Looking Back to Look Forward: Indigenous Ranger work and its role in 'both-ways' land and water management
Overview
This collaborative project will explore the development of Indigenous Ranger work at the Yolngu Aboriginal land and water management organisation, Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation, in order to identify lessons for future Indigenous Ranger workforce development and training in Australia.
Project Summary
This project will explore the enablers of and constraints to effective Indigenous ranger work to meet dual Indigenous community and government policy goals in Australia. It aims to understand and describe the value of Indigenous ranger work to Indigenous communities, governments and others, through engaging with an exemplary model of Indigenous-lead, cooperative land and water management: the Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation (Dhimurru or DAC) in North-east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
Project objectives
Specifically, this project aims to:
- Describe the development of Yolngu Indigenous Ranger work at Dhimurru—throughout the period from 1994/5 to 2016/17.
- Identify what it means to be an Indigenous Ranger and how this understanding and value can be communicated and understood by different groups of people and their institutions.
- Identify lessons for supporting Indigenous Ranger work which meets the aspirations of Indigenous communities and their land and water management institutions.
- Identify the implications for practice and policy of the work of Indigenous Rangers.
Research Questions
- What are the key lessons from the development of Yolngu Indigenous Ranger work over the past 21 years at Dhimurru?
- What are the important methods and processes for Indigenous Ranger work and training?
- What are the opportunities and priorities for the ongoing development of Indigenous Ranger work into the future?
- What can others learn from Dhimurru’s thinking and practice about Indigenous Ranger work?
Industry outcomes
The benefits of this research to the broader Dhimurru and Yolngu communities will be:
- An opportunity for Dhimurru and its members (along with the Yolngu community) to reflect on the past 20 years of Yolngu Ranger work at Dhimurru and learn about and identify together the key success factors for this work including what sustains and enables the distinctive Yolngu Ranger role.
- An opportunity to identify lessons for policy makers and government and other program funders related to what is required to further support Indigenous ranger work, at Dhimurru, in Arnhem Land and nationally.
- The opportunity to document Dhimurru’s role and demonstrated leadership in effective models of contemporary ‘both ways’ community-based land and sea management in Australia.
- An opportunity to add to the research capacity of Dhimurru through a research partnership that addresses issues of key interest and concern to Dhimurru and its members.
Results
This project is due to be completed in June 2017.
Project Duration
2016-2017
Research Group Leader/Key contact
Dr Margaret Ayre
Other Personnel
Dr Jonathan Wearne (Dhimurru), Mr Steve Roger (Dhimurru), Ms. Djalinda Ulamari (Dhimurru),, Mr. Mandaka Marika (Dhimurru), Dr Cheryl O’Dwyer (Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education), Mr Greg Wearne (Dhimurru)
Contact details
Dr Margaret Ayre; T: 03 9035 4711; E:mayre@unimelb.edu.au