G fpHD9433.A84Y84 ■ .T55 YUGUL Meven lhiele An Arnhem Land Cattle Station i \ N I \ N u m b i| Besw ick K a th |n i jlfe ry e i'. „ \ yl » u■■D^'t'cr i p i f f l f / B a r 1 1 I 1 The Australian National University North Australia Research Unit HD9433 A84Y84 T55 «-N.U. LIBRARY V This book was published by ANU Press between 1965–1991. This republication is part of the digitisation project being carried out by Scholarly Information Services/Library and ANU Press. This project aims to make past scholarly works published by The Australian National University available to a global audience under its open-access policy. Steven Thiele YUGUL An Arnhem Land Cattle Station The Australian National University North Australia Research Unit Monograph Darwin 1982 First published in Australia 1982 Printed in Australia by the Australian National University (c) Steven Thiele, 1982. This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism, or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be directed to the publisher - North Australia Research Unit, PO Box 39448, Winnellie, N.T., 5798, Australia. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Thiele, Steven. Yugul, an Arnhem Land cattle station. Bibliography. ISBN 0 86784 007 2. ISSN 0 728-9499 1. Yugul Cattle Company. 2. Cattle trade - Northern Territory - Arnhem Land. I. Australian National University. North Australia Research Unit. II. Title. (Series : Monograph (Australian National University. North Australia Research Unit)). 338.7'6362'0994295 Orders Northern Territory: North Australia Research Unit, PO Box 39448, Winnellie, 5798. Australia (other than N.T.): ANU Press, PO Box 4, Canberra ACT 2600. United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and Africa: Eurospan, 3 Henrietta Street, London WC2E 8LU, England. North America: Books Australia, 15601 SW 83rd Avenue, Miami, Fla., USA. Japan: United Publishers Services Ltd, Tokyo. Dedication To Duke who saw his dream collapse. Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations xi 1. Yugul and Ngukurr 1 2. Europeans and Aborigines 3 3. Ngukurr and the CMS 9 4. Local government and control 20 5. C attle at Ngukurr and the in itia tio n of Yugul 29 6. Early promise, hidden problems 35 7. Aboriginal support for Yugul 38 8. European organisations and Yugul 46 9. The collapse of the Yugul C attle Company 52 10. Summary and implications of Yugul's collapse 56 Bibliography 71 Preface This is a study of the formation and collapse of the Yugul Cattle Company (YCC), an Aboriginal-owned pastoral company set up at Ngukurr in south-eastern Arnhem Land. Tie involvement of remote Aborigines in a non-traditional enterprise has been little studied with the result that this important area of Aboriginal activity has been neglected in many current explanations and descriptions of the Aborigines' society and their position in Australia. The scope of this work is strongly influenced by the belief that what happens on settlements can only be adequately explained by reference to Aboriginal-European relations in Australia as a whole, and especially to the role of governments which have played such a major part in determining the lives of Aborigines living in remote settlements. I have shown that the formation, establishment and collapse of the YCC were all heavily influenced by factors external to Ngukurr. My introduction to Ngukurr and the YCC began in 1972 when I participated in a study of the pastoral potential of that area of Arnhem Land over which the YCC had applied for a pastoral lease. At that time I was working as an agronomist with the Animal Industry and Agriculture Branch of the Department of the Northern Territory. This involvement kindled my interest in Aboriginal studies in general and the role of pastoral ventures in settlement development in particular, and in 1974 I began an examination of the YCC. After being delayed by cyclone Tracy I arrived in Darwin in late May and at Ngukurr on 14 June 1975. My field work in the Northern Territory ended in March 1976. Most of my field work was an active involvement in the daily routine of the YCC. On about half the working days I was at Ngukurr I acted as a stockman-cun-labourer, spending time mustering, fencing, going away from the settlement to get 'killers' (killing and butchering cattle) and doing many odd jobs around the YCC headquarters. Most of my time was spent with Aborigines with no other Europeans present. My principal informant, here named Ehke, was the driving force behind the establishment of the YCC and the most important traditional figure at Ngukurr. The close personal relationship established with him enabled me to cope with field work and to begin to enjoy living in an Aboriginal community. My thesis took the description of the YCC only up to the time I left Ngukurr in February 1976. At this time the community was on the edge of major change, but I was unable to maintain sufficient contact with Ngukurr to know what was happening. In July 1981 I was able to visit Darwin for five weeks and, during this period, Ngukurr for eleven days to find out what had occurred in the final three years of the YCC. But I have retained the present tense, for example in chapter 4 where the principal reference is to events in the seventies, even though the pest might now be more appropriate in some instances. I have decided to use pseudonyms for most individuals and groups or simply to use titles. I have also discussed only those people whose impact on the YCC was such that to leave them out would have severely undermined the quality of my argument. While a detailed examination or exposure of the actions and attitudes of a variety of individuals, groups and organisations would have both added spice and been interesting in sociological terms, it would not have added anything substantial to my main task, an examination of the YCC. This omission was also in line with my attempt to preserve privacy as much as possible. It is also my opinion that the desire of many who write about Aborigines to tailor their work to further the 'Aborigines' cause' has been a major limitation to the description and analysis of contemporary Aboriginal life in Australia. I trust that this work escapes this drawback without adding to the many problems faced by Aborigines. The YCC is only one of a number of Aboriginal-owned cattle projects in Australia. Others, such as those at Willowa, Pulumpa, Beswick, Bulman and Mt Allan all function with varying degrees of European involvement, financial success and Aboriginal interest and satisfaction. This work does not pretend to make any generalisations about Aboriginal cattle enterprises in particular or about Aboriginal enterprises in general. It is simply a study of the YCC. In many places I have used the terms European and Aboriginal to refer to people and things. 'European' refers to non-Aboriginal Australians, and 'Aboriginal' means all Aborigines in Australia except where the context indicates otherwise. In some instances I talk only about remote or Ngukurr Aborigines. References to people as either European or Aboriginal do not imply that these categories are solidaristic. Both are heterogeneous and stratified. Further, viii some Aborigines and some Europeans share a variety of interests; for example, support for political parties, adherence to Christianity, support for ways of life characteristic of small businessmen or public servants, the desire to raise wage levels and support for land rights and the maintenance of Aboriginal traditions. It follows that phrases like 'Europeans dominating Aborigines' or 'European control' should not be taken at face value. Some Europeans do not dominate Aborigines, some Aborigines are clearly aligned with European groupings that dominate both Aborigines and Europeans and some Aborigines align themselves with Europeans in order to better dominate other Aborigines. When referring to things I have used the term Aboriginal or European tradition to refer to matters that stem essentially from either Western society or pre-contact Aboriginal society. The term Aboriginal refers to things that Aborigines now do, think about or possess. It follows that Councils, for example, may have their origins in European traditions, but, where Aborigines operate their Councils actively within these traditions, then these Councils must be seen as Aboriginal. I am not suggesting that these are the best definitions to use in all situations, but they do work here to clear up a confusion resulting from the differing meanings given the ward Aboriginal. ix Acknowledgements This project was initially supported by the Department of Primary Industry which awarded me a three year Agricultural Council Extension Fellowship. Without this financial assistance I could not have carried out my field work in the Northern Territory. Thanks are due to my supervisors, Professor Nalson and Dr Raja Jayaraman, as well as other members of the Sociology and Politics departments of the University of New England who gave of their time. Officers of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs helped me with information and advice. Ian Pitman and Len Richardson can be singled out in this respect. Acknowledgement is due to the North Australia Research Unit which funded me to revisit Ngukurr, provided transport, living expenses and secretarial facilities. A special thanks is due to Peter Loveday, Field Director of NARU, who suggested turning my thesis into a monograph. Thanks are also due to Margrit Sedlacek and Debbie Hill for their patient typing. Finally, Sue and Brian provided me with consistent support during the vdiole of this o p eratio n .