Sydney Morning Herald Friday Oct 22 1992
LAND RETURNED, AFTER A 100-YEAR WAIT.
by Kate Cole-Adams
Alice Springs: In a clearing in a vast stretch of silver-grey
scrub, his shoes dusted with red Central Australian earth, The
Governor-General, Mr Bill Hayden, yesterday returned the land he
was standing on to its traditional owners.
In doing so he became only the second Governor-General in
Australian history to hand back title deeds to people who had lost
their country to the Crown more than a century ago. (This is
completely incorrect. See my appended comment - Reyburn)
It was a ceremony full of emotion and incongruity. two hundred and
fifty kilometers out of Alice Springs, the Purrukwarra Aboriginal
outstation consists of a handful of simple shelters and two
solar-powered bathrooms.
By mid-morning the air was full of dust from the convoy of
vehicles bearing politicians, press and representatives from the
Central Land Council and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Commission (ATSIC).
Among the dignitaries to alight into the small clearing were Mr
Hayden and his wife, Dallas, the Federal Minister for Aboriginal
Affairs, Mr Tickner and the head of ATSIC, Ms Lois O'Donoghue.
The visitors moved through in a selection of flora prints, smart
casual outfits while members of the Alyawarra and Wakaya clans
stood or sat together in dignified groups and tried to explain
what it was like to return to the land that their parents and
grandparents had been driven off earlier this century.
One man, Albert Morton, was a child when his parents were driven
away from the rich plains of the Barkly Tableland (which are not
being returned! - Reyburn) by white men with guns. Like many of
those in the group, he has spent much of his life in Queensland.
Now, after 45 years, he has come back.
The Wakaya-Alyawarra land claim has taken 12 years and covers
4,000 square kilometers (of commercially useless desert -R).
In recommending the grant in 1990 the Land Commissioner, Justice
Olney, said the claim was an example of the renewal of aboriginal
tradition.
"The strength of this group's spiritual affiliation was so eroded
by the circumstances of history (!-R) as to have become almost
extinct," he said.
"But through the diligence of some old and wise Aboriginals it has
become possible for the remnants of the local descent group to so
renew their spiritual attachment to the land as to justify their
recognition as traditional owners"
ENDS.
The picture which goes with this story has the caption "The
Governor-General, Mr Hayden, hands the title deeds to the
Wakaya-alyawarre land to Mr Tony Willy as Mr Warren Snowdon and Mr
Robert Tickner look on." Photo shows Mr Hayden, in shirt sleeves,
shaking hand of Tony Willy, while holding a piece of paper in the
other. Member for the Northern Territory, Warren Snowdon, in white
short sleeves, stands by with what appears to be a framed copy of
the deeds. Mr Tickner seems to be wearing a battered cowboy hat.
The message is clear - None of the trappings of imperialism are
obvious.
Comment by Bruce Reyburn
Neo-colonial King Plates for the Wakaya/Alyawarra people?
The statement by the Herald reporter that the Wakaya and Alyawarra
people 'lost their country to the Crown more than a century ago'
is completely wrong. The Wakaya/Alyawarra land claim, which I
worked on in 1980-82, was to an area of unalienated Crown.
The High Court ruling in the Mabo case clearly found that Native
Title is not extinguished by the declaration of sovereignty by the
Crown. It is only extinguished (they argue) when the Crown issues
inconsistent title to some other party. This is not the case
here. Native title has, most probably, never been extinguished
over this area of land.
The fact that the reporter made this mistake is attributable, I
believe, to the false perspective it sets up for what is taking
place. How else can you rationalise handing something back if it
was never taken?
That this whirlwind outback event, taking place in extremely
remote Australia, can be reported - complete with a photograph
- in the Sydney papers the next morning demonstrates that is
intended for media consumption as much as anything else.
Note also that the reporter has no eye for the country and its
significance as part of their home. Purrukwarra is described in
terms of material culture (shelters, solar-powered bathrooms).This
provides a false representation of Wakaya- Alyawarra people -
people who already know how they relate to the country - and who
also know what they have to go through in order to have government
agencies supply them with some resources to make up for those
being monopolised by the Anglo- Australian system of order.
The rent-an-occasion convoy which descended on the Wakaya and
Alyawarra people - and as such bestowed special importance on the
occasion - consisted of Anglo-Australian politicians (Minister,
Member House of Representatives) and the bureaucratic personnel of
neo-colonial European style organisations. Both ATSIC and the
Central Land Council are established by statute in the
Anglo-Australian version of the Westminster system. Not much
chance of genuine recognition of First People here.
The Koori Mail of wednesday 21 October carries the advance press
release on the handover from the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.
"The Governor-General's participation in the return of traditional
land aspirations is a critical and central issue to be addressed
by government to give effect to the reconciliation process," Mr
Tickner said.
"This essential place of Aboriginal land rights on the social
justice agenda of Aboriginal people was recognised in the
recommendations of the Royal Commission into aboriginal Deaths in
Custody....I am confident that the land title handover by the
Governor-General will make history and be a great celebration
uniting Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Australian."
The ABC radio, in reporting the handover on last night, also added
that Mr Tickner had told the assembled First People that
'indigenous people should not look to the Mabo decision for land
claims' as very few could achieve land title through the courts.
The process of dispossession had been made absolute, the Minister
said "as a result of the successive government policies".
The supreme irony of it is that this very act of granting title to
a trust under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act may constitute the
extinguishment of the rights of First People to the area under
Native title. If that proves to be the case, then title the
Governor-General is bestowing may be a modern day equivalent to
the brass King Plates which Imperial representatives (in full
regalia) bestowed on bemused First People over the previous
century. And worth about as much.
The whole thing seems to be a media event (Bring on the
Governor-General) designed to generate an illusion of
respectability for international consumption as much as for
spreading the word on reconciliation.
A telling reason for pressing Aboriginal Land Rights title on
First People may soon emerge. The Koori Mail also reports, "A
legal challenge over a major bauxite mine, Nabalco at Gove
Peninsula, would test whether the High Court's historic
recognition of aboriginal 'native title' in June included
ownership of mineral resources...'
And it is only when sharing involves things of real value, such as
the mineral wealth of Australia, will the true spirit of
reconciliation move amongst us. The exercise reported above
those not constitute a real move towards genuine sharing. The land
in question is that which has been left vacant after being up for
grabs for a hundred years. the main Wakaya and Alyawarra land is
still firmly under the control of cattlemen and miners. The rights
acknowledged are less than full recognition...
But the question which remains at the end of the day of the
Wakaya/Alyawarra title handover (22 October 1992) is whether or
not the Commonwealth Government has breached its obligation to
ensure that the Native title rights of First People are properly
protected. If it has, it may well be liable for the losses
incurred by Wakaya and Alyawarra people now and in the future.
And was the Governor-General made fully aware of the legal and
other issues involved by his Minister?