Remote Australia Online

This working paper presents results of a small research project undertaken by Rob Law as a Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (DKCRC) Vacation Scholarship through Charles Darwin University. The project is a contribution to the DKCRC Livelihoods inLand™ research project. Livelihoods inLand™ research supports the development of sustainable livelihoods for desert people through natural and cultural resource management, in order to benefit Australia. There are many issues associated with this area. This background covers some of them.

The project examines the role of natural resources managment (NRM) organisations that operate as an ‘interface’ between governments and community in the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB). It aims to identify the factors that support successful engagement in remote regions and develop a framework to help NRM bodies monitor and improve their engagement processes.

This report was developed as a background document providing an overview of the formal institutional arrangements for natural resources management (NRM) in the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB). It is a technical report that represents one component of the ‘People, communities and economies of the Lake Eyre Basin’ project conducted by Desert Knowledge CRC and CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems. In accordance with the project design, this report focuses on describing formal NRM arrangements to complement and inform the other components of the study. As the central focus of the broader project is on community engagement, it follows that a major theme of the discussion presented here is on the formal institutional arrangements that enable these processes to occur. The primary focus of the LEB study is on Queensland (Qld), South Australia (SA) and Northern Territory (NT); however, this report also includes consideration of the institutional context in New South Wales (NSW) to complete the overview of the formal institutional context for the LEB.

Several natural resources planning processes are currently underway in Australia, with the Water Reform Agreement 1994 providing a legislative umbrella for the catchment based water planning processes. This paper presents the result of a case study conducted in the joint catchment of the Diamantina and Georgina rivers. This catchment is unique as it is a major tributary of the Lake Eyre Basin, the world's largest internally draining system covering an area of 1.2 million km2. Surface water flows in the basin are characterised by extremely variable seasonal and multiannual hydrology. The resource therefore fluctuates from a state of extreme scarcity to a temporary abundance. Historic withdrawals and allocation arrangements throughout the catchment have now been formalised through the Diamantina and Georgina Water Management Plan 2004 and the Resource Operational Plan 2005. The paper presents a brief overview of the collective- choice level formal rule creation process followed by a qualitative analyses of the stakeholders' reactions to the rule. Intrinsic valuation of interactions and outcomes and the likely future implementation by stakeholders are also discussed.

This paper presents some of the results of a case study investigating stakeholder involvement in surface water planning processes in the joint catchment of the Diamantina and Georgina Rivers in central Queensland. Historic withdrawals and allocation arrangements with pastoralists and the mining industry have recently been formalised through the Water Resource (Georgina Diamantina) Plan 2004 and the draft Resource Operational Plan 2005. This paper specifically investigates stakeholder perception of the role floods play in the viability of the region. The perceived importance of the floods to economic viability, ecological viability and social viability is discussed.

Since their introduction to Australia in 1840 the one-humped camel, Camelus dromedarius, has gone from the colonist’s companion to a conservationist’s conundrum in the fragile arid ecosystems of Australia. Current management techniques are failing to curb present population growth and alternatives must be sought. This review assess the applicability of currently registered and developmental vertebrate pesticides and fertility control agents for camel control, as well as examining the potential usefulness of known C. dromedarius diseases for biological control. Not surprisingly, little is known about the lethality of most vertebrate pesticides used in Australia to camels. More has been published on adverse reactions to pharmaceuticals used in agriculture and the racing industry. An examination of the literature on C. dromedarius diseases, such as camel pox virus, contagious ecthyma and papillomatosis, indicates that the infections generally result in high morbidity but not necessarily mortality and this alone may not justify their consideration for use in Australia. The possibility exists that other undiscovered or unstudied biological control agents from other camilid species may offer greater potential for population control. As a long-lived species the camel is also not ideally suited to fertility control. Notwithstanding, anti-fertility agents may have their place in preventing the re-establishment of camel populations once they have been reduced through mechanical, biological or chemical means. Delivery of any generic chemical or fertility control agent will, however, require a species-tailored pathway and an appropriate large-scale deployment method. Accordingly, we put forward avenues of investigation to yield improved tools for camel control.

In the last 160 years since their introduction to Australia, the one-humped camel, Camelus dromedarius, has gone from the colonist’s companion to a conservationist’s conundrum in the fragile arid ecosystems that dominate this country. The camel was brought to Australia for cartage purposes for exploration of the arid inland by early explorers, and was subsequently used to open up the inland through assisting in the development of towns and railways. From up to 20 000 ancestors introduced into Australia, potentially half of which may have been liberated in the 1940s, the feral population of camels is currently thought to number around one million individuals spread between Western Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, and South Australia. In late 2007 the Desert Knowledge CRC approached the Invasive Animals CRC to undertaken a literature review of chemical, biological, and fertility control options for the camel as part of their larger Australian Government–funded ‘Cross-jurisdictional management of feral camels to protect NRM and cultural values’ project. The terms of reference included assessing the efficacy and appropriateness of known xenobiotics, diseases, and anti-fertility agents for managing feral camels.

Feral camels have severe negative impacts on key environmental economic and social/cultural assets across a wide area in Australia and their population is increasing. In this paper we utilised Multicriteria Evaluation (MCE) within a Geographic Information System (GIS) to create a decision tool for their management. Six management methods which are currently used for managing feral camels and their impacts: aerial culling, ground culling, exclusion fencing, and commercial extraction for live export, pet meat, or human consumption, were considered in the development of the tool. The decision tool used GIS-based MCE to determine the suitability of each of the management methods across the range of feral camels in Australia. A range of method-dependent criteria and factors served as inputs to the GIS-based MCE, which produced a suitability map or surface for each of the management methods. The broad-scale nature, Australia wide, of the work resulted in the suitability maps generated being of limited value in identifying fine-scale priority locations for management. The suitability maps did serve to identify broad-scale, cross-jurisdictional management zones where one or more of the management methods may be applicable. Geographic Information System-based MCE was concluded to have the potential to identify the appropriate areas for the application of specific feral camel management methods. Four management zones were then defined within the area of Australia in which feral camels are present.

Definitions of what a Geographic Information System (GIS) is vary. In general, most definitions describe a GIS as capable of storing, analysing, and displaying spatially (or geographically) referenced data. Spatially referenced data can be stored in two ways inside a GIS: as vector data or raster data. Most GIS software can be categorised as either a raster- or vector-based GIS. This has become less apparent as many software packages work fluidly with either data format.

Livelihoods that integrate natural resource management, health, family wellbeing, cultural knowledge, biodiversity and income are necessary to sustain remote Australian Aboriginal groups. They are major landowners in the 70% of Australia that is arid. Recently, new drivers from climate to weeds have transitioned arid ecosystems into states very different from those long managed with indigenous knowledge. Low levels of literacy and income, and high levels of chronic disease and social stress exacerbate the ecological challenge. A simple, flexible framework is needed to build a shared concept of these complex socio-ecological systems among Aboriginal groups, NGOs and government over many years. This modelling language must translate between sand drawings and computer models, and value indigenous and government indicators, to effectively support partnerships between Aboriginal and government groups. It must also function adequately without modellers, to be usable in widely dispersed settlements. We are building a community of practice among researchers and remote Aboriginal communities to unite participatory planning and systems modelling with new data on the traditional relationships among environment, health and wellbeing. Our strategy focuses on: 1. a cross-sectoral participatory modelling that uses locally-designed systems diagrams to collect de-identified data (eg. outcomes, indicators, and interactions); 2. an iterative process of translating, sharing and synthesizing model drafts; 3. scenario-building to test model usage behaviours; 4. the endpoint of an online planning and evaluation tool to enable mutual accountability between regional investments and local outcomes. This paper will present early experiences in the process of gradually constructing a shared and flexible framework, a detailed example of one livelihood model, and inferences about model usage. I will also present challenges that include: identifying model features and structures that are meaningful across cultures; identifying indicators and surrogates; measures that link cause-effect in models and in community experiences; and verifying models.

This paper presents a framework for designing desert livelihoods – ways to make a living that are adapted to the biologically and culturally diverse arid zone of Australia. Cultures are shaped by the biophysical characteristics of the places within which they evolved, and cultural practices in turn shape their environments. This diachronic relationship between natural and cultural systems around the world has developed a large body of Indigenous knowledge (e.g. Posey 1999). Biological and cultural diversity frequently co-occur: Australia is one of six nations that is mega-diverse biologically and linguistically due to its high numbers of endemic vertebrates, plants, birds and languages (Harmon & Maffi 2002). In turn, the high extinction rates of our biocultural diversity may have profound consequences for our national identity. In this context, cross-cultural sustainability is the challenge to safeguard human wellbeing and the adaptive capacity of ecosystems by maintaining a functioning lifesupport system (Fischer et al. 2007).

This RIRDC project engaged Aboriginal people from five remote communities in producing 14 videos on knowledge of bush food, bush medicine, seasons, tracking and hunting, waterholes, landscape processes, impacts of pastoralism and other concerns important for living in desert Australia. This report documents the value of video to enable Aboriginal people to locally manage the process of recording, communicating and archiving this important knowledge.

Australia is home to ~1,216 discrete Aboriginal settlements with a total population of ~108,085 (ABS 2002). Many of these groups have traditional aspirations for wellbeing they seek to achieve through cultural processes such as sharing knowledge and maintaining relationship with country. There is a body of evidence that these cultural processes also contribute to achieving national goals for improvements in healthy development, livelihood skills and lifespan. However, it is a challenge for many Aboriginal groups to achieve their goals when important local services are managed by external political and economic entities. This challenge is exacerbated by their limited control over the structure and processes of service delivery, such as school curriculum design. In many ways, Aboriginal control is a major determinant of wellbeing. Participatory modelling is being developed as a way for one desert Aboriginal group to clarify pathways to reliably achieve their traditional aspirations for wellbeing by increasing their control of local services. Their modelling requirements are for a visually-clear structure and process, built around fundamental principles, which can reliably lead to measurable changes in elements of wellbeing. These requirements determined the choice of system dynamics as the modelling approach. The process begins with interview stories coded and diagrammed to create positive and negative causal loops. These interacting loops provide a clear illustration of how cross-cultural interactions impact important stocks of wellbeing. Each causal loop is then modelled around the few principles/equations that determine changes in that stock. Each resulting model is very small, but a few models can be linked. Sensitivity analysis, diagrams and discussion help identify the drivers in each system. A few simple equations are critical to limit and focus action. We hypothesise that a clear understanding of these equations and drivers will contribute to people’s capacity to design services that improve wellbeing. This approach to participatory modelling is a transparent way for groups to develop a shared understanding of the handful of important principles and drivers within complicated and confusing cross-cultural systems. This shared focus gives them the flexibility to develop a variety of alternate processes to link those drivers and principles. With confidence in their ability to understand and to manage their local services, it is more likely that groups can take greater control of the conditions that affect their wellbeing. In these ways, modeling contributes a tool for Aboriginal groups to design ways to develop their livelihoods and wellbeing in contemporary contexts. Acknowledgement: The research reported here was supported by funding from the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centre Program through the Desert Knowledge CRC; the views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of Desert Knowledge CRC or its Participants.

This sub-project was concerned with implementing the FIRESCAPE landscape fire regime and vegetation dynamics model (Cary 2002; Cary et al. 2006; King et al. 2006) in the West MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia. The study area is 4.1 million hectares, and is located about 40 km west of Alice Springs. It includes parts of Napperby, Aileron and Henbury pastoral stations, the West MacDonnell Range (west of about Standley Chasm), Finke Gorge National Park and the south-eastern half of Watarrka National Park. This study area contains a diversity of vegetation communities, each experiencing different historic fire regimes and having different requirements for fire. This, together with the diversity of land tenures and hence management objectives makes a fire regime model of this region a valuable research tool for investigating fire regime drivers, fire and land management outcomes, and the potential impacts of climate change and invasion by exotic weed species. The development of FIRESCAPE for this study region involved collating background input GIS data layers (elevation, slope, vegetation, fire history and land tenure) and algorithms pertaining to weather, vegetation and fire history and behaviour.

This submission presents the perspectives and experiences of outstation residents and staff of the Tjuwanpa Outstation Resource Centre as they experienced the reforms over the first year of the Federal Government’s Northern Territory Emergency Response. Situated 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs, the 37 outstations serviced by the Resource Centre are spread over some 4,500 square kilometres of Aboriginal Land Trust lands. They are home to approximately 300 Western Aranda people who rely on Tjuwanpa for maintenance and repair of power, water and housing. Tjuwanpa has also managed a local Centrelink office and a large CDEP program. Presented as a case study of the implementation of welfare reforms and employment measures, the submission draws on data collected as part of PhD studies supported by Southern Cross University and the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre. The writer has shared the content of the submission with Tjuwanpa and the people whose voices are represented, and has their consent to use the comments quoted. While the case study is necessarily detailed, members of the Review Team who visited the Resource Centre in July 2008, requested that Tjuwanpa provide a written account of Resource Centre’s experience. The submission highlights the poor understanding of government agencies and policy makers about the complexity of the reforms; the context and environment in which the reforms were implemented; the many unintended impacts they would have on people’s lives, and the consequences for delivery of basic power, water and housing services to outstations.

The aim of this Review is to develop a practical understanding of the effectiveness of different Aboriginal pastoral employment and engagement models and, on the basis of this understanding, provide recommendations to the industry and governments about what works, what does not work, and why. The northern pastoral industry (NPI), through MLA and its members, and with DKCRC and ILC, will then be in a more informed and stronger position to provide focused and strategic support and advice to pastoralists and pastoral managers about the actions they can take to increase the long-term participation of Aboriginal people in the industry.

Workshop and visit report 21–23 April 2008: The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (DKCRC) engaged Savvy Community Development Consultants (SavvyCDC) to facilitate engagement and knowledge exchange activities between representatives from the Iga Warta and Tjitjikala communities. The exchange sought to bring together two Aboriginal groups who are involved in tourism enterprises. Members of the Titjikala community and the knowledge exchange facilitators stayed at the Iga Warta visitor centre from 21–23 April 2008. The engagement and knowledge exchange activities consisted of personal introductions, site visits, a workshop, and, to conclude, an evaluation. Site visits included visits to the look out adjacent to Iga Warta, the Nepabunna community, original mission site, and the traditional ceremony gathering site, among others. Some aspects of engagement were: seeing how the Iga Warta guides interacted with their visitors at the nightly campfire gathering, observation of and discussion about the features of the Iga Warta community, sitting in on meals, and observation of how the business operates and how staff engaged with visitors even during their meal times. The main objective of the workshop was the creation of an ongoing and beneficial tourism knowledge exchange between the two enterprises. Each group has specific skill, experience, and knowledge sets. The DKCRC already has an interest in Tjitjikala and this was seen as an opportunity to expand the DKCRC’s engagement with a view to understanding and improving desert peoples’ livelihoods through a knowledge sharing meeting. By the end of the engagement and knowledge exchange activities, members of both communities expressed the fact that the workshop and associated activities were of immense benefit to their understanding of how a successful Aboriginal tourism enterprise can become established.

The research project was undertaken to provide a coherent picture of the types of enterprises using cultural or natural resources that occur across desert Australia. Currently, there is no single source of information on the enterprises based on natural resources that are scattered throughout desert Australia. In providing a coherent picture, this review explores: • The diversity of enterprises that are currently active, or have been active in desert Australia • The enterprises that have been successful, and why • Where the enterprises are • As far as is possible, what connections exist between enterprises. We also set out to understand what enterprises had been tried and failed, and why, but this information proved too hard to gather with the time and resources available for the project. Literature reviews and surveys of people involved in desert enterprise networks were used as the main method for collecting information. The resulting products of the review were aimed at being used by: • Researchers in the Desert Knowledge CRC to identify opportunities for further research on sustainable use of natural resources, enterprise development and business systems and networks • Operators of small- to medium-sized (SMEs) enterprises for identifying opportunities and contacting people involved in similar activities. The scope of the review was to obtain a broad coverage of SMEs; (1) geographically across desert regions at a national-scale, and; (2) across the range of different enterprise types (i.e. industries). Given such a broad scope, the work presented in this report is not guaranteed to have identified all of the enterprises, but we believe that it does represent all of the types of enterprise that may be encountered, and it provides a good baseline for further research, and further development of a network database.

Establishing supply chains to improve delivery of goods and to source Aboriginal produce and on-sell products from remote communities offers significant opportunities for sustainable development and improved liveability in remote communities. It also forces a revision of what constitutes efficient freight logistics in desert areas. In addressing challenges for freight services in Desert Australia the main research objective is to develop a methodology for evaluating current freight logistics using a set of metrics incorporating economic, environmental and social parameters. The structure of existing freight logistics models (generally based on algorithms of time, distance and cost) does not allow for the incorporation of environmental and social elements into an evaluation, and the relevant literature demonstrates the shortcomings of this. Consequently, the paper outlines an extension of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) approach to performance management (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). The interrelationship of the four existing perspectives contained within this multi-dimensional performance measurement (MDPM) model have been extended to include social and environmental aspects.

Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard is a multi-dimensional performance management model. It can be effectively developed into a tool which supports evaluation of the sustainability of a range of options specific to and industry, rather than just as a management tool to support the implementation of corporate strategies. The Balanced Scorecard makes it possible to take into account non-monetary success factors and provides a structured method for incorporating the three pillars of sustainability in a set of performance measures specifically applicable to a particular industry – in this case freight logistics in desert Australia. This paper explores what constitutes sustainable freight in desert Australia via the four perspectives of a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard: in the economic/financial perspective the needs of companies and Government in providing freight services to remote communities are considered; in the customers/stakeholders perspective the needs and requirements of people living in remote communities are considered in the internal processes perspective the policies and regulatory framework of the freight industry in desert Australia are evaluated; and in the learning and growth perspective the transfer of knowledge (seen as a key component required to support innovation and transition of the industry) are examined.

Distance from markets and from the mental maps of urban-centric policy-makers means that small, remote settlements do generate economic practices locally. This paper draws on two case studies to argue that remote sustainability requires an emphasis on the local economy (the settlement and multi-settlement region), and that long-term strategies held at the local level by locals are most favourable to both economic and social life. While some settlements are clearly better positioned in terms of natural resources and opportunities, all settlements need access to supportive policy and infrastructure at national and regional levels. The paper argues that current economic policy facilitates national prosperity to the detriment of local economies. It points to the necessity for desert regions, of developing an internal economic agenda held by a local agency, in ways that bring both Aboriginal and settler cultures into economic expression.

This paper provides a general profile of Birdsville and its environs. It also discusses some of the features that contribute to sustainability, with a particular emphasis on local capacity and determination to translate locally existing stocks into flows that sustain human life and make the settlements viable. The paper draws on a range of secondary sources, particularly data available from Australian Bureau of Statistics, and it supplements this with learnings from several trips to Birdsville over the period July 2007 – June 2009. The paper concludes that an active community and effective governance have established the economic and social conditions that make sustainability possible. This achievement is the more meaningful for the recognition that vulnerability remains and in such a remote and arid region sustainability can never be taken for granted.

This paper discusses a multi-university partnership in the context of a Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) project to study the sustianability of desert settlements in Australia. Whilst telling the research story, the paper identifies the opportunies of the research and the constraints and struggles, from the particular perspective of one team member. The opportunities for the CRC, the university, the researcher and the community are examined and strategies are discussed for managing the tensions and ensuring the region's needs are prioritised. The constraints discussed include ethical constraints of community based research, both generally, and in terms of research involving Aboriginal People, and the challenges of meeting diverse outcomes and expectations. A particular emphasis is placed on how universities can support this kind of work.

This paper explores issues relating to multiple and changing values and uses of desert landscapes in the context of tourism at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (UKTNP), co-managed by Aboriginal people and the Australian Government agency Parks Australia. More than 400,000 people visit the park each year, drawn mostly by the massive red monolith. To the local Aboriginal people, Anangu, this rock is Uluru, a complex of places with great spiritual importance. Since co-management, UKTNP has become a symbol of the reconciliation process between Aboriginal and settler Australians. Climbing the rock is a popular activity. Aboriginal co-managers ask visitors not to climb Uluru but rather to learn about their culture and home through their eyes. Park management aims to discourage climbing. This research investigated how visitors respond to the Anangu request not to climb, and why some climb while others do not. We argue that spatial and experiential aspects of the park support climbing at the expense of participation in other activities more attuned to Aboriginal understandings of landscape at Uluru.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is a part of a sacred landscape and homeland of local Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people. Uluru is also a national icon visited by more than 400 000 people annually. In 1985, freehold title to the land around Uluru was handed back to Anangu traditional owners, on the condition that they leased it back to the Director of National Parks and Wildlife for 99 years. The park is jointly managed between traditional owners and Parks Australia. Climbing Uluru is a popular activity in the national park, despite the traditional owners’ request that visitors respect their law and culture as well as their concern for visitors’ safety by not climbing. This thesis investigates visitor motivations for climbing or not climbing, and visitors’ responses to the Anangu request. It uses a cultural geography approach encompassing historical research and a survey of park visitors to examine the way that the landscapes of Uluru and of the climb are imagined, produced, read and experienced.