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Mr
A. Lawson, 1993 Beginning Everybody is looking at Ngaanyatjarra Council all over the world and Australia and all. It's the biggest Council in the Centre. And we should be proud of that, for leading the country like this. Looks like Pitjantjatjara Council is out of the picture for a bit. I was on their executive when it started. And we learnt everything from them and decided to have our own Council. Mr A. Lawson, 1994
Four years later Ngaanyatjarra Communities, then comprising Warburton, Wingellina, Blackstone, Jameson and Warakurna formed their own regional Council to further the specific land tenure aspirations of people living in the Western Australian Central Reserves and coordinate their services delivery. Individuals and communities contributed the necessary funds to set up the organisation and its ancillaries which has since relied on only minimal government assistance. Previously, in 1978, a delegation of 8 Ngaanyatjarra men had been sent to Perth to urge that 'a working party be established to investigate means to transfer the Central Reserves area, plus additional areas of importance, to the Ngaanyatjarra people in freehold'. In addition, Ngaanyatjarra people had collectively demanded to be involved in a seismic survey conducted by Shell to ensure that no areas of sacred significance would be destroyed. The new organisation was officially incorporated as Ngaanyatjarra Council (Aboriginal Corporation) in 1981. Perth Convoy People are coming to us, asking us about our culture, they would like us to show them how we dance; and listen to our songs. They also want to know how we have preserved our culture. They thought our culture would have been finished by now. And now, they will stand and listen to us, tell them why we are struggling to keep our homelands, which have nearly all been taken away by white people. The white people don't know what our land means to us, deep in our hearts. And we want to try to make them understand… Mr T. Porter, 1982
Mr T. Porter, 1982 The Premier was not prepared to give us freehold title to our land. Our old people are sad, when we get back we'll be talking about this. Mr A. Richards, 1982 In 1982 the Council organised a convoy of vehicles to transport people to Perth to present the Western Australian Government with demands for land rights. With assistance from various land rights groups over 500 people in 20 vehicles drove to the Claremont Showgrounds for a 3-day meeting. After initially refusing to meet with people, the then Premier finally came to listen but would make no concrete commitments. WA Aboriginal Land Inquiry Mr Burke at the Claremont Showground in November 1982 promised us a strong freehold title with proper controls over mining. He broke that promise. Mr Hawke said he would do the same with a national land rights law. He is now breaking his promise. He is trying to leave us with Mr Burke's offer of a 99 year lease and little else. 99 years for a people that have owned this part of Australia for at least 40,000 years. That's ridiculous. Nothing has changed since November 1982. This is our land and we want the freehold for it and the power to look after it. Mr T. Porter, 1986 We need to ask for a strong one. Because if we get a weak one, Western Australian law will be weak and then over there [in the east] will become weak too. So on your behalf too, we have to get a strong one – so that the whole of the centre of Australia can stay strong. Because if one side is weak then the whole lot will get weak. We must get a strong law. Ms Sylvia Benson, 1984 We want our land to hold and look after – for our children and grandchildren – so they can live on their own country. We want to hold all the land together. Mrs Melva Davies, 1984 The following year a new Labor Government instituted an official Inquiry into Aboriginal Land Rights in Western Australia. Despite the recommendations of the Seaman Inquiry, inalienable freehold title was not granted: instead, in 1988, 99-year leases were granted over the former Reserves and other significant areas (vested in the Aboriginal Lands Trust), 50-year Special Purpose Leases created as a 'buffer zone' over smaller tracts of country, the rest remaining vacant crown land or nature reserve. A subsequent Council meeting at Tjukurla decided to establish a single land holding body, known as Ngaanyatjarra Land Council (Aboriginal Corporation), to become the lessee of the lands vested in the ALT. After extensive negotiations, the Commonwealth surrendered the land which had been excised to establish Giles Meteorological Station in 1956. Again, this became a 'Class A' reserve vested in the ALT, in turn leased to Ngaanyatjarra Council for a term of 99 years. The handback of the Giles block was conditional upon Ngaanyatjarra Council leasing it back to the Commonwealth for a period of ten years with the option for a ten year renewal. Present Ngaanyatjarra Council (Aboriginal Corporation) is currently the umbrella organisation for 11 communities, Ngaanyatjarra Health Service, Ngaanyatjarra Council Representative Body, Ngaanyatjarra Community College, Ngaanyatjarra Land Management Unit, Ngaanyatjarra Media, and enterprises including Ngaanyatjarra Services, Ngaanyatjarra Air, Ngaanyatjarra Agency and Transport Services and Indervon Pty Ltd which owns and manages the Alice Springs Caltex franchise. It is in the process of developing a Heritage Unit to represent the concerns of senior Ngaanyatjarra men and women as well as a Regional Arts Development project. For more information
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