges illustrates and testifies to one of many Noongar Dreaming stories handed down through the generations. Photographs courtesy SWALSC. Captions by Sarah Bell and Sandra Harben, SWALC. Typeset in Minion Pro by Midland Typesetters, Australia Printed by SOS Print + Media Group CONTENTS About this book vii Map of the claim area x Writing and publishing expert anthropological reports in the native title context xi A note on the orthography used in this book xix A note on methods and scope xx Part I Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century accounts of Noongar culture 1 1 Introduction 3 2 The Aboriginal society of the South West 14 3 Relationships to land 29 4 Social organisation and kinship 55 5 Religious beliefs and practices in the South West 65 6 Authority and disputes 77 7 Early accounts of Noongar culture: conclusion 82 8 Overview of contemporary accounts of Noongar society 85 Part II Noongar laws and customs and rights to country 97 9 The claimant community 99 10 Noongar culture 110 11 Rights to land 140 12 Boundaries, permission, rights and duties 162 13 Continuity of connection: economic and spiritual connection with the country 176 14 Relationship to the sea 201 15 Conclusion: continuity, Noongar laws, customs and rights to country 204 Appendix A Acknowledgment to claimants 209 Appendix B Research design 210 Appendix C Single Noongar Claim (SNC) observation pro forma 221 References 222 Index 232 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: Members of Yellowgonga’s group 36 Table 4.1: Moiety terms collected by Bates from Joobaitch 57 Table 4.2: Semi-moiety names discussed by Bates with Joobaitch 59 Figure 4.1: Patri-moieties and semi-moieties in the South West of Western Australia (after Bates) 61 Table 6.1: Some references to spearing in the early literature 80 Table 10.1: Noongar kinship terms 112 Table 10.2: Noongar language kinship terms collected during the research 113 Table 10.3: Noongar spirits 117 Table 10.4: Some Noongar customs and practices relating to food 123 Table 10.5: Miscellaneous Noongar customs, practices and beliefs 125 Table 10.6: Noongar species associations 131 Table 10.7: Noongar rules discussed in Chapter 10 138 Table 10.8: Noongar customary beliefs and practices discussed in Chapter 10 and references to early literature 139 Table 11.1: Summary of country affiliations of some claimants 145 Table 11.2: Summary of country affiliations 151 Table 11.3: Summary data on patri-filiation, matri-filiation and place of birth 152 Table 12.1: Some Noongar accounts of the borders of Noongar land 164 Table 12.2: Examples of rights to take food resources 169 Table 12.3: Examples of the exercise of duty in Noongar country 173 Table 13.1: Utilisation of the application area, camping 178 Table 13.2: Animals hunted or caught on Noongar land 179 Table 13.3: Plants utilised for food and found on Noongar land 182 Table 13.4: Some examples of Noongar medicine 184 Table 13.5: Use of resources by claimants 187 Table 13.6: Types of site recorded 192 Table 13.7: Sites relating to acquisition of resources 193 ABOUT THIS BOOK This book, Noongar people, Noongar land, arose out of the protracted struggle by the Indigenous Noongar people of the South West of Western Australia to gain recognition of their native title rights and interests under the Australian federal government’s Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) (NTA). The claim, known as ‘the Single Noongar Claim’, was heard in 2005. The case resulted in a historic judgment in favour of the Noongar people, in which Justice Wilcox of the Federal Court found that native title continued to exist (Bennell v State of Western Australia [2006] FCA 1243). The area ruled by Justice Wilcox to be subject to native title rights included parts of the city of Perth. This was the first judgment to recognise native title over parts of a capital city and its surroundings. This success was to be short-lived, however, as the state government of Western Australia appealed the decision to the Full Bench of the Federal Court. This appeal was heard before three Federal Court judges who, in April 2007, set aside Justice Wilcox’s judgment. The Full Court held that Justice Wilcox was wrong to focus on the continued existence of a Noongar community and should have instead concentrated on whether or not Noongar people continued to observe and acknowledge traditional law and custom. Demonstrating this ongoing exercise of traditional law and custom had become an essential component of the proof of native title since a case commonly referred to as the Yorta Yorta case (Members of the Yorta Yorta Aboriginal Community v Victoria [2002] HCA 58). The Full Court also said that Justice Wilcox was mistaken in assuming that simply because the claimants had demonstrated their connection to the broader claim area as a whole they had also proven their connection specifically to the Perth metropolitan region (Bodney v Bennell [2008] FCAFC 63). No finding was made that rejected or dismissed the claim, but it was reassigned to a fresh hearing before another Federal Court judge. Discussions with the state government of Western Australia then followed, with a view to settling the claim out of court. Negotiations between the parties were conducted between 2009 and 2014, ultimately affording Noongar people the opportunity to decide whether to proceed with their claims in court or exchange their native title rights and interests for rights contained in Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs). These ILUAs were approved by Noongar people at six authorisation meetings held across Noongar country between January and March 2015. vii Noongar people, Noongar land Part of the evidence required for proof of native title in a court is an expert anthropological report. The South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC), the native title representative body for the South West of Western Australia, commissioned Dr Kingsley Palmer to research and prepare this report, which was filed in the Federal Court in 2004. SWALSC researchers Kate Morton, David Raftery and Ophelia Rubinich worked under Dr Palmer’s direction to collect some of the data used in the report. It is this report, Single Noongar Native Title Claim (W6006 of 2003 & W6012 of 2003): Anthropologist’s Report, that has been adapted and edited to become this book. SWALSC has also published a book based on the report of the expert historian, Dr John Host, whose account was submitted as part of the evidence for the Single Noongar Claim, in the form of the report Single Noongar Native Title Claim (W6006 of 2003 & W6012 of 2003): Applicants’ History Report. This published historical account, It’s still in my heart, this is my country (SWALSC 2009), has shed new light on the struggle that Noongar people have endured over the decades to gain recognition of their rights to country. The preparation of anthropological materials for a native title claim to the whole of the South West of Western Australia posed particular challenges for SWALSC.