Atkinson, Henry --- "Yorta Yorta Co - operative Land Management Agreement: Impact on the Yorta Yorta Nation" [2004] IndigLawB 56; (2004) 6(5) Indigenous Law Bulletin 23

• Yorta Yorta Co-Operative Land Management Agreement: Impact On The Yorta Yorta Nation
• The Court Proceedings And Aftermath
• The Joint Land Management Agreement

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Yorta Yorta Co-operative Land Management Agreement: Impact on the Yorta Yorta Nation

By Henry Atkinson

The Indigenous peoples of the Wolithiga, my own people, and the Moira, the Ulupna, the Bangerang, the Nguaria-iiliam-wurrung, the Kwat Kwat, the Kailtheban, and the Yalaba Yalaba clans living in the north of Victoria and the south of New South Wales (‘NSW’) united under an umbrella and became the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation. Inside the Yorta Yorta Nations boundary are the towns in Victoria of Echuca, Cohuna, Chiltern, Euroa, and in NSW, Moama and Jerilderie.

Our ancestors can be traced as far back as 40,000 to over 60,000 years and in that time we lived in relative peace and harmony with the land and all she contained. When colonisation was initiated it was government-sanctioned to rid the country of my people who the invaders saw as ignorant and uneducated.

In the main we were peaceful people, other than inter family disputes which all families are subject to. We were torn apart, infants from mothers’ arms, siblings from each other, aunts, uncles and grandparents all thrown into the winds and scattered around the country, most never to be united again. To add salt to the wounds, we were not allowed to speak our own languages or practise any of our time-honoured traditions. Everything we were familiar with was taken from us: our land, homes, food, language, and our family ties.

When the Yorta Yorta Native Title Claim first started over ten years ago it was soon apparent that this case would be the benchmark for all future claims for native title by all Indigenous people in Australia, certainly south east Australia. For the claim to be recognised would mean we would all have some land to call our own, to care for and to keep in the way it has been for centuries.

Now that the claim has been rejected we can no longer voice a strong opinion as to the use, or I should say abusive use, of our land and water. The very soul of our being was slowly but surely being dragged from us for we had another failure to add to the already long list of over a dozen claims. We’ve gone from wanting self-determination to the present day where a Judge sits and declares to one and all words to the effect that the tides of history have wiped out our continuity with our land and our ancestors, and as such we no longer existed as a people. Did he really expect us to be running around in loincloths with spears in our hands as is still depicted as the way the Indigenous people of this country live? What a load of rubbish. All societies evolve, some through their own progression and others because they are forced to.

The Court Proceedings and aftermath

I found the court procedures and language quite confusing. In the court, the people who were opposing us were the Local and State Governments of NSW, South Australia and Victoria, over 500 other respondents, and the Commonwealth Government. All were hell bent on trying to make us feel we didn’t exist. Legal people from the State Governments showed no respect for my people who were telling their stories.

Those legal people laughing and gesturing at some of the people giving evidence, especially the Elders, was unfair and the Judge should not have let that happen in a so called court of law. In fact, I had to ask the Judge myself to stop the legal people jeering.

Was it the way the Elders spoke that caused them so much laughter or was it the stories they were telling which caused them to sneer? Whatever it was, it was not right. I was critical of the Judge as I was thinking that sooner or later he was going to ask us if we really were Indigenous people. That is how it made me feel. Day after day I sat in that courtroom with that fear in the back of my mind. If that is how I felt, how did the older Elders feel? We are a sensitive people, having to live on our senses for all our being and we can feel these things. It is not easy for some to understand, but we feel and see things that others don’t. These were old people who had seen the wrongs of the past and were now subjected to this court case and ridiculed by laughter and gestures. No, it was as though we were back to the old mission days and being treated like we were not intelligent enough to understand or even to be hurt.

Whatever the pain, we had to endure and keep on fighting. No matter how much we felt ridiculed, no matter how much hurt I could see in those old crumpled faces or how much I could see the stress affecting the shaking, gnarled hands, we had to continue.

After the final ruling I felt broken, saddened and overcome with remorse. Not only for myself but for the ancestors I had let down and for the older Elders who were devastated beyond belief. And what about the children and grandchildren who had pinned such high hopes on a favourable outcome. Would they understand?

Psychologically it was draining on all the Yorta Yorta, especially the Elders who were thrown back into the dark days of being a non-existent people who no one cared about or wanted.

Knowing the land is ours and that we still need government approval to be able to practise our traditions, hunting and fishing and gathering, is frustrating and seems unjust. (It is illegal for us to hunt, fish or gather as our ancestors did, without a permit of some kind, and yet we were supposed to be still doing it?) Also frustrating is the knowledge that my ancestors are buried there in the land, the land we were claiming yet knowing we could not follow in their footsteps in tradition and way of life.

The government would like us to believe it is so dedicated to improving the status of Indigenous people yet over the years it has watered down programs to the point that they are just an extension of mainstream programs. The government puts all Indigenous people in the same boat and refuses to acknowledge that some groups are more entrenched in their tradition and there are some that aren’t, but we all need our land. The land and waters are our life, our being.

The land is one of the many, many things that have been stolen from us during colonisation and the many years that followed and now it has been stolen again through a legal system which is not ours and one which keeps altering the boundaries. No matter how good you kick the goal, it still misses the post because the posts keep moving.

The spirit of my ancestors will never, ever be stolen.

The Joint Land Management Agreement

The Yorta Yorta began negotiations with the Bracks Labor Government and after three and a half years the Elders were pleased to be signing on 10 June 2004 on the banks of the Murray River. One of the greatest achievements in our history was the Joint Land Management Agreement with the Bracks Government and the Yorta Yorta Nation.

A joint body agreement between the Yorta Yorta Nation and the Victorian Government, the Yorta Yorta Co-operative Land Management Agreement represents a landmark in the State of Victoria for involving Indigenous peoples in the management of their traditional country outside of the native title process.

It also acknowledges the Yorta Yorta Nation’s cultural connection to country and creates a partnership based on recognition, mutual respect and shared goals. This agreement will form a body which will include three government representatives who, with five Yorta Yorta representatives, will listen to the concerns of the Yorta Yorta Nation through its Council of Elders and carry concerns to the government if need be.

Further to this agreement will come other agreements, with phase two already on the drawing board. Phase two, the Aspirations Document, will be a non-land management agreement consisting of funding and resources which will enable the Yorta Yorta peoples to have complete say over their assets. These include the Dharnya Centre for education and tourism, the Yenbena Education Centre, and Yeilema Farm in the middle of the Barmah Forest. All are in desperate need of a variety of staff including teachers and cultural officers. The buildings are in a state of disrepair due to a lack of funds, which this agreement will address.

Legislation is in the future and something to work towards. With legislation the Yorta Yorta Nation will have an even greater say in traditional country as the agreement does not give the Yorta Yorta exclusive rights to any part of Country. The Joint Land Management Agreement is an important and significant agreement as it is also the stepping stone to encourage the NSW Government to commence dialogue regarding a similar agreement.

The Yorta Yorta aspire to have a society which is economically viable and to provide ongoing employment, training and management, thereby enabling self determination and sustainability for future generations. Creating our own economic base with employment and training and to be, at last, acknowledged and recognised as people in our own right and not beholden to the welfare system will see improvements in health, wellbeing and self respect, thus enabling some of our people to get off the welfare merry-go-round.

In the past, Indigenous people have been on an uneven playing field which has inevitably led to failure. Now, with the support of many people we have at last been able to even things up, so to speak, and with this has come success. With this success the Yorta Yorta Nation has become a stronger force with a stronger voice for sustainability, self-determination and caring for country.

My people are genuinely excited by the prospect of entering a new era built on a solid foundation in which a holistic government approach can be taken to not only land and water management but all of the Yorta Yorta people’s broader aspirations. This agreement does not take away any political and legal rights of the Yorta Yorta peoples to access native title which may occur in the future.

To see my people so broken after the failed native title claim was devastating: the tears, the sorrow and bringing back the past; these old people who had fought for so long carrying the hopes of their ancestors now crushed by an insensitive and morally wrong judgment which dashed the hopes of so many Indigenous people Australia-wide.

Now again I saw more tears but this time of relief, joy, and knowing that at last someone had recognised my people as people in our own right and as traditional owners of this land. This agreement is only the beginning of us being able to head towards self-determination and holistic care for our own people and country. I personally am looking forward to the day when I can sit on the bank of the mighty Dhungala (Murray River) and fish exclusively on my own land without the need for a piece of paper to say what I can and cannot do and knowing that only my people walk here, sit here and fish here. I’m not saying that I want others excluded from the river system but I just want a little area where everyone who treads here has the same thought in their hearts and that can only be applied to the Indigenous people, for the general population will never, ever understand our spiritual connection with the land and waters and all she entails.

This might seem like a dream but then so too was recognition and acknowledgment.

Henry Atkinson is a Wolithiga Elder and is spokesperson for the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation Council of Elders.