Project Leader: Mark Horstman, Kimberley Land Council,
Broome
Project 4.3.2(5)
Summary | Objectives | Project report
| Collected knowledge | Ngauwudu (Mitchell Plateau) Management Plan
| Publications | Contributing organisations |
The Balanggarra and Wunambal-Gaambera traditional landowners in
the north Kimberley have undertaken an ethnoecology and land-sea
management planning project, with the assistance of the Kimberley
Land Council, funded by the TS-CRC. Balanggarra and
Wunumbal-Gaambera country stretches from Wyndham to Prince
Frederick Harbour in the north Kimberley and includes the Mitchell
Plateau, a region of about 60 000 km 2 . An Aboriginal
population of some 800 people is resident in two main communities,
Kalumburu and Oombulgurri. The region is predominantly Aboriginal
tenure, and includes four pastoral leases and the Drysdale River
National Park.
This project provided information support to assist traditional
owners develop a vision and a management strategy for the region on
their own terms. Poorly managed and rapidly growing tourism is one
of the most urgent issues in the north Kimberley. For Wunambal
people at Ngauwudu (Mitchell Plateau), the pressures are
particularly acute. Land and waterscapes sacred to Wunambal people,
such as Punamii-unpuu (Mitchell Falls and surrounds), are also
spectacular magnets for tourists. The number of visitors annually
has increased ten-fold in recent years, and at current rates will
nearly double within four years.
The Aboriginal Traditional Owners of Ngauwudu (Mitchell Plateau)
produced their own Management Plan in November 2000, with the
assistance of the Kimberley Land Council. The Plan, entitled Land
of Wandjina and Wunggurr - Ngauwudu (Mitchell Plateau) Management
Plan, addresses sustainable savanna management by starting with the
immediate issues of visitor impacts and sacred site protection.
See below for details on how to view the plan. The project is
now complete, and the experience and methodologies gained by it
form the basis for a new program with all major Aboriginal groups
in the Kimberley over the next seven years.
The objectives of the project were to enable traditional owners
to articulate:
- benchmarks and indicators for sustainable land and water use
and management on their country (terrestrial and marine); and
- their understanding of change to country that has occurred or
is anticipated to occur, in terms that integrate their traditional
knowledge and responsibilities with non-Aboriginal scientific
approaches.
The Kimberley Land Council provided all in-situ project
management and logistical support, primarily from the Kununurra and
Derby offices. The Balanggarra and Wunambal-Gaambera Aboriginal
Corporations also provided field support, cultural advice and
assistance with traditional knowledge collection and collation.
A final report on this project was also completed this year. The
findings were based on the views expressed by the Balanggarra and
Wunambal-Gaambera Traditional Owners, and made the following
recommendations:
- Traditional biological knowledge, which currently resides with
senior elders of the north Kimberley, should be conserved.
- Traditional knowledge should form an integral part of the
framework for contemporary land management.
- Traditional owners' role in management regimes should be
expanded considerably in the short term.
- The unregulated visitor regime on Wunambal-Gaambera country
needs to be managed and regulated in the very short term.
- Visitors to Balanggarra country need to be monitored, and
possibly regulated, both in marine and terrestrial areas.
- The use of marine resources needs to be monitored, regulated,
and mechanisms for traditional owner compensation explored.
- Traditional owners' access to country needs to be improved so
that it forms the basis of a monitoring regime for the north
Kimberley.
- Monitoring of mineral operations needs to be undertaken
regularly by traditional owners with biologists or scientists.
Knowledge of Wunambal traditional owners, in the north-west
Kimberley, relating to 177 plants and 273 animals was recorded. In
the north East Kimberley, the knowledge of Balanggarra traditional
owners relating to 161 plants and 75 animals was recorded.
Scientific names, common names, language names and traditional uses
of these plants and animals were also included.
The final report includes:
- Four case studies:
- Mitchell Plateau management
- Fire research and traditional knowledge
- Balanggarra ethnobiology
- Wunumbal-Gaambera ethnobiology
- More than 30 detailed recommendations
- Review of literature on ecology, conservation and traditional
knowledge of North Kimberley (130 items)
- 90 photographs on CD, 160 annotated colour transparencies
- 20 74-minute annotated audio recordings on mini-CD
- 200 plant specimens to be lodged with herbaria
- Digital video recordings of travel and stories in King George,
Berkeley, and Drysdale Rivers
While the biological knowledge collected is public information,
the report is the intellectual property of the traditional
owners.
The guiding principles of the plan are the maintenance of
traditional Wandjina-Wunggurr Law, and the protection of areas like
Punamii-unpuu (Mitchell Falls and surrounds) in their natural
condition. The plan was presented in 2001 to a range of government
and non-government agencies identified as potential partners for
management. The support of these agencies was sought to form
partnerships for on-ground management action, and the response was
very positive.
The plan was welcomed by the WA Minister for the Environment and
the WA Conservation Commission, and is regarded as the basis for
ongoing management planning and implementation in the North
Kimberley region. Prior to the publication of their Plan, Wunambal
people felt marginalised in the management of their traditional
country.
On-ground work to manage tourism is expected to commence after
the 2001-2002 wet season. You are welcome to read the plan, but
please do not reproduce the photos or the stories without the
written permission of the Traditional Owners.
Horstman M. and Wightman G. (2001) 'Karparti
ecology: Recognition of Aboriginal ecological knowledge and its
application to management in north-western Australia', Ecological
Management and Restoration 2(2): 99-109
Kimberley Land Council
Balanggarra Aboriginal Corporation
Wunambal-Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation
Department of Agriculture WA
Articles
The last frontier: someone's backyard
An Aboriginal research project in the North Kimberley is showing how collaboration between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge systems and management responsibilities can lead to practical outcomes. From Savanna Links, Issue 15, July - Sept 2000 [
read more...]
