Abstract: Aborigines, because of their population numbers and increasing control over land and resources, are crucial to the sustainable development of rural Australia. However, appropriate Aboriginal development requires the replacement of the ‘top-down’ approaches generally adopted by government agencies by ‘bottom-up’ approaches reflecting the needs and aspirations of rural Aboriginal people. Past experience demonstrates that Aborigines have faced many frustrations in reconciling these concepts. But some approaches now being adopted in the use and management of Australia's rangelands provide interesting alternatives which may be more generally applicable in enhancing rangeland sustainability. Examples include land-use practices conducted by Aborigines living in remote homeland centres on their own freehold land, and the diversity of land uses introduced on pastoral stations now under Aboriginal ownership. Broader recognition of the value of these approaches will depend on widespread acknowledgment of the overall worth of Aboriginal land management knowledge in rural restructuring
Notes: This paper discusses the following: a) issues surrounding the replacement of 'top-down' approaches, to be replaced by 'bottom-up' approaches for aboriginal development (land and resource development - sustainable rural development in Australia). b) some recent approaches are being adopted in the use and management of Australia's rangelands e.g. land-use practices conducted by Aborigines living in remote homeland centres on their own freehold land, and the diversity of land uses introduced on pastoral stations now under Aboriginal ownership.