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As from 1 July 1987 it will be illegal to take or send out of Australia without a permit objects identified as being of irreplaceable heritage value to Australia.
On this date the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986 will come into effect.
Regulations coming into force under the Act on 1 July will apply only to Aboriginal sacred and ritual objects the export of which would represent an irreparable loss. It is intended that the Regulations will be extended shortly to require export approval for a specified range of heritage objects of notional significance.
For further information and advice about the objects which may need on Export permit contact:
The Secretary,
Department of Arts, Heritage and Environment
GPO Box 1252
CANBERRA ACT 2601
Phone: (062) 46 7211
The Aboriginal community of Noonkanbah gained world-wide publicity in 1980 when it resisted large-scale mining exploration on its leasehold property in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
A new book called, The Noonkanbah Story: Profile of on Aboriginal Community in Western Australia by Erich Kolig, provides a case study ,of this Aboriginal community, its post and present, in order to highlight why the Aborigines acted as they did. It therefore deals with three major areas: the history of the Noonkanbah community from early contact with Whites; the community's affinity with the land; and the confrontation with mining interests.
This viewpoint takes the anthropological, into the social, religious and cultural motives which led the Aborigines to make a concerted effort to prevent mining on their land.
The Noonkanbah Story is on account of an important episode in the history of Australian race relations, written by an anthropologist who has worked extensively amongst the Aborigines of Western Australia and served as Government Anthropologist.
Erich Kolig is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. He is the author of numerous articles, and of a book, The Silent Revolution. The Effects of Modernization on Australian Aboriginal Religion (1981). Apart from his several years of involvement in research in Australia, the author has conducted field work in India, Afghanistan and Vanuatu.
Published and distributed by University of Otago Press, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand.
The Third Annual International Aboriginal Child Conference will be held from 7-10 October 1987, in Alberta, Canada.
The theme to be explored will be Aboriginal Children - the link to our survival.
For further information contact:
Lloyd Sutton or Allen Benson (403) 423-2141
International Aboriginal Child Conference
c/o # 800 Highfield Place 110 - 106 Street Edmonton,
Alberto Canada, T5J3L8.
Following the very successful conference in Kununurra in May, the project is now moving into its final phase - writing and compiling the final report.
A meeting of the Coordinating Committee and a number of the researchers was held in Canberra on 22 July 1987. The proposed structure and focus of the final report was discussed, with particular emphasis on its accessibility. The audience has been defined as decision makers, primarily in Aboriginal organisations but also in government and its agencies. It was felt, therefore, that a more concise report, focussing on recommendations and strategies, would be more appropriate than the more academic document originally envisaged. This approach is in keeping with the project's general aim of providing policy-oriented research.
Another factor in this decision is the ' project's commitment to consultation with and involvement of Aboriginal people. A more concise report is more suitable for this process. We hope to be able to send drafts, perhaps on sound-tapes, to the East Kimberley Communities for comment by the end of September.
The current timetable is to have a final draft of the report ready for publishing by the end of 1987. It should then be available early in 1988.
Dr Coombs will be the general editor, with various parts being coordinated and drafted by other researchers, including Dr Helen Ross, Dr Nancy Williams, Dr Jon Altman, Mr Mike Dillon, Ms Cath Elderton and Dr Will Christensen.
Publication of the Working Paper series will continue, probably into 1988, with about 20 currently in preparation.
On October, the NSW Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Work Committee will hold a public meeting to discuss questions and solutions to Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The meeting will start at 7 pm in the Lower Town Hall of Sydney.
James McClelland will act as chairperson, with guest speakers from the Aboriginal Legal Service and Aboriginal Medical Service. Both Justice Michael Kirby and Brian Toohey have also been invited to speak at the meeting.
As Brazil's National Constituent Assembly debates the new Constitution, the fragile rights of the country's quarter of a million Indians may be hanging by a thread.
According to article 198 of the present Constitution, 'The lands inhabited by the Indians are inalienable in the terms which federal law determines, providing for them their permanent possession and making recognised their right to the exclusive use of the natural wealth and all the utilities existing in them.'
However, the whole principle of that law has been under attack in recent years by Decree No. 88.985 of 1983, which permits mining on tribal (ands and, more recently, by the National Security Council's policy of non-demarcation in so-called 'border security zones'.
The Union of Indian Nations (UIN) and a number of non-governmental pro-Indian organisations are campaigning to have the Indians' existing constitutional rights reinforced. In May they presented to the Congressional Sub-Committee for Blacks, Indian Populations, the Disabled and Minorities a proposal based on the minimum programme drawn up by UIN. This comprises the recognition of the territorial rights of the Indian peoples; the demarcation and guarantee of Indian lands; the exclusive use, by the Indian peoples, of the natural wealth existing in the soil and subsoil of their territories; the resettlement in just and proper conditions of poor squatters presently living on Indian lands; and recognition and respect for the social and cultural organisations of the Indian peoples.
Survival International
News No. 17 1987 4.
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