Reef Research: Volume 6 No. 4 December 1996

DEVELOPING THE LINKAGES
Indigenous involvement in the management of the
Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area

James Innes

lthough Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a significant and long standing cultural, spiritual and economic relationship with the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, their interests in the area have only been appreciated at a national and international level during the last decade. From the earliest days, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority appreciated the need to involve indigenous peoples in the planning process, but lacked the skills and resources to do so effectively. It is only in the past decade that the Authority has been able to develop effective means to identify the interests of indigenous peoples and to include them in the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander views on the underlying principles of natural resource management differ markedly from those of Europeans. This is due to their different perception of nature and peoples' places in it. From an indigenous viewpoint coastal landscapes and seascapes are part of an integrated cultural domain made up of owned clan estates to which affiliated kin groups belong. It is from these groups that people derive their identity and customary rights to own and use resources. This is in stark contrast to the European concept of coastal and marine systems as separate domains with marine resources considered as common property.

The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area now live in, or near, the major urban areas of the region. They still have strong cultural, spiritual and economic interests in the area mainly due to their continued use of marine and coastal resources and association with traditional land. Away from the urban areas, in Cape York, communities still rely upon fishing, gathering and hunting to supplement their diet. A growing Outstation movement has also led to people being more dependent upon resources in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

Aboriginal peoples' association with the land and sea is based upon the belief that landscapes and seascapes were created by Ancestral Beings. These Ancestral Beings also spread social groups and their languages across the landscape in a particular manner. It is from this spiritual belief system that Aboriginal people base the foundation for their culture and connections to land and sea (Young et al. 1991: 108).

An Aboriginal person will usually identify as being a member of a kin group within a particular language area. Language and kin groups are associated with certain tracts of land and sea, commonly referred to as clan estates. Individuals within a kin group share responsibility for the protection and wise use of their estates. This responsibility can be discharged through the performance of ceremonies and the enforcement of customary law (Chase 1980).

Various aspects of customary law govern a person's use of coastal and marine resources. Contemporary cultural meanings and links to the coastal and marine environments are maintained through peoples' continuing use of particular sites and the teaching of stories which relate individual sites to society and history within clan estates. Aboriginal people identify several types of sites within their clan estates that range in significance from:

sacred sites where visitation is prohibited or restricted to certain people; to
sites classified as important with restrictions on entry and use; to
sites with no restrictions other than a requirement to be respectful.
(Chase 1980; Smyth 1992).

In his report to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Bergin (1993) identified that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are keen to be involved with the management and use of marine and coastal areas. Individuals and community groups have developed commercial projects using the resources of their area. The Seisia community, for example, operates a camping ground on the tip of Cape York and the Injinoo community (also at the tip of Cape York) has obtained a licence to harvest 15 tonnes of trochus a year as part of a total 50 tonne limit shared between other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups. Within many indigenous communities there is also involvement with commercial fishing and a desire to be involved with the management of fisheries resources.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has sought over the last ten years to work more closely with indigenous peoples in some aspects of the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 made no specific reference to indigenous peoples but it did provide for public involvement in the operations of the Authority. It wasn't until 1983 that indigenous interests were recognised in the first Cairns Section Zoning Plan. Traditional hunting and fishing was identified as a category of use and a definition of traditional inhabitant was provided. The workshop on Traditional Knowledge and the Marine Environment in 1985 (Gray and Zann 1988) was one of the first significant moves made by the Authority to promote knowledge and discussion of indigenous interests in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

From 1988 to 1993 a number of reports were commissioned by the Authority to investigate indigenous involvement with and use of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. All of the reports noted the lack of involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The result of these reports and internal assessments conducted by Authority staff has led to the following decisions being made to increase indigenous involvement in the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area.

An Aboriginal person was appointed to the Great Barrier Reef Consultative Committee in 1988.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests were directly involved in developing the 25 Year Strategic Plan for the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area in 1992.
A community ranger program was developed and funded jointly with the Australian Nature Conservation Agency for three years.
An employment strategy was developed and an Aboriginal liaison staff member was appointed to the Authority in 1992.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities were involved in the preparation of a dugong and turtle strategy and permit arrangements for the management of traditional hunting by community based management groups such as the Council of Elders.
Mrs Evelyn Scott, Chairperson of the Cairns and District Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation for Women was appointed to the Marine Park Authority in December 1996 to represent Aboriginal interests in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The Great Barrier Marine Park Authority has continued to make further decisions that provide for greater involvement of indigenous people in the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The Authority has developed a good relationship with the indigenous people of the World Heritage Area through extensive involvement of its indigenous liaison officers, training and staff development and the development of a legal and policy framework for effective recognition and involvement of indigenous interests and peoples.

The past ten years have witnessed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples becoming more involved and visible in the planning and management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. This is due to the efforts of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the pro-active approach taken by indigenous groups in having their rights recognised. Full participation by indigenous groups in the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area will be a complex long-term process. Achievement of that goal will ensure that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area are very visibly involved in continuing a long tradition of caring for the country.

References

Bergin, A. 1983, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interests in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Research Publication No. 31, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.

Chase, A.K. 1980, Which way now? Tradition, continuity and change in a north Queensland Aboriginal community, Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Queensland, Brisbane.

Gray, F. and Zann, L. 1988, Traditional knowledge of the marine environment in northern Australia, Workshop Series No. 8, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.

Smyth, D. 1992, Aboriginal maritime culture in the Far Northern Section of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, Unpublished report to Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.

Young, E., Ross, H., Johnson, J., and Kesteven, J. 1991, Caring for country: Aborigines and land management, Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service, AGPS, Canberra.

Acknowledgements

This paper is based upon some of the main points presented in: D. Benzaken, G. Smith and R. Williams 1997. A long way together: the

recognition of indigenous interests in the management of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, pp.471-495. In D. Wachenfeld, J. Oliver and K. Davis (eds). State of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area Workshop, Workshop Series No. 23, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Townsville.

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