28 July 2020 KALA CC Submission to the Inquiry in to the Destruction of Heritage Sites at Juukan Gorge Please find attached KALACC's submission to the current inquiry. In regards to the Inquiry Terms of Reference the KALACC submission relates to the following: (h) how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage laws might be 1 improved to guarantee the protection of culturally and historically signifi cant sites; (i) opportunities to improve indigenous heritage protection through the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999; and (j) any other related matters. KALACC's submission is provided in two parts: • This present cover letter • The attached draft KALACC Cultural Heritage Position Paper. In relation to the latter, the Position Paper remains in draft form until at least the date of the next KALACC Directors' Board Meeting ie 06 August. The Position Paper is a draft, but it is not confidential and all of this current submission can be freely made available in the public realm. (tj)KALACC www.kalacc.org.au The concern that KALACC has is that the tail is wagging the dog. The destruction of Juukan Gorge has quite rightly triggered national outrage and has brought about a range of responses, including this Inquiry by the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia. But how can we understand any of this discourse if we don't in the first place understand the place of cultural maintenance, cultural traditions and cultural heritage? We share with you this quote from Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar from earlier this year: As First Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a remarkable living history. For 60,000 years plus we have sustained a cohesive and resilient society. We have the most extensive kinship network in the world and through a system of law, ceremony and song we have transferred a huge body of knowledge, including important principles of collective and common humanity, from generation to generation. There is much to celebrate but it is not celebrated - it is not even recognised. For too long there has been denial about Indigenous society, knowledge systems and our existence in Australia before European arrival. The 2 continuation of this legacy of denial is why we continue to experience marginalisation, and structural and systemic discrimination at all levels across different sectors in our own country. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news /20 2 0 /jan /31 /jw1e-oscars-2020s-vision-reaching­ our-potential-as-a-nation-begins-with-truth-telling These messages regarding cultural maintenance and cultural traditions are perennial messages which have been communicated by the Kimberley Aboriginal people for over three decades. Amongst the many advices provided over the decades are the following: (tj)KALACC www.kalacc.org.au • 1978 Formation of the Kimberley Land Council - "no mining on sacred lands" • 1991 Crocodile Hole Report [KLC] • 1995 Wire Yard Report [KALACC] • 2008 MoU and Agreement with the WA Museum • 2008 For now and forever: An analysis of current and emerging needs for Aboriginal cultural stores and repositories in Western Australia [WA Museum] • 2010 Kimberley Caring for Country Plan [KLRC; Nulungu Research Institute] • 2010 Performance Audit of the International Repatriation Program [Australian National Audit Office - copies provided to WA Dept of Cu lture and the Arts and to WA DIA] • 2011 Keeping Places & Repatriation of Skeleton Remai ns & Artefacts [Unsuccessful DIA funding application to Roya lties for Regions, seeking support for KALACC's repatriations program in the Kimberley] 3 • 2013 A review and ana lysis of training needs for the collections sector in Western Australia: a report for Museums Australia (WA) [Consultant Brian Shepherd, working for the WA Museum] • 2016 An eva luation of the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Cu lture Centre (KALACC) Cultural Governance Programme 2013-2015 Repatriation of sacred objects and ancestral remains to the Ardyaloon (One Arm Point) Community [Nulungu Research Institute, Notre Dame University] • 2017 Cu ltural Solutions Position Paper [KALACC] • 2018 KALACC meeting with Gai l McGowan and correspondence sent to Ms McGowan, seeking to formalise understandings between the WA Government and KALACC • 2018 MoU and Agreement with the WA Museum • 2020 Kimberley Aboriginal Caring for Cu lture Plan Discussion Report [KALACC] (tj)KALACC www.kalacc.org.au In KALACC's 1995 Wire Yard Reportwe read as follows: • Aboriginal elders are those people recognised by their communities as the holders of the traditional values and knowledge of their Law and Culture • Greater recognition of the eider's role as the "roots" of law and culture • Aboriginal people to control access to their count1y and the protection of sacred sites • Elders to have greater control of cultural funds for their region • Greater respect for elders depth of cultural knowledge • KALACC believes a holistic approach to Aboriginal life is essential to understanding that the spiritual, cultural, physical, economic and social wellbeing of Aboriginal people is intrinsically linked to the strength of their Law and Culture. Our intention is to empower Aboriginal elders in all aspects of decision making processes and recognise their key role in shaping the moral and cultural standards in the community • Our Culture is our identity, our heritage - a heritage for all Australians. It was given to us by our ancestors. Throughout the centuries our elders have passed it on, generation to generation, to our young people 4 • Our elders are the fundamental basis of our cultural identity. The existing system pays token recognition to their cultural knowledge. Too often it is bureaucrats that are prioritising and making decisions to fund cultural programs. It is the elders that are best able to determine their own cultural priorities. Present programs are failing to consider traditional law and culture customs when dete1m ining policy. If as a nation we continually marginalize, disenfranchise, disempower and ignore the cultural custodians, then what exactly is this thing called cultural heritage? The Wire Yard Report was published by KALACC in 1995. Its messages are as true today as they were back in 1995. As June Oscar says in 2020: There is much to celebrate but it is not celebrated - it is not even recognised. (tj)KALACC www.kalacc.org.au Professor Kerry Arabena beautifully illustrates this in her landmark report of 27 June 2020 '... Country Can't Hear English ... ' -A guide to implementing cultural d eterm in an ts htq>s://www.karabenaconsulting.com/resources / country-cant-hear-english The title was inspired by an incident that occurred at the 2019 Lowitja Institute Conference in Darwin and Professor Arabena recounts that a senior Traditional Owner from the Pitjantjatjara Homelands stood on stage and as she was speaking 'she made herself invisible.' And then she whispered, 'Country Can 't Hear English'. As Professor Arabena tells it: "What the audience came to understand, by her actions and translated words, was that people who had power from a distance to influence her life failed to see her in her entirety. Her way of being in the world was smothered. Those responsible for smothering could not recognise or respond to her assertions, language, her connection to Country and the intimacy of that relationship. Her worldview, her culture and the responsibilities and obligations to other humans and beings on Country needed to be communicated in a language capable of facilitating the exact 5 nature of her relationship to the land and all beings that make up her land community." In the attached KALACC Cultural Heritage Position Paper [Draft], KALACC draws the same observations about the current national dialogue around cultural heritage. If cultural heritage has any value and any importance then it is by virtue of the contribution that the past makes to the present iteration of the world's oldest living culture. So, yes, place, space and physical objects are significant and very worthy of protection. But the past is mediated through to the present not only through materiality but also through humanity, and that humanity is led by the living libraries, the cultural bosses who are the current custodians of the world's oldest living culture. (tj)KALACC www.kalacc.org.au As Professor Arabena has beautifully illustrated in her recent anecdote, the very most important people are often the most marginalised and the least valued in the processes of developing Indigenous policy. These current messages about the centrality of the cultural bosses and the importance of living culture echo and mirror the sentiments expressed in KALACC's seminal report, the 1995 Wire Yard Report. Yours sincerely 6 (tj)KALACC www.kalacc.org.au KALACC Cultural Heritage Position Paper [Draft] ‘From my ongoing research, my understanding is that Aboriginal culture is the foundation of life, which binds people to particular social relations with kin, country and ancestors. Maintaining culture is not about returning to the past, but rather drawing upon the past in the present to find ways to live well in contemporary Australia and be healthy, strong, vibrant Aboriginal people who belong to Country’ - Dr Lisa Slater KALACC’s Vision KALACC’s vision is to ensure that Kimberley Aboriginal People and our deep cultural heritage and traditions, are empowered, respected and valued in Australian society. KALACC’s guiding principles and beliefs • Placing Culture at the Centre Aboriginal culture is central to Aboriginal people, their past, present and future, and shapes and influences how Aboriginal people view and interact with the world. All Australians should value and respect Aboriginal culture and appropriately support Aboriginal people to maintain and strengthen their connection to culture, language, country and traditions. 7 Expressions of cultural heritage build respect, resilience, leadership, cohesion and connectivity and build social and emotional well-being. • Cultural Heritage Indigenous cultural heritage is expressed through cultural ways of living. It is diverse and is expressed in both tangible and intangible forms.