People on country--vital landscapes, Indigenous futures.

Russell-Smith, Jeremy

People on country--vital landscapes, Indigenous futures

Jon Altman and Sean Kerins (eds) 2012

Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, xxii+250pp, ill., maps, ports, ISBN 9781862878938 (pbk)

The past two decades have seen the meteoric rise in public support for, and formal acceptance of, the roles of Indigenous Australians in caring for our country--from the inception of the Northern Land Council's Caring for Country Unit in the mid-1990s and the declaration of the first of more than 50 Indigenous Protected Areas at Nantawarrina in South Australia in 1998, to the rapid expansion of Indigenous ranger programs, especially since 2007. Over the next few years these programs are projected to fund 730 full-time ranger positions under the Commonwealth Government's Working on Country program, and 85 positions under the Queensland Government's Land and Sea Ranger program. These developments have been nothing short of politically remarkable and, despite the inevitable problems and geographic discrepancies (e.g. current emphases on northern Australia, and indigenously owned--including native title--lands and seas), they provide a foundation for taking the next critical steps--building sustainable cultural and environmental services enterprises owned by and answerable to local communities.

People on country documents some regional, very instructive examples of that journey, focusing on the experiences of researchers and six community ranger groups in the Northern Territory's Top End and one from northern New South Wales. The book comprises two parts: the first provides a broad policy background and context to a five-year collaborative 'two toolbox' project undertaken by the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University; the second provides accounts from participating communities in their respective quests to develop effective community-based caring for country programs. In the face of very considerable socio-economic challenges and institutional barriers, these latter accounts provide powerful, moving testimonies to the hopes and aspirations of committed, proud people in maintaining their connections with and responsibilities to country, and building local employment opportunities for current and future generations.

The 'people on country' vision can be summed up simply and forcefully in the closing words to the chapter, 'No more yardin' us up like cattle' (by senior lawman Jack Green, countryman and ranger program co-ordinator Jimmy Morrison, and co-editor Sean Kerins), describing the experiences of Waanyi and Waanyi-Garawa rangers in the Northern Territory's Gulf region (p.201):

   In the future, we'd like to see ourselves
   running our own organisations, being in full
   control and not being reliant on people with
   no understanding of our culture and law. We
   want to be working with all the language
   groups in the region, altogether, with our
   younger people on country teaching them the
   culture at the same time as they are learning
   new ways of looking after country. We
   want our own enterprises that help us remain
   living and caring for it and keeping culture
   strong, just like our old people taught us. To
   sit under the shade of a tree when we are old
   men and see this will make us happy.

The final chapter, written by the research program co-ordinator and principal co-editor, Jon Altman, provides considered observations of the journey travelled and important lessons for developing sustainable cultural, ecologic and economic futures--moving beyond a simplistic 'green welfare' dependency model. As one who has been involved with that same journey for the best part of 30 years, I have no argument with key challenges addressed throughout the book, including:

* building support for two-way knowledge interactions, including improved engagement with government-sponsored education and training systems

* recognising the centrality of accommodating local customary engagement and governance in project design and implementation arrangements

* where public funding is involved (as is currently nearly always the case), negotiating appropriate reporting criteria that both lessen the administrative load and account against agreed two-way cultural objectives

* fostering innovative funding arrangements involving commercial (e.g. cultural and natural resource management environmental services; carbon farming), philanthropic (e.g. biodiversity co-benefits) and public (e.g. stewardship) partnerships.

People on country chronicles encouraging examples of where some of the above steps are now being taken, and is an important milestone account of a rapidly evolving land management movement that has far-reaching implications for all Australians.

Reviewed by Jeremy Russell-Smith, North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance; Darwin Centre for Bushfire Research, Charles Darwin University <Jeremy.Russell-Smith@cdu.edu.au>