By Marc Wohling, Principal Environmental Scientist, Golder Associates
Resource companies can benefit greatly from a deeper understanding of the cultural concepts behind decision-making in Indigenous communities.
In the Northern Territory, Aboriginal people comprise nearly a third of the population and have statutory ownership of half the land, including 83 per cent of the coastline. Investing time and effort into appreciating the influences on decision-making processes can lead to highly productive partnerships.
The following examples are drawn from desert societies in the NT:
Understand your tenement’s cultural history
When approaching a new project area, it is important to consider the tenement’s history. Aboriginal communities have complex layers of rights and interests in land that include traditional, historical and a ‘reconnected’ ownership. Unpacking the politics of these layers takes time and a degree of sensitivity that forms the foundation for all future interactions with landowners.
Ngaparrtji, ngaparrtji – ‘reciprocation’
Ngaparrtji, ngaparrtji is an expectation that a relationship is a respectful exchange of knowledge and understanding over time. In Aboriginal societies, relationships create obligations and companies should be mindful of making statements that could be misconstrued as ‘promises’. Taking the effort to learn about the community and culture demonstrates reciprocation and saves time and money in the long term.
Ngurra – camp, country, home, identity
Aboriginal people often use the term ‘country’ or ‘Ngurra’ when referring to their traditional landscapes. This term encapsulates a set of complex and sophisticated layers of meaning that are often lost in English translations.
Ngurra can mean camp, home, and ‘country’ while also referring to a personal or group identity. It is important to understand the different sets of ownership rights being asserted during negotiations about ‘country’.
Differentiation and relatedness
Aboriginal people developed rights and interests in broad areas of land to survive in desert environments. Land ownership remains a fluid and negotiated process, rather than a set of fixed boundaries.
Aboriginal people may highlight their ‘relatedness or ‘differentiation’ to others or to land, by articulating different sets of rights and interests. These may be in the form of cultural heritage sites such as conception, birthing, mother’s, father’s, grandmother’s, grandfather’s or ceremonial sites.
In summary, when considering a new mining project it is helpful to invest in and understand the subtleties of Aboriginal decision-making processes. Building relationships at the exploration stage can help facilitate project negotiations, resulting in improved outcomes for both sides.
Marc works at the nexus of ecology and anthropology. He lived and worked with Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory for 15 years and is proficient in the western desert language Pintupi-Luritja. He can be contacted on (08) 9213 7600 or via email at mwohling@golder.com.au.
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