ABORIGINAL LANDCARE

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Welcome to the NSW Aboriginal Landcare Page.

This page is currently under development.

At present we are able to provide the following:

Contact details for Aboriginal natural resource management support

Links to information on Aboriginal land management

The Australian Government's Caring for our Country Program funds two Indigenous Land Management Facilitators for NSW. They are:

Lee Pearson
ph (02) 4322 9855
Mobile 0428 874 846
Lee.Pearson@environment.gov.au

and

Ally Coe
ph: (02) 6274 1653

Aboriginal Natural Resource Management in NSW is supported by Aboriginal Community Support Officers (ACSOs) and Catchment Officers, Aboriginal Communities (COACs). There are also a number of Aboriginal Natural Resource Officers employed by the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC).

Please click here for contact details of Aboriginal Support Staff (PDF - 27 KB).

The following links are to web pages and websites that provide information on Aboriginal natural resource management. Most of these links provide specific information for NSW. Please click on the highlighted titles to access this information.

Report on Boomanulla Conference for Country (Word Document - 164 KB) The Boomanulla Conference for Country was jointly sponsored by the NSW Aboriginal Land Council and the former NSW Department of Land and Water Conservation. It was held to enable Aboriginal communities in the State to formulate their joint expectations of the planning processes. The report on the conference is by Bruce Callaghan and Associates Pty Ltd.

The report includes the draft Boomanulla statement which is a statement by the representatives of NSW Aboriginal communities. It outlines the representatives' goals and proposed approach to water, catchments and vegetation management.

The NSW Natural Resources Advisory Council (NRAC) has released the Aboriginal Resource Agreements Kit (PDF- 2.34 MB) on its website. NRAC contracted Booroongen Djugun Aboriginal Corporation to develop, through expert advice and consultation, a practical kit to assist Aboriginal Peoples to negotiate natural resource agreements with governments, organisations, communities and land owners in New South Wales.

The kit identifies key principles for negotiation of successful Aboriginal Natural Resource Agreements. The Kit also contains general information that will be helpful to all parties to such agreements, including how to start negotiations with Aboriginal Peoples on the delivery of natural resource management outcomes and how to identify the most appropriate Aboriginal people to talk with initially. The kit also provides advice about the use of culturally appropriate communication and negotiation processes and includes some model agreements that may be used as the basis for informal, and more formal Aboriginal Natural Resource Agreements.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council has released a Draft Consultation Policy (Word Document - 696 KB). This policy provides guidelines when working with Aboriginal communities on natural resource management issues.

The Australian Heritage Commission has released a publication on its website called Ask First: A guide to respecting Indigenous heritage places and values. This publication provides a practical guide for land developers, land users and managers, cultural heritage professionals and many others who have an impact on Indigenous heritage.

DECC is the main government agency charged with the protection of Aboriginal sites and heritage in NSW through the National Parks and Wildlife Act, 1974. Its website contains several pages on Aboriginal heritage and land management.

The DECC website includes the following information and publications:

• Information on Aboriginal people and biodiversity
• Indigenous kinship with the natural world in NSW by Deborah Rose, Diana James and Christine Watson. A report on the social and religious affilitaions Aboriginal people have towards plant and animal species and the impliactions for land managment programs.
• "The Sea and the Rock Gives Us a Feed" - Mapping and Managing GumbaingirrWild Resource Use Places by Anthony English
• "Lost But Not Forgotten" - a guide to methods identifying Aboriginal unmarked graves
• Information on Aboriginal co-management of parks and involvement in threatened species recovery planning
• Publications on Aboriginal women's heritage at Bourke, Port Stephens, Nambucca Valley, Nowra, Wollongong and Brungle & Tumut
• Information on places of significance
• Information on rock art
• "Talk to Print" - a step by step guide to publishing oral history.
• Aboriginal scarred trees in NSW - A Field Manual by Andrew Long
• Living Land, Living Culture - Aboriginal Heritage & Salinity by Anthony English & Louise Gay
• Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Regional Studies: an illustrative approach by David Guilfoyle
• Mapping attachment: a spatial approach to Aboriginal post-contact heritage by Denis Byrne and Maria Nugent. This study show how Aboriginal people in NSW develop maps their local landscapes by imprinting them with their life stories, histories, memories and emotions. It specifically draws on the experiences and records of the people in the Manning and Great Lakes area.

The Greening Australia website has Aboriginal Cultural Values of the Native Vegetation of NSW by Stephan Schnierer, Adam Faulkner and Chris Fisher of the Indigenous Environmental Research Centre at Southern Cross University, Lismore. This is a background paper of the Native Vegetation Advisory Council. It outlines the ways that Aboriginal people in NSW value native vegetation in their relationship with the environment.

The following seven websites give information on the lifestyles of the original residents of Sydney.

• The City of Ryde has published Wallumedigal - An Aboriginal History of Ryde, written by Kevin Vincent Smith. It is available as a PDF on the City of Ryde website (PDF - 1.72 MB)..
• Mosman Municipal Council website has an Aboriginal Heritage page from which an Aboriginal heritage study of the area may be downloaded.
• Marrickville Council has the Cadigal Wangal website which outlines the land management activities of the Cadigal and Wangal clans who were the custodians of the Marrickville area.
• Hornsby Shire Council has an Aboriginal Heritage Study page which contains links to several documents on Aboriginal heritage and land management in the Hornsby area.
• The Australian Museum website has a section on the Aboriginal people of coastal Sydney with an emphasis on coastal management practices.
• The Rumbalara Environmental Education Centre website has These Are My People - This Is My Land, a study of the Aboriginal people in the Northern Sydney and Central Coast areas. This was published by the Department of School Education, Northern Metropolitan Region.
• The Australian Association of Bush Regenerators website has a report of a talk that author and Macquarie University lecturer Jim Kohen gave on the land management practices of the Darug people.

The Mid Mountains Historical Society web site has a page on the first inhabitants of the mid Blue Mountains by Father Eugene Stockton.

The Upper Clarence Community and Economic Development Organisation's Green and Clean Website has pages on the Aboriginal Heritage of the Upper Clarence Valley

The University of Newcastle has produced the Awaba database. This is an electronic database and guide to the history, culture and language of the Indigenous peoples of the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie region of NSW.

In addition to its other articles mentioned above DECC now has two books on Aboriginal land management in the Illawarra region. Murni, Dhungang, Jirrar: Living in the Illawarra is about Aboriginal people's uses of plants and animals in the Illawarra area. The title means animal food (Murni), plant food (Dhungang) and fur (Jirrar) in Dharawal language. The NPWS has also published A History of the Aboriginal people of the Illawarra (1770 -1970) which emphasises the living relationship with the land that continues to this day

DECC has also produced the Aboriginal 'Living Places' study which looks at post 1788 Aboriginal settlements in North Eastern NSW.

Eurobodalla Shire Council has a section on the Aboriginal hertage of the region, including a study which includes stories about the Eurobodalla by Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal Economy & Society - Australia at the Threshold of Colonisation is a book written by Professor Ian Keen, Visiting Fellow in the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology. Case Studies from the book can be seen on the Australian National University Faculty of Arts website, including case studies on the Yuwaaliyaay people and their neighbours of the Darling/Barwon River and Yuwaaliyaay technology.

The NSW Aboriginal Land Council website provides up to date information on the objectives, services and activities of the Council and its members and information on issues affecting Aboriginal people in NSW and around Australia.