Native title in Australia

Can more ethical histories be written about early colonial expeditions? A new project seeks to do just that

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

The name of the Aboriginal man in this article was how he was referred to, and his relative has requested we honour this name.

Key Points: 
  • The name of the Aboriginal man in this article was how he was referred to, and his relative has requested we honour this name.
  • Truth-telling is at the heart of a new research project we are currently leading that re-examines the legacy of the Hann Expedition, which travelled Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula in 1872.
  • Our project seeks to rewrite this period of history – and others – to honour the voices and experiences of Aboriginal people whose contributions to colonial-era expeditions have long been overlooked.
  • Jerry was derogatorily referred to as “the blackboy”, and his important role in the expedition has never been fully acknowledged.

Descendants leading research

  • Our research team includes descendants of the 1872 expedition, such as the project lead and co-author, Peter Taylor (a descendant of Norman Taylor’s), and co-researcher and co-author Cameo Dalley (a great-granddaughter of Tate’s).
  • As descendants, each of us has inherited different family narratives about what took place on the expedition, and whose contributions were central.
  • Further funding will support our research and the involvement of Traditional Owners along the expedition route, including Olkala, Kuku Yalanji, Lama Lama and Guugu Yimithirr people.
  • The united commitment of the descendants and their detailed knowledge of this expedition will be incredibly valuable in working with Elders across the cape who still grieve about their own history.

Why truth-telling is needed in Australia

  • Truth-telling was a vital component of the Uluru Statement from the Heart signed by over 200 Indigenous delegates from around Australia.
  • However, the failed referendum on a Voice to Parliament last year arguably demonstrated an apathy towards such processes at a national level.


Nicole Huxley is affiliated with North QLD Land Council, Jumbun Limited, Ngrragoonda RNTBC Aboriginal Corporation, Joint Coordinating Committee Member Qld - DSDSATSIP. Cameo Dalley and Peter Taylor do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

First Peoples’ land overlaps with 130 imperilled bird species – and their knowledge may be vital to saving them

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Our new research explored this opportunity by examining where Australia’s imperilled birds overlap with the Country of First Peoples.

Key Points: 
  • Our new research explored this opportunity by examining where Australia’s imperilled birds overlap with the Country of First Peoples.
  • The includes but is not confined to Indigenous Protected Areas, native title land and areas controlled by Indigenous land councils.
  • Our analysis found 64% of these, or about 130 species, occur on lands and waters to which First Peoples’ groups have a legal determination.

‘Threatened species’ is a Western concept

  • In the decades since Australia’s threatened species legislation was passed in 1992, First Peoples have become key partners in conservation.
  • For millennia, birds have been integral to the cultural practice and livelihoods of Australia’s First Peoples.
  • The concept of “threatened species” is founded in Western science and is not necessarily a term First Peoples use.

What we found

  • Under Australian law, First Peoples lack legal title to much of their ancestral lands.
  • Regardless, connections to Country – and species that live there – remain.
  • For example, the entire population of Australia’s rarest bird, the mukarrthippi grasswren, lives on Ngiyampaa Country in central NSW.
  • And the entire range of three threatened species is on the Country of Tiwi Islander First Peoples.

How First Peoples can become more involved

  • But it may help First Peoples know which threatened bird species occur on their Country.
  • For example, First Peoples may seek expansion of Indigenous Protected Areas where the species occur.
  • The monitoring of imperilled birds is another activity where First Peoples already contribute strongly but could be more involved.

Compensation for centuries of damage

  • For example, Indigenous Protected Areas make up almost half of Australia’s conservation areas, yet receive just a fraction of funding for the federal conservation estate.
  • Australia’s First Peoples were begrudgingly granted land rights after two centuries of having their ownership denied.
  • They also have a right to compensation for the damage done.


Amanda Lilleyman is affiliated with BirdLife Australia. She works for and consults to Aboriginal ranger groups and Charles Darwin University. Jack Pascoe is affiliated with Back to Country and is Co-Chief Councilor of the Biodiversity Council. Stephen Garnett works for Charles Darwin University. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with BirdLife Australia.

First Peoples’ land overlaps with 130 imperilled bird species – and this knowledge may be vital to saving them

Retrieved on: 
Monday, February 12, 2024

Our new research explored this opportunity by examining where Australia’s imperilled birds overlap with the Country of First Peoples.

Key Points: 
  • Our new research explored this opportunity by examining where Australia’s imperilled birds overlap with the Country of First Peoples.
  • The includes but is not confined to Indigenous Protected Areas, native title land and areas controlled by Indigenous land councils.
  • Our analysis found 64% of these, or about 130 species, occur on lands and waters to which First Peoples’ groups have a legal determination.

‘Threatened species’ is a Western concept

  • In the decades since Australia’s threatened species legislation was passed in 1992, First Peoples have become key partners in conservation.
  • For millennia, birds have been integral to the cultural practice and livelihoods of Australia’s First Peoples.
  • The concept of “threatened species” is founded in Western science and is not necessarily a term First Peoples use.

What we found

  • Under Australian law, First Peoples lack legal title to much of their ancestral lands.
  • Regardless, connections to Country – and species that live there – remain.
  • For example, the entire population of Australia’s rarest bird, the mukarrthippi grasswren, lives on Ngiyampaa Country in central NSW.
  • And the entire range of three threatened species is on the Country of Tiwi Islander First Peoples.

How First Peoples can become more involved

  • But it may help First Peoples know which threatened bird species occur on their Country.
  • For example, First Peoples may seek expansion of Indigenous Protected Areas where the species occur.
  • The monitoring of imperilled birds is another activity where First Peoples already contribute strongly but could be more involved.

Compensation for centuries of damage

  • For example, Indigenous Protected Areas make up almost half of Australia’s conservation areas, yet receive just a fraction of funding for the federal conservation estate.
  • Australia’s First Peoples were begrudgingly granted land rights after two centuries of having their ownership denied.
  • They also have a right to compensation for the damage done.


Amanda Lilleyman is affiliated with BirdLife Australia. She works for and consults to Aboriginal ranger groups and Charles Darwin University. Jack Pascoe is affiliated with Back to Country and is Co-Chief Councilor of the Biodiversity Council. Stephen Garnett works for Charles Darwin University. He receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with BirdLife Australia.

Climate change will strike Australia’s precious World Heritage sites – and Indigenous knowledge is a key defence

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 6, 2024

We developed a climate change “toolkit” for World Heritage properties with site managers and Traditional Owners.

Key Points: 
  • We developed a climate change “toolkit” for World Heritage properties with site managers and Traditional Owners.
  • To our knowledge, it is the first time such guidance has been co-developed and tested with World Heritage property managers and Indigenous experts in this country.
  • Bringing climate science and Indigenous knowledge systems together promises to produce better results for heritage protection as the climate changes.

Mounting climate threats to heritage


Our new research explored climate impacts at three very different sites:

  • Tidal flats, floodplains, lowlands and plateaus provide habitat for many rare or endemic plants and animals.
  • The region is also experiencing more extreme temperatures and heatwaves, changing fire regimes, more intense cyclones, and increasingly intense extreme rainfall events.
  • Hot and dry conditions are causing erosion of topsoil, increasingly exposing Aboriginal cultural heritage.


Read more:
Climate change must be a catalyst for reform of the World Heritage system

Tapping into deep knowledge

  • An Indigenous Reference Group of Traditional Owners from a number of World Heritage sites in Australia contributed their expert knowledge.
  • Effectively addressing climate impacts on World Heritage values requires the deep knowledge, values and worldviews of Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
  • Tapping into this deep understanding of connections between nature and culture can help support the management of spiritual, living landscapes.

Adapting to climate change

  • World Heritage site managers can take a broad range of practical actions to adapt to climate change.
  • In cases where climate change is likely to lead to changes in the values of a site, there may be a need to reevaluate management objectives and strategies (such as accommodating new groups of organisms or “ecological communities”, letting some populations decline, and managed retreat of shorelines).
  • In some cases, managers may aim to retain certain values across a wider landscape while accepting local change.


Read more:
Climate adaptation projects sometimes exacerbate the problems they try to solve – a new tool hopes to correct that

Looking ahead

  • They can focus on the parts most useful to them, depending on their capacity and needs.
  • Ultimately, this resource will help protect Australia’s cultural and natural heritage.
  • Jess Melbourne-Thomas received funding for this work from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
  • Brenda Lin received funding for this work from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
  • Mandy Hopkins received funding for this work from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

New analysis unlocks the hidden meaning of 15,000-year-old rock art in Arnhem Land

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, January 9, 2024

Despite this beguiling potential, rock art research can be highly challenging.

Key Points: 
  • Despite this beguiling potential, rock art research can be highly challenging.
  • Our new research published in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences uses an innovative approach to understand rock art in Arnhem Land in a fundamentally different way.

A dramatic landscape change

  • It has also been the subject of dramatic landscape change as a result of sea levels rising significantly over the last 14,000 years.
  • The complex landscape of sandstone cliffs and flat floodplains would have dramatically changed: from open savanna, to mudflat, to mangrove swamp.

An astonishing rock art record

  • Arnhem Land has an astonishing rock art record that continues to be maintained by Traditional Owners today.
  • The rock art in Arnhem Land can be categorised into a number of different styles, which change over millennia.
  • For example, saltwater animals such as fish appear in the rock art record when the sea had risen enough to impact this area.


This is the first time this approach has been used in Arnhem Land. The results provide new insights into what inspired people to create rock art at different times in the past.

Valuable mangroves

  • Importantly, we found rock art production was most active, diverse in style, and covered the most area of the plateau during the period when mangroves completely covered the floodplains.
  • This may be because the mangroves provided abundant resources which sustained a large and stable human population.

Detailed landscapes provide deep insights

  • These rock art placements have the potential to tell us much more about the archaeology of Arnhem Land.
  • This reflects significant social and economic changes, which follow the landscape evolution over the long history of human occupation in western Arnhem Land.
  • Our work shows more detailed models of the landscape directly surrounding archaeological sites can yield profound insights into past human activities, even those as difficult to interpret as the incredible artwork of Arnhem land.
  • Daryl Wesley receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Flinders University, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and National Geographic.
  • Ian Moffat receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Flinders University, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

Novo Announces 2023 Sustainability Report

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, November 28, 2023

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novo Resources Corp. (Novo or the Company) (ASX: NVO) (TSX: NVO & NVO.WT.A) (OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to advise the release of its 2023 Sustainability Report, which outlines progress over the past year.

Key Points: 
  • VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novo Resources Corp. (Novo or the Company) (ASX: NVO) (TSX: NVO & NVO.WT.A) (OTCQX: NSRPF) is pleased to advise the release of its 2023 Sustainability Report, which outlines progress over the past year.
  • Novo’s 2023 Sustainability Report demonstrates that while the business strategy has shifted from production to exploration, the commitment to sustainability remains unchanged and the Company’s stakeholders, including local communities and traditional owners, have been and continue to be integral to success.
  • Novo Executive Co-Chairman and Acting CEO Mike Spreadborough commented “This year we formalised our community investment strategy through the development of a Social Investment Policy and Procedure,” the report said.
  • We would sincerely like to thank the Novo team, along with our communities and Traditional Owners for their dedication and ongoing support and contribution to our sustainability efforts this past year.”

Rio Tinto progresses Rhodes Ridge to next study phase

Retrieved on: 
Monday, December 4, 2023

Rio Tinto has approved a $77 million (A$110 million) pre-feasibility study (PFS) to progress development of the Rhodes Ridge project, one of the world’s best undeveloped iron ore deposits, in the East Pilbara in Western Australia.

Key Points: 
  • Rio Tinto has approved a $77 million (A$110 million) pre-feasibility study (PFS) to progress development of the Rhodes Ridge project, one of the world’s best undeveloped iron ore deposits, in the East Pilbara in Western Australia.
  • The PFS is expected to be completed by the end of 2025 and will be followed by a feasibility study.
  • Rio Tinto is planning to spend more than A$400 million on exploration over five years from 2024 to 2028 as part of the ongoing study phases.
  • Last year, Rio Tinto (50 per cent) and Wright Prospecting Pty Ltd (50 per cent) agreed to modernise the joint venture covering the Rhodes Ridge project, located 40 kilometres north-west of Newman.

Rio Tinto approves new solar farm and battery storage to power its Amrun bauxite operations on Cape York

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, December 3, 2023

Rio Tinto has approved a new 12.4MW solar farm and 8.8MVa/2.1MWh of battery storage to provide renewable energy for the Amrun bauxite operations near Weipa in Queensland.

Key Points: 
  • Rio Tinto has approved a new 12.4MW solar farm and 8.8MVa/2.1MWh of battery storage to provide renewable energy for the Amrun bauxite operations near Weipa in Queensland.
  • The 12.4MW solar farm and battery storage are part of Rio Tinto’s global decarbonisation strategy and ongoing efforts to reduce emissions at its Pacific bauxite, alumina and aluminium operations.
  • Rio Tinto Weipa Operations General Manager Shona Markham said “The construction of the Amrun solar farm and battery storage system, which is located on Wik and Wik-Waya Traditional lands, is an important milestone for Weipa Operations and will contribute to Rio Tinto’s commitment to reduce operational greenhouse gas emissions.
  • “The Amrun solar farm will be one of three Weipa Operations solar stations, which will together provide 18MW of solar generation capacity to our mines and the Weipa town.

TransAlta and BHP Announce Commercial Operation of Innovative Hybrid Renewables Facility to Power Remote Mining Operations in Western Australia

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 22, 2023

CALGARY, AB, Nov. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - TransAlta Corporation ("TransAlta" or the "Company") (TSX: TA) (NYSE: TAC) and BHP Group Limited ("BHP") (NYSE: BHP) (ASX: BHP) announced today that the 48 MW Northern Goldfields solar and battery storage facility ("Northern Goldfields Solar and Battery Facility") has achieved commercial operation and is now supplying reliable electricity to BHP's remote nickel mining operations in Western Australia.

Key Points: 
  • CALGARY, AB, Nov. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - TransAlta Corporation ("TransAlta" or the "Company") (TSX: TA) (NYSE: TAC) and BHP Group Limited ("BHP") (NYSE: BHP) (ASX: BHP) announced today that the 48 MW Northern Goldfields solar and battery storage facility ("Northern Goldfields Solar and Battery Facility") has achieved commercial operation and is now supplying reliable electricity to BHP's remote nickel mining operations in Western Australia.
  • "We are extremely pleased that this innovative hybrid renewable solution is now supplying reliable, emissions-free power to BHP's mining operations in the outback of Western Australia.
  • The Northern Goldfields Solar and Battery Facility is our first renewable electricity facility in Australia and is made possible through our longstanding relationship with BHP," said John Kousinioris, President and Chief Executive Officer of TransAlta.
  • "The fully contracted facility showcases our expertise in integrating renewable energy into remote power systems," added Mr. Kousinioris.

By reviewing the name of the Baden-Powell Award, Scouts Australia is grappling with its colonial past

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 8, 2023

Scouts Australia is considering changing the name of its most prestigious youth award, the Baden-Powell Scout Award.

Key Points: 
  • Scouts Australia is considering changing the name of its most prestigious youth award, the Baden-Powell Scout Award.
  • For others, his role in creating the largest youth movement in history is overshadowed by allegations of colonial war crimes.

Adapting to changing social values

  • Baden-Powell’s handbook, Scouting for Boys, is the fourth best-selling book of the 20th century.
  • Baden-Powell’s Scouting philosophy emphasised social responsibility and outdoor skills.
  • Scouting has endured for over a century, in part because of its willingness to adapt to changing social values.

But back to Baden-Powell

  • In 2020, amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations, a statue of Baden-Powell in England appeared on a “Topple the Racists” hit list.
  • Yet, the statue was defended by local Scouts, and a petition against its removal received over 40,500 signatures.
  • Before Scouts, Baden-Powell was already a hero of the British Empire for his efforts during the South African War.
  • Globally, Scouts has recognised this, with the Chief Scout of the UK, Bear Grylls, admitting Baden-Powell’s “failings”.

An extended process of public reckoning

  • The case to replace obviously racist place names can be uncontroversial, provided consultation takes place with Traditional Owners.
  • In recent years, Queensland has revoked certain racist place names, while Tasmania has renamed several places that previously commemorated colonial violence.
  • Even Macquarie University is facing calls to recognise his ambiguous legacy, rather than promoting him.
  • This is likely to be the start of an extended process of public reckoning.
  • This may extend from relatively unknown statues, or place names, to big businesses and institutions with connections to questionable legacies.


Ciara Smart receives funding from the University of Tasmania.