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On July 6, the Ngadjuri people of South Australia received their second Federal Court-recognised native title consent determination, at a packed Burra Town Hall.
The determination area covers South Australian towns across the Mid North including Kapunda, Clare, Burra, Peterborough and Yunta.
Five years since their first joint determination with the Adnyamathanha Ngadjuri and Wilyakali peoples, Ngadjuri representatives spoke with great adoration for their Country.
Aunty Pat Waria-Read said.
“I’m so proud of the land on which my great-grandfather lived. I’m sure they’re here in spirit and we can feel them around to acknowledge the hard work that they did for us in the past.
“This consent determination today will be a date that we will never forget, July 6 2023. That’s a date that all Ngadjuri people will hang on their shelf as it’s the first recognition from white law, which acknowledges that this is your Country,”This page, from top: Ngadjuri people in their consent determination t-shirts; A packed Burra Town Hall. Opposite page, from top: Ngadjuri Elders, Roslyn Weetra and Pat Waria-Read; Chair of Ngadjuri Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Carlo Sansbury.
“They did the hard yakka but we’re here now for the futures of our young Ngadjuri men and women and for the Mid North.”
The July 6 determination followed their first shared native title determination in Orroroo, on December 14, 2018.
“So, in other words Ngadjuri people can now deal with government, mining parties, [and] we can now sit down at their table and negotiate,” Aunty Pat said.
“We can start building better relationships with each other which we never had in the past.
“Property owners use to stop us at the gate, they wouldn’t even let us in but that now doesn’t happen anymore – they welcome us in to show us their land, but I already know I’m on my land.”
Ngadjuri man and Chair of Ngadjuri Nation Aboriginal Corporation, Carlo Sansbury, echoed this sentiment of progress for the area and its custodians.
“All we can do is move forward and connect back to Country, it’s what we always do,” Mr Sansbury said.
“We’re here today because of people like my grandfather Barney Waria, we wouldn’t be here without him and the stories he passed down to us.
“We grew up hearing stories of walking about Country when he would come back to Point Pearce, that’s where it all started Point Pearce, he was a pioneer of our people.”
Ngadjuri man Robert Rigney, also from the Waria family, used his address to pay tribute and speak on behalf of his ancestors.
“It’s a community-owned story and every person that’s a Ngadjuri descendent, whether you’re Waria or Armstrong those stories should be told to your next generation to keep the stories alive for the next generation,” Mr Rigney said.
“When I first arrived [at the hearing], I was a bit surprised to not see as many Ngadjuri people here but then when all the speeches started happening, I looked behind and there was way more than I expected to show up today.
“I’ll be driving home with a big smile on my face feeling good about the outcome.”
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But the native title sector felt like the best place for me to be part of a legislated process that helps Aboriginal Nations come together and recognises their continuing connection to Country, the vitality of their culture, and the opportunity for the Nations to build on the platform of native title.
I’ve seen many Aboriginal claimants become native title holders, and it’s been bittersweet to see nations like Nauo wait for my whole tenure at SANTS to receive their native title. But that’s why I, and many others, have stayed the course – because the rights and interests of our clients are worth fighting for and protecting. It’s truly rewarding to see many of these groups now managing their land and waters on their own terms.
Wilyakali No.1
Consent determination currently scheduled for August 28, 2023.
Nauo/ Nauo No.4
Determined May 15, 2023.
Ngadjuri No.2
Determined July 6, 2023.
Nauo No.2
Recently I celebrated my 25th year working at SA Native Title Services, a journey that began in 1998 when I joined the Native Title Unit at Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement. In 2008, the NTU transitioned into SANTS and in 2011 I had the privilege of stepping into the role of CEO.
As an Aboriginal person, my passion for supporting the growth of Aboriginal people through education, employment, and community development has
I’ve been fortunate to learn so much from Traditional Owners and to have shared countless moments on Country with Elders who’ve generously shared their stories and experiences. The first native title determination in SA, De Rose Hill, opened my eyes to the tangible and intangible parts of Aboriginal cultural heritage that existed long before colonisation. Today, I am proud to say that over 60% of South Australia has been determined by native title. Our focus is now on empowering native title groups to build on their achievements. We face challenges in assisting Aboriginal Nations without income sources on their Country and lobbying for the protection of sacred sites from cultural heritage destruction. Even after native title rights have been won, we must ensure their ongoing protection and fight for fair government investment into Aboriginal groups and programs.
I’m incredibly proud of my team – together we’ve built on the foundations laid by my predecessor, Parry Agius – to help Traditional Owners achieve sustainable social, cultural and economic outcomes by building on their native title. And we’re utlising new technology to improve our service delivery and to preserve precious archival materials.
After 25 years, my vision is for Prescribed Body Corporates (PBCs) to have the resources to employ their own
Timetabled for determination late 2023. Yandruwandha Yawarrawarrka No.2
Consent determination negotiations and programming orders in suspension pending outcome of negotiations.
Walka Wani Oodnadatta No.1 and No.2 and Arabana No.2
Judgment in appeal reserved.
Far West Coast (FWC) Sea claim
Judgment reserved.
First Peoples of the River Murray and Mallee No.2
Consent determination negotiations and subject to programming orders.
First Nations of the South East No.2 and Ngarrindjeri – Part B
Mediation and timetable for consent determination in 2023.
First Nations of the South East No.1
Discussions regarding the effect of various grants on native title continue.
Court orders regarding connection report.
The reintroduction of the Murray crayfish into SA waters has reinvigorated Erawirung totem holders who share a connection with the long-missing crustaceans.
Presumed extinct in SA waters for 40 years, the crays were transported down from NSW stretches of the Murray after being rescued from flood events, including last year’s floods in areas of the Central Coast and Sydney.
The relocation project is being undertaken by Nature Trust Glenelg and the Murraylands and Riverland Landscape Board, in response to population issues caused by pollution, overfishing and river regulation over the past forty years, and has been led by Dr Sylvia Zukowski, a senior aquatic ecologist.
For many Elders, the return of the Murray cray signals a strengthening of historic ties with their totem and for younger Erawirung people, a new connection has been born.
Erawirung man and River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC) ranger coordinator, Glenn Chisolm, was involved in releasing the crays into an undisclosed SA stretch of the Murray and describes their return as a ‘life force burst’ for his mob.
“It’s an emotional experience especially when you don’t see or hear about your totems upriver, so having it back in home waters in South Australia is massive,” Mr Chisholm said.
“It’s only early but at this stage, a lot of the Elders have been reminiscent about when they were kids catching them on a daily basis like they would a yabby.
“Once you’re connected to Country and connected to your totem it fills you up, so when that totem’s gone that’s that piece which starts missing.”
Two allotments of Murray crayfish were released into the river, with 50 ‘mature’ crays being released after an initial run of 200 younger fish, some rescued from NSW flood plains.
“It’s given them a second chance, the poor things dry out on the flood plain and then they become lost to their Country even up across the border on the east coast – what better way than to pick them up and bring them to South Australia,” Mr Chisholm said.
Mr Chisholm said he’d seen young Erawirung people inspired by the return of the crayfish and that many didn’t know they’d previously existed in the area.
“My son has come out with me on the two releases, and he’d never seen one before in his life and now he’s got a direction and wants to be involved in this project as much as possible. So it’s giving him a lift and a bit more interest in culture and Country and what’s in our rivers.”
Current projections from RMMAC estimate the monitoring process will be active for at least seven years to give the Murray crayfish a fighting chance to re-establish a sustainable population in South Australia.
The crayfish relocation project was conducted with support from New South Wales DPI, Victoria Fisheries Authority, OzFish Unlimited, North West Aquaculture, RMMAC and PIRSA.
The Lower Eyre Peninsula, made up of breathtaking beaches, cliffs, and headlands, holds great significance to Nauo people.
On May 15, after a 25-year fight, the Nauo people’s connection to the area was recognised by the Federal Court of Australia.
At a special hearing in Coffin Bay, Justice O’Bryan delivered his judgement to around 150 descendants, who celebrated the historic return of their Country in the form of native title rights and interests. This was a remarkable moment, considering there were only seven Nauo people left after the Frontier Wars in the mid-1800s.
“Despite the displacement and hardship caused by European settlement, the Nauo people have continued to acknowledge their traditional laws and to observe their traditional customs,” Justice O’Bryan said.
“The witnesses spoke of their knowledge of water resources across the Country, and their ongoing traditional use of the land for hunting and fishing. In the words of those witnesses, ‘Looking after and showing respect for Country means taking from the land only what is necessary, knowing the importance of not going to certain areas and the reasons why, and behaving on Country in accordance with customs and protocols passed down by Elders. It also means protecting and preserving Country’.”
O’Bryan said.
Nauo applicant Jody Miller said it’s a journey that started 32 years ago when the late Aunty Marlene Height asked him to join the struggle for native title recognition.
Now an Elder himself, Mr Miller felt bittersweet about receiving the consent determination without those who started the process with him over three decades ago.
“The witnesses spoke about the enduring spiritual presence of their ancestors on Nauo Country – when they return to Nauo Country, they return home –and today marks the recognition of this by the Australian legal system,”
Justice
“On that journey, I met a lot of people who are no longer here today, and I’d just like to acknowledge them,” Mr Miller said.
“I also feel it’s still unfinished business because we’ll still have businesses and farmers objecting to it [native title], and they still won’t come to the party with us, no matter that the handover has been done. I think this could be a good education for them, but I think there needs to be more community consultation to make them understand that we do exist, and we still run around this Country.”
‘This Country’, the determination area, includes Coffin Bay, Palkagee, Mount Joy, Coolillie, Polda, Sheringa, Kiana, Mitchell, Kapinnie, Coulta, and Wangary. These are significant cultural heritage places for Nauo people, where they can continue to camp, fish and hunt; they can also use their native title recognition to create cultural and economic benefits for their nation.
CEO of SA Native Title Services, Keith Thomas, said his organisation was proud of Nauo’s unwavering persistence – a journey SANTS has supported from the beginning.
“This is a fantastic outcome for the Nauo people who’ve waited over 25 years to achieve their native title. We wish them all the best as they move forward as the official Traditional Owners.”
Aboriginal Affairs Minister, Kyam Maher, said it was important to acknowledge the ongoing connection between Indigenous people and their land and waters.
“I am pleased that the state and the Nauo people have been able to resolve these native title claims by consent.
“This significant step for the Nauo people, and for reconciliation in this state, is the result of many years of hard work and perseverance, and I commend the efforts of everyone involved.”
A group of multi-generational atomic survivors visited Canberra to speak with government decision makers about their lived experience of British nuclear testing in SA and WA.
During the trip they outlined their expectations for future action from the government to acknowledge and address the harms caused by nuclear weapons testing, calling directly on the Prime Minister to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW).
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the British nuclear testing program at Emu Field in South Australia. One of the delegates, Karina Lester, a Yankunytjatjara Anangu woman from north-west South Australia, is a secondgeneration nuclear test survivor. Her late father, Yami Lester, was blinded by the tests at Emu Field, and Karina carries his story as well as her grandmother’s story about the impacts of the tests on her people.
“It’s a tough story to have to keep reminding and talking up about but it’s so important to speak up on the
impacts that were felt by Aboriginal people and Dad in particular, his family were impacted by the Emu Field cloud that went over the main camp,” Ms Lester said.
“It’s a generational story with my late father Yami Lester heavily involved in the royal commission because of the Emu Field tests that happened in October 1953.
“Dad and his people were north of that test site and early that morning Dad recalls the ground shaking and the black mist rolling towards their camp –by late afternoon he was quite sick.
“My late father was blinded within four years of those tests; he was completely blind from the fallout of that mushroom cloud at Emu Field.”
During the Canberra visit Karina was joined by Yankunytjatjara, Antikarinya and Pitjantjatjara woman June Lennon, who was four months old in October 1953 when the Totem 1 nuclear bomb was detonated at Emu Field, her family witnessed the test and have suffered from ill-health ever since.
The First Nations advocates were additionally joined by Maxine Goodwin, the daughter of an Australian nuclear veteran who became ill through his involvement in the first atomic test conducted in Western Australia.
Also present was Doug Brooks, a serving member of the Royal Australian Navy, who was onboard
HMS Alert when, as part of Operation Mosaic, a G2 98 kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated just ten miles away.
“It really gave an insight to the members of parliament and senators, to share these horrific stories but also an opportunity to share and ask the question of where Australia is at with this treaty,” Ms Lester said.
“We all had our very personal and unique stories to remind the Australian government about the work we’ve been doing to ratify the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons.
“This treaty is international law, has been signed and ratified by states around the world but the thing is Australia hasn’t signed and ratified the treaty as yet.”
ICAN Australia Director, Gem Romuld, said the trip was “an incredibly important delegation, some of whom are travelling thousands of kilometres to be in Canberra.
“Nuclear survivors are experts on the devastating humanitarian impacts of nuclear weapons. Australia’s experience with nuclear weapons testing is a powerful motivation to join the nuclear weapon ban treaty,” Ms Romuld said.
“Joining the treaty will help prevent more people and land from suffering, as well as address historic harms. It’s about the past, the present, and the future.”
“The wider community is really seeing the benefit of it. I saw guys from the CFS last year who came along to the burns on various sites across Yorke Peninsula and Nukunu Country, including elderly blokes who have been in the CFS for 60 years standing in the background knowing all about fire.
“I saw one gentleman with his arms crossed essentially saying ‘you can’t tell me about fire I’ve been doing fire for 35 years’.
“Then after showing them how cool fire responds to plants and you see people reluctant to engage dropping their arms and getting involved.
“It’s amazing to see the transformation of non-Indigenous people getting involved as well.”
Recent cultural burns on Guuranda (Yorke Peninsula) are re-connecting Narungga people to the traditional practice of burning on Country, training local First Nations people, and facilitating the exchange of knowledge between First Nations’ people and non-Indigenous partners and land managers.
Burns were conducted at Point Pearce, Minlaton/Minlagawi Gum Flat and Ardrossan grasslands, with further assessments carried out at sites initially slated for burns including Dhibara Sanctuary, Dhilba Guuranda (Innes National Park), Rocky Bend and Warooka Property (Marawardi).
Prior to the first series of burns conducted in 2022, the Narungga people had been prevented from conducting the practice on Country since colonisation, with film crews capturing the process in efforts to raise awareness and understanding of cultural burns.
Narungga man and leading practitioner, Peter Turner, conducted cultural burns in Point Pearce alongside Victor Steffensen from Firesticks Alliance and described the practice on Narungga Country as ‘well overdue’.
“It’s an amazing thing to see how fire can bring back the health of not just Country but the animals, the people – it’s an amazing ingredient out of the four main ingredients that shaped Australia, which are the trees, grass, people and fire,” Mr Turner said.
“The Old People, they managed the Country and more or less gardened it with fire. Now we’ve got a couple hundred years of mess that’s been allowed to build-up since these practices were stopped.
“Now our bushfires are so fierce with so much fuel out there [that] emergency services can’t even get them out with a helicopter, they’ve just got to let it burn. What cultural burning can do is fix the intensity of these fires up. No one can stop a lightning strike or a cigarette butt but what cultural burns can do is help contain these fires.”
Mr Turner said it was ‘amazing’ to see local Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups getting involved in the workshops and praised their willingness to get involved with the practice.
The main program of cultural burning with Firesticks Alliance was implemented outside of fire danger season from June 19 to 23, 2023.
Funding for the project was secured from the Australian government’s Preparing Australian Communities – Local Stream, designated for the series of cultural burns conducted on Narungga Country, with project management, funding and stakeholder coordination for the project organised by the Yorke Peninsula Council
The Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation and Northern and Yorke Landscape Board previously conducted burns in April 2022, with the scope of burns slated to grow in future with additional locations and stakeholders involved.
The court upheld a complaint by the Barngarla people, indicating there was apprehended bias in the decision-making process by former federal minister Keith Pitt when selecting the site.
Napandee, near the town of Kimba, was acquired as a storage facility for low and medium-level nuclear waste in November 2021, with 60% of residents voting in favour of the project when initially polled.
Barngarla Traditional Owners said they were not properly consulted about the plan before it was approved in 2021 and that the development would interfere with sacred sites that run through that area.
Justice Natalie Charlesworth said former Minister for Resources, Chris Pitt, had ‘prejudged’ the decision to select Kimba as a future dump site.
“The court’s view is that the only appropriate substantive and dispositive order is that the whole of the decision made is set aside,” Justice Charlesworth said.
Chair of Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation, Jason Bilney, said they wouldn’t have given up if the ruling had gone in favour of the government.
“We would’ve continued fighting. It’s taken us 21 years to win our native title, so we would’ve fought it for another 21 years. The lesson is that it’s about truth-telling, you can go on about the Voice but it was about listening to First Nations people today and we’ve won,” Mr Bilney said.
Mr Bilney described the lengthy legal battle with the government as ‘draining’ for the Barngarla people but said they were happy with the court ruling.
“It feels very tiring. The money could’ve been better spent on what the government spent on taking us to court. It could’ve been better spent for everyday Australians and the community, instead of taking First Nations people to court,” he said.
“It’s about standing up and continuing the fight of our old people.
“It’s very disrespectful to all government, to all people - not just us Barngarla.”
Deputy chair of BDAC, Jonas Dare, said the Barngarla people had ‘unanimously’ voted against storing nuclear waste at Kimba when given the opportunity.
“That’s what happens when you go about things the wrong way. When you don’t actually go to the people whose Country it is and don’t actually give them access to a vote,” Ms Dare said.
“This is why we employed the Australian Electoral Commission, to do an independent vote of all the Barngarla people about having a nuclear waste dump at Kimba.
“All of us knew we wanted to have a vote, how we would all vote wasn’t discussed in the community meetings and everyone still unanimously voted no.”
Further legal costs and remuneration will be discussed between the federal government and Barngarla’s legal counsel in August, relating to costs already incurred by the purchase of land for the proposed site.
Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation’s legal counsel, Nick LlewellynJones, said the ruling ‘sets a precedent’ for Aboriginal groups taking a stand on these matters.
“In this instance the Barngarla have done that and done it exceptionally well and have effectively overturned a government decision to put a waste dump on their land they do not want,” Mr Jones said.
“There’s so much work down in the native title system but it’s also important to understand that outside of the native title system Aboriginal groups have other rights to keep governments to account,” he said.
“In terms of the decision today as it currently stands the decision to put the waste dump on Napandee no longer exists. It is gone.”
The Federal Court has ruled in favour of the Barngarla people’s application to quash the development of a nuclear waste dump near Kimba by the federal government.Above, from top left: BDAC Chair, Jason Bilney addressing the media; Deputy chair of BDAC, Jonas Dare; Barngarla Traditional Owners and legal team.
With only weeks until the launch of Reconciliation Week, including the National Reconciliation Week Breakfast Commemorating Sorry Day, Reconciliation SA announced their new Chief Executive Officer, Jason Downs.
Jason has a long history of working with the South Australian government. His focus has been on engaging and collaborating with First Nations people and he will bring this focus to Reconciliation SA.
On starting his new role, Jason says, “I am honoured to be appointed as Chief Executive for Reconciliation SA and continue to build the organisation’s outstanding efforts towards reconciliation. I am looking forward to working with an amazing team of passionate and deeply committed staff and board to deliver to the highest standards.”
Jason came on board at a busy time for Reconciliation SA, as the organisation was in the final stages of preparation for the National Reconciliation Week Breakfast, which in 2023 also fell on Sorry Day.
To commemorate Sorry Day, Reconciliation SA worked with Dr Jenni Caruso of the South Australian Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation to ensure fact sheets about the Stolen Generations were placed on each table, as well as candles to commemorate those taken, and those that continue to be taken.
This year’s Reconciliation Week theme was ‘Be a Voice for Generations’, and on that morning we were privileged to have heard the voices of a choir of children in residential care led by Tony Minniecon. Due to being underage, the choir sang in the dark, without a spotlight or being filmed.
The breakfast started with a somber feeling to commemorate Sorry Day, and moved on to the beginning of Reconciliation Week with an inspirational keynote from Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine.
The final events of the morning were an intimate performance by Dusty Feet Mob followed by Nancy Bates and Corey Theatre.
During Reconciliation Week, Reconciliation SA had a stall at Reconciliation in the West and attended many other various events from Reconciliation in the South to a podcast launch in Murray Bridge.
Rec SA, as it is known to many, is now looking to plan for its second premiere event, the Reconciliation SA Gala, while working toward revamping its branding, website, memberships, and available services.
Keep a look out for more details in the coming months!
On July 7, the Far West Coast Aboriginal community and representatives of the South Australian Museum gathered at Koonibba to mark the return to Country of 10 ancestors.
The ceremony culminated from a three-year effort by the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation (FWCAC) and South Australian Museum, collating information and consulting with the community for a culturally appropriate reburial ceremony.
The reburied ancestors were taken away from the Far West Coast of South Australia over a period of 95 years, with their remains and locks of hair removed without the consent of Aboriginal people.
Some were sent as far as London, and others were held in Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne.
Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation Chair, Basil Coleman, welcomed the Ancestor’s return.
“Any day when we bring our people back home is a significant day,”
Mr Coleman said. “The community has been waiting for a day like this when they can welcome them back and place them to rest.”
“It has been a long process, and at the end of the day we’re celebrating their return back to Country. We as the descendants of these ancestors, our Far West Coast ancestors, have a cultural obligation, commitment, and responsibility to make sure they come home with dignity, and in a respectful way.”
Mr Coleman said it was fitting that this community-led ceremony take place during NAIDOC Week, with its 2023 theme ‘For Our Elders’.
“Absolutely, our theme for 2023 is ‘For Our Elders’ – both our Elders and ancestors are the ones that hold our
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culture and our lore, they are the important aspect of healing our people.
“They have the enormous task of maintaining and passing on traditional knowledge, values, and customary practices, while helping us to find the balance to navigate between the two worlds that we live in.”
John Carty, Head of Humanities at the South Australian Museum, said this milestone was another important step in the museum’s ongoing work to repatriate Aboriginal ancestral remains in its care, and empower communities to return their Old People to Country.
“Reburying ancestors during NAIDOC week captures the spirit of the work being done by Elders to not only return ancestors to Country for reburial, but to memorialise peoples’ lives and share the hard truths of historical attitudes towards Aboriginal people and the ancestors,” Mr Carty said.
The return of these ancestors was assisted by the South Australian Museum, Department of Premier of Cabinet, Koonibba Aboriginal community, Ceduna Aboriginal Corporation, and EyrePlus.
Authors: Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien
“In a word, no. A former Chief Justice of the High Court, Robert French, said it succinctly in a speech in Sydney in February this year:
referendum for a Voice to Parliament.
All Australians should carefully consider what it will mean for our nation if the Voice gets up, but our vote needs to be based on facts. The Voice to Parliament Handbook – a short and informative read with cartoons by Cathy Wilcox – provides ‘all the detail you need’ before heading to the polls in October.
In the spirit of reconciliation, the book is co-authored by Thomas Mayo, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander man and Voice advocate, and Kerry O’Brien, an awardwinning journalist who has reported on Indigenous affairs since the 1967 referendum. Mayo and O’Brien explain why there are calls for a constitutionally enshrined Voice, in the wake of past advisory bodies that have been watered down or abolished. And they answer frequently asked questions about the Voice, like ‘Why are some Indigenous people not supporting a Voice to Parliament?’
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have diverse opinions just like any other group of people,” they say. “It would be unrealistic to expect 100% per cent support from over 800,000 people on the matter.”
And less-obvious questions like, ‘Is it true, as some are claiming, that First Nations sovereignty could somehow be lost by enshrining an Indigenous Voice in the Constitution?’
Mayo says it will be ‘a big step backwards’ if the Voice referendum fails.
Why not use this book as a guide to make up your own mind?
We’ve found a book that clears up the confusing national debate around whether to vote yes or no in the upcoming
Authority over land and waters within the First Nations legal framework and within the colonising legal framework are capable of co-existence just as common law and traditional law are capable of coexistence of the kind reflected in Native Title agreements. Importantly, constitutional recognition and the creation of the Voice does not involve any ceding of traditional authority over land and waters.Above, from left: Authors Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien; Voice to Parliament Handbook.
The play – inspired by real events –squares up with the confronting instance of non-Indigenous people falsifying their heritage and incorrectly labelling themselves as First Nations people.
At What Cost? is written from the lens and experience of Palawa man Nathan Maynard, who was unable to stomach his first-hand encounters with people lying about their identity by ‘ticking a box’.
The play explores the issue of nonAboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders incorrectly identifying themselves as Palawa, a contentious issue since legal reform from the Tasmanian government in 2016.
New criteria introduced allowed people to use self-identification and communal recognition to prove Aboriginal ancestry, replacing a system that previously required additional documentary evidence in the process.
Ahead of their two-week run on Kaurna Country at the Odeon Theatre, lead actor, Sandy Greenwood, reflected on the piece.
“It’s the most powerful theatre I’ve ever done and I’ve been doing it for 20 years,” she said.
“Palawa playwright Nathan Maynard has written it because it was making him physically sick, like, culturally sick and his community are really suffering from this explosion of Palawan identifiers.
“These people are infiltrating local governments, taking custodians land away and meddling with identity and politics –it’s a really scary issue.”
Sandy hopes the SA State Theatre run of shows can start potentially uncomfortable but necessary conversations on a topic seldom-explored publicly.
“I am concerned in some ways because there’s an explosion of interest in Aboriginal art, Aboriginal entertainment, Aboriginal stories at the moment,” Ms Greenwood said.
“There’s a lot of money that can be made with Aboriginal culture, and I just worry because there’s people that are identifying, and then becoming visual artists, and just making up dreaming stories because they don’t know their bloodline.
“It’s one of the first times this subject has been put on stage and we know we are a part of something that is powerfully urgent and we’re excited to be a part of it.
Ms Greenwood said the production comes from a non-judgemental place and is one that calls for appropriate boundaries to protect Indigenous culture from “bizarre and pervasive contemporary subterfuge”.
“They don’t know their stories, and that’s therefore diluting culture that has been around since the beginning of time. It’s quite complex and I have compassion for people who are Aboriginal but haven’t gone on that journey.
“However, there’s people that are claiming and taking without doing the work and without representing mob.
“That’s why this play is really important to get out and get people talking about it.”
The SA government has introduced stricter maximum penalties for anyone found guilty of damaging, disturbing or interfering with sites of Aboriginal heritage.
The slated hikes in available fines will increase tenfold for a variety of specific charges, including the maximum fine for companies destroying Aboriginal heritage in SA, which will leap from $50,000 up to a potential maximum of $2 million.
The amendment bill, proposed by the state government, outlines a plan to raise the fines allocated to businesses and individuals who are found guilty of knowingly excavating land to uncover heritage, damaging disturbing or interfering with heritage or selling Aboriginal objects, or removing them from SA. The announcement arrives off the back of promises made to strengthen deterrents after the Koonalda Caves, located on SA’s Nullarbor Plain, were defaced by vandals in December 2022.
South Australia’s Attorney General, Kyam Maher, highlighted Rio Tinto’s destruction of Juukan Gorge in 2020 as a national concern when speaking on the amendment bill proposed.
“SA’s current Aboriginal heritage protection laws are failing to deliver the protections that our ancient cultural heritage deserves,” he said.
“By legislating a ten-fold increase in penalties for some offences, we are sending a clear message that Aboriginal heritage is to be both protected and respected.
In March 2023, a federal government grant of $720,000 was allocated to preserving some of South Australia’s oldest cultural heritage sites.
Koonalda Caves, located 97km from Eucla, found itself the beneficiary of culminated income streams from a variety of sites.
The funding included financial pledges of $400,000 towards site management and security for Koonalda Caves, $180,000 for wall repairs at Paxton Square Cottages and $150,000 for the Nilpena Ediacara National Park Oral History Project and First Nations Stories project.
Koonalda Caves will also be fitted with a ‘stateof-the-art security’ system in efforts to ensure the future conservation and protection of the site which contains ancient finger markings and archaeological deposits dating back over 22,000 years.
Rediscovered prison sketches from Aboriginal stockman Charlie Flannigan’s final days before becoming the first man executed in the Northern Territory have been publicly displayed for the first time in a new exhibition at the South Australian Museum.
Flannigan was a prize-winning jockey before becoming the centre of a murder trial that gripped the Northern Territory in 1892, following the death of station manager Samuel Croker. Given rudimentary art supplies by warders who were worried he might escape or take his life, Flannigan completed an astonishing 82 drawings that vividly document his life as a drover and Aboriginal man in 19th century Australia.
For a century these sketches were preserved in the South Australian Museum Archives. In 2016, a selection of images were shared with Darwinbased historian and Library & Archives NT curator, Don Nawurlany Christophersen, who was inspired to bring Flannigan’s story and artistry to light once again.
Authorities struggled to piece together a full detail of the night Croker died, with the two men seen playing cards shortly before gunshots fired, with eyewitnesses claiming they’d heard Flannigan voice concern that Croker had been carrying a revolver for two weeks with the purpose of killing him.
Mr Christophersen said he was inspired to bring Flannigan’s story and artistry to light once again.
“I wanted to do the story justice, to tell his story the right way,” Christophersen said.
“He’s trying to tell us, ‘This is what happened, this is what I saw’.
“It’s his life that he’s chronicling, where he’s worked, what he did, right up to the last image of Fannie Bay Gaol.”
South Australian Museum Acting Director, Justine van Mourik, said A Little Bit of Justice is a testament to the rich, untold stories kept alive in the museum’s archives.
“For over a century, the South Australian Museum has been the custodian of Charlie Flannigan’s unique perspectives on 19th century Australia. It’s a privilege to finally recognise Charlie, his skill as an artist, and the complexities of his life story, with the public.”
“He got better and better in the ten months he was in gaol. You can imagine him sitting, shackled in his small cell, with nothing to look at other than what’s in his head – and he recreates those images in paper.”
Prior to his death, Croker had also been involved in the frontier killings of other First Nations people.
You can listen to our full interview with Mr Christophersen on our podcast via Spotify or our website nativetitlesa.org/ aboriginal-way-podcast
A Little Bit of Justice opened on Saturday 5 May 2023 and runs until Sunday 10 September 2023.
LibrariesSA is developing relationships with community organisations to improve First Nations people’s access to their services.
Recently they collaborated with Tauondi Aboriginal College at Port Adelaide who said their students would benefit from the installation of a public computer in Tauondi’s Resource Centre.
The trial PC has now been installed, with staff and students receiving training from Public Library Services, State Library of South Australia, and Port Adelaide Enfield Libraries.
It’s funded by the Library Board and managed by Public Library Services and gives students, staff, building tenants and the local community direct access to the libraries’ catalogues and online services in a safe and familiar environment.
Tauondi College staff said, “Not everyone feels comfortable or safe going to a library. By having the library service at Tauondi means community knows that they are safe and free from judgement and have the ability to ask for support from the other staff at Tauondi”.
The PC provides free online access to:
• eBooks, Audiobooks, eMagazines
• LinkedIn Learning
• Ancestry Library Edition
• Road to IELTS
• State Library newspapers and eResources.
If the trial is successful, PCs may become available in other Aboriginal learning institutions.
Free digital library membership is available to all South Australian residents – find out more via www.libraries.sa.gov.au
If you would like to discuss the possibility of a collaboration with the public library network, please email contactPLS@sa.gov.au
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ISSUE 91