Past Events
ASWA offers a range of professional development workshops, symposia and social events. Here are some of the events we have hosted in the past. Check Events for upcoming opportunities and let us know what events you would like us to profile.
21 July 2021
Women in Native Title Anthropology - Forum
About WiNTA: Women in Native Title Anthropology (WiNTA) is a project designed to target issues related to the retention of women in the sector, led by Dr. Cameo Dalley with Diana Romano of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University. Throughout 2020-21 we conducted qualitative interviews focusing on the experiences of women anthropologists who have worked in native title in Australia. The findings and recommendations are in the process of being compiled in a report, to be complimented with presentations and professional development opportunities targeting key areas of concern. The focus on women and skill development aims to benefit women anthropologists, employers (including Native Title Representative Bodies (NTRBs) and Native Title Service Providers (NTSPs)), and the sector as a whole by promoting gender equity and more inclusive workplace practices. WiNTA is funded by the Attorney-General’s Department Native Title Anthropologists’ Grant Scheme.
The WiNTA Forum: We welcome women anthropologists working in native title to attend our first forum to discuss issues relating to gender in the workplace, held over two days in September 2021. Hosted in person in Melbourne and online via Zoom, the forum aims to promote a collegial and supportive environment for sharing experience, networking, and for professional development, and is free to attend. The forum will blend informative content with practical skills and techniques that women can use in their work as anthropologists. Sessions will blend a generalised approach to women in Australian workplaces with presentation of the WiNTA research findings, include panels featuring consultant and NTRB/NTSP anthropologists, and sessions highlighting practical skills, such as addressing workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, negotiating salary and contracts, and establishing a consultancy business.
Details:
Where & How: In person in Melbourne, and online via Zoom (details provided upon registration)
When: Thursday 16th & Friday 17th September 2021, Sessions run from 10:00am - 3:30pm AEST
Attendance is free but places are limited.
Please register using this link.
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22 June 2021 & 15 July 2021
ASWA Seminar Series 2021: Social Surroundings (Part II)
Due to a number of ASWA members not being able to attend the first Social Surroundings Presentation, Robin Stevens has agreed to a second presentation on this topic, to a restricted audience, aimed at the professional development of ASWA members.
When: Wednesday 4th August -
Time: 6.00pm
Where: Left Bank, East Fremantle
Title: Social Surroundings (Part II)
Abstract:
In the past two years the Environmental Protection Authority (WA) has been telling mining companies that in order for them to meet all their environmental approvals the ‘Social Surroundings’ element within environmental impact assessments needs to ensure greater engagement with Traditional Owner groups above and beyond the standard heritage process. PBCs are increasingly engaging anthropologists to assist them with what is expected to be a substantially increased area of work / consultations. Social Surroundings is essentially about Social Impact Assessment, as part of the overall Environmental Impact Assessment, in relation to large-scale developments. Though there is an element of cultural heritage within this framework, it is more to do with the social impacts upon a community as a consequence of altering the physical and biological environment. The aim of the ASWA Social Surroundings Workshop is to go through how anthropologists (in working for PBCs) might understand and approach Social Surroundings within the context of Part IV of the Environmental Protection Act (WA). Like so many matters in Aboriginal affairs and the social sciences, Social Surroundings has a long history of being contested by key players in the mining lobby. I believe we have a limited timeframe to develop a workable process with Aboriginal PBCs, post-Juukan Gorge, before there is another backlash.
This is the second session on the topic, and while the content is mostly the same as the first, it is a little more focussed on Anthropologists & how they might engage with the process.
Cost: ASWA/AACAI Member or student: $10, Non-member: $15. On-line bookings via Register Now icon below.
Entry fee covers food after the presentation
There will be a licensed cash bar available (make sure you come early)
See you all there.
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5 May 2021
AACAI WA and ASWA National Archaeology Week Trivia Night
Get your thinking caps on and assemble your cohort of eggheads. After a break last year, the National Archaeology Week (NAW) Trivia Night returns, and the prizes will be even better this year!
The Western Australian Chapter of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc. (AACAI WA) and the Anthropological Society of Western Australia (ASWA) are together hosting this year's event at the Left Bank in East Fremantle.
Details are as follows and in the Flyer:
Date: Weds 19 May
Time: 6pm to 9pm
Venue: The Left Bank, (River Bar upstairs), 15 Riverside Road, East Fremantle
Price: $25 for AACAI and ASWA Members (current) and Students (valid student email address) / $30 for everyone else (booking fees also apply)
Food Provided and Upstairs Bar Available
Book in here: Book Tickets
Notes:
Please make sure to book in prior to Fri 14 May (there are limited numbers available and no door payments will be accepted).
Teams are to be a minimum of 4 and a max of 8 (if you have less than 4, let us know and we will sort you out).
You can book in individually or select as many tickets as you want.
Please let the organisers know your team details prior to the night (team name, team list).
Food will be provided during the break (advise of any dietary requirements on the booking).
Cash bar will be available upstairs until 9pm.
Prizes for winners and runner-up tables.
Each booking receives a raffle ticket on arrival - draw for spot prizes will be made after the Trivia.
Come along for what promises to be a fun-filled night with a chance to score some awesome prizes. If you have any queries, do not hesitate to contact JJ McDermott or Tania Philips.
Further links:
Left Bank Menus
National Archaeology Week or try Archaeology Week Facebook
AACAI WA (@AACAI_WA)
AACAI or try AACAI Facebook
ASWA
Thanks to our sponsors: Ethnosciences; Sticks and Stones Cultural Resource Management; Thomson Cultural Heritage Management; Dortch Cuthbert Heritage Futures; Heritage WA and Wildrock Productions; and the Centre for Rock Art Research and Management at University of Western Australia.
12 April 2021
Women in Fieldwork - About this Event
Join us for this FREE conversation covering the particularities of fieldwork for women. Share your insights, ask questions or just come along to hear from experienced women practitioners in a safe and respectful environment.
This session is open to women working in or anticipating working in fieldwork in archaeology and anthropology through academia, private consulting, Native Title and other similar entities.
Full details of the Women in Fieldwork seminar are available on the Event Flyer. This is a free event hosted by the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc and the Anthropological Socidety of Western Australia with support from the School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Australia.
Registrations are essential at Eventbrite.
30 March 2021
AACAI WA/ASWA Sundowner on cultural landscapes
The Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Inc. (AACAI) WA Chapter and the Anthropological Society of WA (ASWA) are pleased to present a sundowner talk on cultural landscapes by Nerdia Moredoundt. Details below and on the Flyer:
When: Tuesday 13 April 2021
Time: 6pm sharp
Where: The Left Bank, 15 Riverside Road, East Fremantle - upstairs at The River Bar
Title: Imprints of the past: the role of archaeology in cultural landscape management
Biography: Nerida Moredoundt is an architect, author and artist with over 25 years’ experience in heritage, conservation and interpretation. She is the Principal Architect at element, a multidisciplinary consultancy in the fields of planning, heritage, arts and culture, engagement, place and design. She is also a member of the Heritage Council of WA and a heritage specialist on the State Design Review Panel. Nerida has been instrumental in the application of the World Heritage cultural landscapes framework in Western Australia.
Abstract: This presentation looks at the World Heritage framework for identifying and managing cultural landscapes. It includes a discussion of how Australian practitioners have influenced the theory and practice of cultural landscape management and why this framework has been introduced into the management of heritage places in Western Australia. The role of archaeology in the assessment and management of cultural landscapes is an important one that extends beyond understanding values to embedding opportunities for cultural activities on country. Nerida will explore the methodology and outcomes of cultural landscape management plans through a series of case studies. She will introduce the Rottnest Island/Wadjemup cultural landscape management plan, which was the first plan in WA to be underpinned by the provisions of the UNESCO Operational Guidelines for cultural landscapes. This plan has played a pivotal role in advancing reconciliation on the Island and has been followed by a number of similar plans in urban and regional settings.
You will need to book online here: TryBooking.
Cost: ASWA/AACAI Member or student: $5, General: $10
Entry fee covers food after the talk - please let me know if you have dietary requirements
There will be a licensed cash bar available (make sure you come early and grab a drink!
Please contact myself or Tania Philips if you require any further information.
See you all there.
08 March 2021
A Social BBQ
The WA chapter of the Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists Incorporated (AACAI WA) and the Anthropological Society of Western Australia (ASWA) invite you to join us for a family-friendly social barbecue at the Swan River Foreshore, Matilda Bay Reserve opposite UWA in Crawley.
The event will take place on Saturday, 20th March from 3pm.
We hope you can come along, have a bite to eat, relax by the beautiful foreshore and have a casual chat with friends and colleagues. AACAI and ASWA will provide burgers, sausages and salad at the BBQ facilities near the Matilda Bay Gazebo. If you wish to bring drinks, dessert or anything special for the BBQ, you are most welcome to do so. There are benches and chairs at the reserve (and we will try and secure the gazebo on the day) but please consider bringing picnic rugs and camping chairs if you wish.
This event is free but in order to better manage the numbers for food (and any dietary requirements), can you please book in here.
Bookings will close on Wednesday 17th March.
For any further information, do not hesitate to get in contact with JJ McDermott or Mobile: 0458608786 or Richard Riordan, ASWA Secretary.
We look forward to seeing you there.
22 February 2021
Upcoming Seminars
Please see the Schedule for the UWA Anthropology & Sociology Seminar Series for Semister 1, 2021. Fridays, 2.30 to 3.30pm.
For those interested in the Anthropology of Religion, Convenors Richard Vokes and Cristina Rocha invite you to join them in the Seminar Series: Religion, Crisis and Disaster. Full details of this Global, via Zoom Seminar Series available in the download.
21 January 2021
ASWA Annual General Meeting
ASWA will hold its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 16th February 2021 at the Paddington Alehouse, 141 Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn.
6.30pm – pre-meeting drinks
7.00pm – meeting and Committee nomination
8.00pm – food to be provided and drinks can be purchased at the bar
There are a number of items on the Agenda which are important to the future of ASWA and the wider WA anthropological community. Please don’t miss your opportunity to contribute to the shaping of the anthropological voice in Western Australia.
Call for Office Bearer Nominations
The AGM is the opportunity for you to express your interest in becoming a member of the ASWA Committee. New Committee members are needed to ensure that ASWA continues to be able to host Anthropological events throughout the year. Please consider this post as a formal invitation for you to nominate to be a Committee member. Please download the attached Nomination Form and email it to the ASWA Secretary. Alternatively, you can nominate yourself or others at the meeting.
Membership
Please note, to be a Committee member you must be a current financial member of ASWA. Please check the ASWA membership list to verify your membership. The date on the ASWA membership page is the date of your last membership invoice. Memberships are annual from that date. If your name is not on the list, you are not a current member. If your name is on the list and the membership date is prior to 2020, you are not a current financial member. The ASWA website, provides an on-line facility (through Register Now) to enable you to renew your membership or become a first time member. Please follow the links on that page. Alternatively, you can pay your membership fees in person prior to the commencement of the meeting.
The Agenda for the AGM will be as follows:
Welcome
President’s Report
Presidential review of ASWA’s 2020
Presidential proposal for ASWA’s 2021
Treasurer’s Report
Secretary’s Report
Nomination and Election of ASWA Executive and Committee for 2021
Matters for Consideration
Review of ASWA’s Constitution
Review of ASWA Banking arrangements
Review of ASWA Membership arrangements and fee structure
ASWA’s Professional Development activities for 2021
Review of ASWA’s Website and Social Media opportunities
Proposed Calendar of Events and Theme
General Business
Close of AGM and date for next Committee Meeting
21 January 2021
Early Notice - ASWA Annual General Meeting
ASWA will hold its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, 16th February 2021 at the Paddington Alehouse, 141 Scarborough Beach Road, Mt Hawthorn. Full details to be posted soon.
1 November 2020
Early Notice - ASWA Annual Dinner and Prize Night
When: Friday 4 December 2020
Where: University Club of Western Australia
Time: 6.30pm for pre-dinner drinks
Cost: $90.00 Members. $100.00 Non-members. Three course meal and drinks. After dinner speaker. Annual Prize Awards
Due to COVID 19, please note that there is a limit of 36 persons allowable at this event. ASWA would appreciate you booking on-line via the link below now later than 27 November 2020.
The link below provides the opportunity to reserve your tickets, sponsor a prize or make a sponsored contribution to the ASWA Annual Dinner. ASWA would appreciate your feedback via the questions in the link below, which, upon payment, will send an invoice to your email address.
29 September 2020
ASWA's Seminar Series 2020 - Presidential Address
Dr. Edward McDonald, the President of ASWA, will deliver his Presidential Address, the inaugural Wilson Locke Lecture, on 10 November 2020. Dr. McDonald will present a paper co-written with Bryn Coldrick, an ASWA member, formerly WA based, now based in Ireland, who has been participating in ASWA's on-line seminars.
Seminar Title: "Out amonst the natives": Daisy Bates' ethnography and the invention of ethnographic fieldwork
Date: Tuesday 10 November 2020
Time: 6.30pm (AWST)
Where: The Left Bank, 15 Riverside Road, East Fremantle - upstairs at The River Bar
Costs: $10 members, $15 non-members - book tickets via the Register Now link below
Abstract
Daisy Bates (1859-1951) has long been denied the status of a 'real' anthropologist; at best she is considered an 'enthusiastic amateur'. Her work is often discredited because of moralistic views about her personal life: a 'spoilt' moral character, evidence that her writings cannot be trusted. Examining her correspondence, published and unpublished papers, we argue that much of her work is "seriously anthropological" and her 'invention' of ethnographic fieldwork compares favourably with Malinowski's developments a decade later.
We suggest that Bates was ahead of her time, avoiding many of the shortcomings of 'modern' anthropology with its focus on Aboriginal 'cultures' as discrete and fixed. She understood the interaction of local and regional systems, of the movement of people, objects and intangible phenomena within and between regions. However, in other ways she remained a pre-modern anthropologist focusing on ethnology and endeavouring to create an encyclopedic compendium of 'facts' about all aspects of Aboriginal culture. But then, so did many of her contemporaries. We argue that much of the criticism of Bates and her work is moralist and 'presentist' in the extreme and fails to acknowledge the complex history of the development of anthropology and ethnographic fieldwork. We contend that Bates is an "excluded ancestor" who needs to be "reclaimed". Her corpus of ethnographic material needs to be examined not for "useable bits of lore" but in such a way as to provide a more critical understanding of the development of ethnographic fieldwork in Aboriginal Australia.
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20 October 2020
Review of Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972
The Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage released the Consultation Draft of the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2020 in September with responses due by 9 October 2020. The ASWA Committee drafted and referred to members a suggested response. A number of suggestions and additional comments were added and incorporated into the Committee's draft. The Committee appreciates the suggestions from members. Please read ASWA's formal submission in response to the Consultation Draft.
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28 September 2020
Future Forum 2020: Visions for the future of Aboriginal Heritage in Western Australia
The Australian Association of Consulting Archaeologists (AACAI), the Anthropological Society of Western Australia (ASWA), and the Australia International Council on Monuments and Sites (A.ICOMOS) are hosting a one-day symposium on Visions for the future of Aboriginal Heritage in Western Australia. It will be held at the Esplanade Hotel Fremantle on Friday, 16 October 2020.
The forum will bring together First Nations people, Traditional Owners and custodians, representative bodies, industry, consultants, researchers and other interested parties to explore and discuss what the future of Aboriginal heritage management could look like in Western Australia. There will be a number of speakers showcasing current achievements and future plans for enhancing Aboriginal heritage management, including community-led research, innovations and collaborative projects.
The Future Forum will be a remarkable opportunity to connect, share and discuss visions, aspirations, innovations and anticipated challenges as a collective of people working and engaging with Aboriginal cultural heritage within the state.
Speakers include Professor Len Collard, Professor Peter Veth, Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation & Professor Jo McDonald, PKKP Traditional Owners, Robin Stevens & Sharyn Dershow, Yindjibarndi Traditional Owners, Dr Caroline Bird, Professor David Trigger, Clint Shaw, Dr Joe Dortch & Yinhawangka Traditional Owners, Rachel Perkins & Matt Storey, and Wajarri Yamaji Traditional Owners. There will also be a presentation on the draft WA Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Bill 2020 from the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs or the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage. A panel session with First Nations people from across the state will conclude the forum.
Summary
Venue: Esplanade Hotel Fremantle
Address: 46-54 Marine Terrace, Fremantle WA
Date: 16 October 2020
Forum: 8am to 5pm
Canapes: 5.30pm to 7.30pm
Expected participants: Up to 200 people
Registration
Participants can register through the booking portal on the Humanitix website.
Registration Fees
$160 General Admission
$120 for First Nations People (travel subsidy available)
$120 for AACAI/ASWA/AICOMOS Members (current membership)
$120 for Students (with valid student email)
Registration includes morning tea, lunch & afternoon tea during the forum, and canapes & drinks in evening.
A small booking fee by Humanitix will apply. 100% of profits from booking fees will be directed to Indigenous Scholarships.
Numbers are limited to 230 people (due to current Government restrictions for events/gatherings) and are currently just over 200. Registrations will close on Friday 2 October (unless capacity is reached before then).
First Nations Travel Subsidies
First Nations people who live outside the Perth metropolitan area qualify for a travel subsidy to partially offset the cost of getting to Fremantle. Amounts will vary depending on distance travelled and the total number of applicants. Travel subsidies can be requested through the Humanitix registration page, or contact JJ directly.
Livestream
If you are unable to attend the Forum in person but are still interested in participating, the forum will be live-streamed over Zoom – please RSVP with your email address to JJ McDermott (0458608786 or jagemcdermott2@gmail.com) and a link will be sent to you before the Forum.
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October 2010
ANCESTORS and CONTEMPORARIES: ENGAGING ANTHROPOLOGICAL PRACTICE IN AND BEYOND THE ACADEMY
Take a look at the Symposium held in October 2010. This was professional development from the perspective of looking back to our own practitioners in order to better understand the future.
From World Anthropology to World Anthropologies
A number of very appreciative members spent a wonderful hour listening to Greg Acciaioli's erudite excursion through movements in the world of anthropologies. Greg raised notions advanced by the "World Anthropologists" who encourage the value of 'blogged anthropology' which has no borders. Using histories of anthropological world forums and congresses and a focus on the contribution of Sol Tax to anthropology, Greg questioned the claims regarding discontinuities of anthropoligcal knowledge while recongising many of the key epistomoligical positions of the World Anthropologies.
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July 2011
‘Knowledge and Value in a Globalising World: Disentangling Dichotomies, Querying Unities’
On 5-8 July 2011, the first ever combined conference of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES), the Australian Anthropological Society (AAS) and the Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa / New Zealand (ASAANZ) will take place in Perth, Western Australia, on the University of Western Australia’s campus along the Swan River.
Hosted by Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Western Australia (UWA), the conference will be an exciting opportunity for antipodean anthropologists to engage with colleagues from throughout the world to confront a broad range of issues surrounding the role of anthropology in a globalising world. The conference seeks to catalyse a global discussion on our basic categories of understanding, both as they have informed developments in anthropology and its various subdisciplines and in popular discourses regarding the contours and trends of our globalizing world. Increasingly, self-proclaimed pundits have appropriated culture and ethnography, while popular paradigms have explicitly depended upon such timeworn dichotomies as modernity and tradition, society and community, hybridity and authenticity, among others. Even questions about knowledge, its production, and distribution, which have been at the forefront of recent anthropological work, risk reducing its complexities when framed by the popular notion of a globalised knowledge economy. Knowledge becomes reduced to commodity form or in technoscience merely becomes a device that permits action. Value has been a complementary arena of understanding and debate, from the measurement of value orientations through arguments invoking such dichotomies as moral economy and rational economy to recent work drawing from Marxist, Simmelian, structuralist and exchange theory to bridge the dichotomy of meaning and desire.
Therefore, critically evaluating popular uses and promoting strategies to transcend oversimplifications in public discourse also requires critical examination and re-evaluation of the uses of key concepts within anthropology itself. While such revaluations have certainly been forthcoming within the various traditions of anthropology throughout the world, there is often little sense of the resonances across anthropology’s diverse theoretical trajectories, and within heterodox writings that have not fitted snugly within various national and regional traditions of anthropological production.
By convening a conference that seeks to bring together practitioners of three associations, two of which are national and one of which is global in its orientation, we seek to encourage critical comparative perspectives upon the genesis, development, deployment, diffusion and reception of anthropological traditions in various regions. Given the changing profile of our profession, we hope to explore as well the diverse ways in which academic and applied anthropology have been conceptualized (e.g. along axes of purity) and deployed (with either overlapping or complementary distribution of practitioners across such lines).
The conference formally begins on the 5th of July 2011 and has a stimulating program with keynote speakers Jean Comaroff and James Ferguson, while Tim Rowse will give the AAS Distinguished Public Lecture on the evening of the 4th to anticipate and launch both the conceptual rigor and public significance of our intellectual endeavors. Plenaries currently under consideration may address such issues as public outreach in anthropology, global diffusion of development models, citizenship and belonging, and other topics. Other activities being planned include an ethnographic film festival, an exhibition from the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, and workshops concerning applied anthropology.
The conference committee is proud to showcase Perth to conference participants. As the most remote capital city in the world, Perth is the gateway to the stark desert landscapes of the east, the lush coastal and forest environments of the southwest with its boutique wineries, and the extraordinary beauty of the Kimberley. Perth itself has a vibrant atmosphere with much to see and do. Built around the Swan River, Perth boasts great natural beauty with lovely beaches and parks, shopping in the CBD, wine tasting in the Swan Valley, cycling or scuba diving off Rottnest Island, or soaking up the vibes of the port city Fremantle. We look forward to welcoming anthropologists from throughout the world to explore with us these critical axes of our discipline and to enjoy together the delights of the Western Australian scene.
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History of ASWA
Have you ever wondered about the genesis of ASWA? Take a look at the ASWA at 50 presentation made to the History of Anthropology in Western Australia symposium last year.
ASWA Workshop: Appearing Places
On 25 September 2009 ASWA held another of its professional development workshops. Entitled Appearing Places: The Methodological and Heritage Implications of Contemporary Nyungar Placemaking the workshop sought to examine the process of contemporary Nyungar ‘placemaking’ and its implications in respect of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1972 ("AHA"). A key focus for discussion was the appropological position/s that professional consulting anthropologists in Western Australia (i.e., professional members of ASWA) might bring to bear in the recording and assessment of such 'contemporary' places reported in the course of Aboriginal heritage surveys undertaken for the purposes of the AHA. A second, but very much related matter, was the status of these places within the context of sections 5 and 39 of the AHA.
Papers given during the workshop included:
Christine Lewis: Abstract: This paper provides a summary of the site assessment processes within the Department of Indigenous Affairs (DIA). It outlines the releationship between the Aboriginal Cultural Material Committee (ACMC) and the DIA Hertiage & Culture Branch. The paper conveys the message that all sites reported to the Registrar of Aboriginal Sites under the AHA are subject to the same assessment process. Professional consultants are urged to understand the fundamental information elements withn section 5 of the AHA and supply site recordings in a manner that is able to assessed against those elements. Recordings that do not acknowledge these elements leads to requests for further information and time delays which suggests that improvements in the effectiveness of the DIA assessment framework (and therefore the site protection outcomes) is contingent upon improvements in the quality of consultants.
Eddie McDonald: 'Are places appearing? Comments on apparent Nyungar placemaking processes in the Perth Metropolitan Area'.
Daniel Leo: 'Encompassing the Emplaced: The Anthropological Quantification and Qualification of Myth and Sentiment in the Landscape'.
Eddie McDonald: 'Cú Chulainn in the Land of Oz: Notes on 'ensouled geography', placemaking and authenticity in a South Australian context'.
The Workshop was rounded out with a Discussion on the Methodological and Heritage Implications of Contemporary Nyungar Placemaking. The final session was devoted to making some Practice Recommendations for assessing contemporary Nyungar placemaking in the context of the AHA.
Native Title, Future Acts and Negotiation in Good Faith
A recent High Court case focusing on negotiation within the context of the Native Title Act 1993 (“NTA”) has resulted in an interesting outcome. As part of ASWA’s contribution to professional development Daniel Leo has provided his understanding of what the new ruling means.
Over the past three-and-a-half years there has been a series of events that have tested the sections of the Native Title Act (Cth) 1993 dealing with the future act negotiation procedure (namely, sections 29 to 35).
The matter centres on the proposed granting of a mining lease in the Pilbara to FMG Pilbara Pty Ltd ("FMG"). With events beginning in March 2006, the matter eventually found its way to the High Court this October. In short: the National Native Title Tribunal ("NNTT") had found that FMG had not negotiated in good faith with two Aboriginal groups affected by the lease; FMG appealed this decision, and the Federal Court subsequently set aside the NNTT’s decision (refer to FMG vs Cox [2009] FCAFC 49); in turn, the two Aboriginal groups sought to appeal the Federal Court decision in an effort to have the NNTT’s decision reinstated, but the High Court refused to hear the case.
In a recent Sydney Morning Herald online article (viewed on the 29 October 2009) Simon Hawkins, CEO of Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC), is reported to have said:
The right-to-negotiate section of the (native title) act is instrumental in enabling traditional owners to secure compensation for loss of their country
The High Court’s dismissal of this case now means that mining companies are no longer required to have substantial negotiations with indigenous people regarding the use of their land
This will further economically disenfranchise indigenous people and render them powerless against big business.
The article also reported YMAC Pilbara chairwoman Doris Eaton as adding:
As a Njamal person who’s been part of many good faith negotiations with mining companies, I’m worried that this will stop all the positive things we have achieved for our younger generation.
Sarah Burnside, a solicitor with YMAC, but writing independently, and viewed on the 29 October 2009, explained that:
FMG vs Cox concerned the company’s obligation to negotiate in good faith with two native title claim groups whose traditional country was included within the lease. The Court held that FMG had discharged its duty to negotiate in good faith despite the fact that there had been no substantive negotiation on the mining lease in question with either group. Indeed, discussions with one of the claim groups had largely focused on a negotiation protocol rather than a final agreement.
This decision sets an unfortunate precedent for negotiations with traditional owner groups. The main reason mining companies ‘come to the table’ to negotiate with native title claim groups is precisely because the Native Title Act obliges them to do so: before certain mining and other tenures can be granted, the proponent and the relevant government must negotiate in good faith with any registered claim groups within a period of six months with a view to reaching an agreement.
If negotiations do not bear fruit, the proponent can apply for a determination [by the NNTT] that their interest in land may be granted. There is no requirement to enter into an agreement, no obligation to pay mining royalties or hire local traditional owners, and the statutory requirement of good faith negotiation applies equally to native title claimants as to mining companies.
As stated above, these events are in relation to sections of the act dealing with the future act negotiation procedure. Specifically:
Under that procedure, the ‘negotiation parties’ (in this case, the State, PKKP, WGAC and FMG) must negotiate in good faith with a view to obtaining the agreement of each of the native title parties to the doing of the future act covered by the notice, with or without conditions. If no agreement is reached, and at least six months have passed since the ‘notification day’ specified in the s. 29 notice, any negotiation party may apply to the Tribunal for a future act determination under s. 38— ss. 30A and 31(1)(b), 35(1).
(Source: Native Title Hot Spots, Issue 30, p18, (viewed on the 29 October 2009).
In summary, this matter does not directly affect the day-to-day operations of members of the Anthropological Society of Western Australia, who may be undertaking, for example, heritage surveys or native title connection work. It does indicate, however, that not all future acts will result in negotiated agreements that could allow for such work. It really depends on how committed a company is to reaching such agreements. Once the six month statutory deadline is reached, a company can apply for a future act determination by the NNTT that will allow for the proposed future act to go ahead, and as the court has now made it clear, there is little scope for the NNTT to find that negotiations were not in good faith. Certainly, an agreement does not have to be finalised, and indeed, not even the protocols for negotiating such an agreement need to be completed.
Nonetheless, the requirements of the Aboriginal Heritage Act (WA) 1972 remain in force, and the need for connection work to inform native title claims will continue unabated.