CENTRE FOR ABORIGINAL ECONOMIC POLICY RESEARCH Looking After Country in New South Wales: Two Case Studies of Socioeconomic Benefits for Aboriginal People J. Hunt CAEPR WORKING PAPER No. 75/2010 ANU COLLEGE OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES Series Note The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) was established at The Australian National University (ANU) in April 1990. Since 1 January 2010, CAEPR has operated as an academic unit within the Research School of Social Sciences in the College of Arts and Social Sciences at ANU. The Centre is funded from a variety of sources including ANU, Australian Research Council, industry and philanthropic partners, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, and State and Territory governments. CAEPR’s principal objective is to undertake high-quality, independent research that will assist in furthering the social and economic development and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia. Its aim is to combine academic and teaching excellence on Indigenous economic and social development and public policy with realism, objectivity and relevance. CAEPR is Australia’s foremost social science research centre focusing on Indigenous economic and social policy from a national perspective. The Centre’s publications, which include the CAEPR Working Paper series established in 1999, aim to report on Indigenous circumstance, inform public debate, examine government policy, and influence policy formulation. Working Papers are often work-in-progress reports and are produced for rapid distribution to enable widespread discussion and comment. They are available in electronic format only for free download from CAEPR’s website: <caepr.anu.edu.au> Enquiries may be directed to: The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research Copland Building #24 The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 Telephone 02–6125 8211 Facsimile 02–6125 9730 As with all CAEPR publications, the views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not reflect any official CAEPR position. Professor John Taylor Director, CAEPR Research School of Social Sciences College of Arts & Social Sciences The Australian National University November 2010 Cover page images courtesy of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and CAEPR staff members. Looking After Country in New South Wales: Two Case Studies of Socioeconomic Benefits for Aboriginal People J. Hunt Janet Hunt is a Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Research School of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Social Sciences, The Australian National University. >. u ABSTRACT This paper is about two New South Wales Aboriginal groups that are engaging Aboriginal people in looking , Working Paper No. 75/2010 Paper , Working after their country. In particular, it highlights the socioeconomic benefits such activity is generating for the caepr.anu.edu.a people involved. Banbai Business Enterprises manages the first Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) in New South Wales, ‘Wattleridge’, on the New England Tablelands north east of Guyra, and is now also managing a second IPA, ‘Tarriwa Kurrukun’, on land owned by the Guyra Local Aboriginal Land Council. The Nyambaga Green Team operates from the Ngurrala Aboriginal Corporation near Macksville, New South Wales. The Nyambaga Green Team successfully sustains itself through a mix of contracts with a range of natural resource management and other bodies which it carries out on a commercial basis. At both locations a diverse range of significant cultural, social and economic benefits are emerging which the paper outlines. It then discusses some of the factors and conditions for success in these ventures and reflects briefly on the policy implications. Keywords: Natural resource management, New South Wales, land and sea management, socio-economic benefits, Aboriginal employment; Indigenous protected area, caring for country, Banbai, Gumbaynggirr. Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research for Aboriginal Economic Policy Centre 4974 0 ISBN 0 7315 ISSN 1442-3871 < publication downloaded from An electronic i Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper was only possible because of the active participation of the Aboriginal people working at Banbai BE at Guyra on the New England Tablelands, and the Nyambaga Green Team based at the Ngurrala Aboriginal Corporation near Macksville, on the north coast of New South Wales. This paper is about the benefits which have emerged from their determined efforts to create opportunities for culturally significant employment and reconnection with country and heritage sites. I appreciate very much the time they and others working with them in a variety of ways have put in to the research and what they have collectively taught me in the process. In particular I would like to especially thank Tanya Cutmore, Doug Cutmore, Natasha Ahoy, Lee Patterson, Clive Ahoy, and Jennifer Crew at Banbai Business Enterprises, and Terrence Hudson, Uncle Larry Kelly, Mark Duckett, Uncle Reg Donovan, Costa Delimihalis, Conway Edwards, and Aran Pope from the Nyambaga Green Team, Beryl Wilson at Ngurrala Aboriginal Corporation and Louise Robinson at the Nambucca Heads Local Aboriginal Land Council for their enormous assistance with this study. I am also grateful for comments from Glenn Storrie at the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and Ken Lum at NTSCORP, particularly about the Indigenous Land Use Agreement and the new national park at Nambucca. The research was funded by a grant from the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (New South Wales), and I am particularly grateful to Jason Ardler who commissioned the research, and to Damian Lucas, Kelly-Ann Stanford and Russell Couch for their continuing support. My colleagues working in the People on Country team at CAEPR have also been valuable sources of ideas and resources. I would like to thank Professor Jon Altman and Dr Seán Kerins for their comments on an earlier draft, Hilary Bek for editorial input and final proofing and John Hughes for maps and final layout. ii • Hunt http://caepr.anu.edu.au/ CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................................................................................i Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................................................ii Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................1 Part One: The Banbai experience at Wattleridge Indigenous Protected Area ..............................................4 Background ....................................................................................................................................................................4 Aboriginal history and colonial occupation ........................................................................................................4 Contemporary land and employment context ....................................................................................................7 Declaring an IPA—the struggle to get the land ..................................................................................................8 The Banbai experience: Generating benefits .................................................................................................... 10 Recent developments and potentials ..................................................................................................................20 Factors that facilitate or constrain the achievement of the benefits ......................................................20 Appendix A: Socioeconomic data for Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people in the Guyra region ...................................................................................................................................................................23 Part Two: The Nyambaga Green Team ....................................................................................................................24 Background .....................................................................................................................................................................24 Aboriginal history and colonial occupation .....................................................................................................26 Contemporary land and environment context ................................................................................................27 Employment context ................................................................................................................................................28 The idea of a ‘Green Team’ and the emergence of the business model .......................................................29 The evolution of the Green Team .........................................................................................................................29 Green Team contracts ..............................................................................................................................................30 The Nyambaga Green Team model: Benefits emerging ...............................................................................33 Success factors