John De Satge, Indigenous Land Management Facilitator with Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group in Longreach, is coordinating the project which will seek funds to set up an Indigenous Advisory Committee. This Indigenous Advisory Committee will provide advice to the catchment committee on issues which impact upon Indigenous groups within the catchment.

This could include issues such as Water Resource Management Plans, Vegetation Management Committees, Freshwater Ministerial Advisory Committee, Great Artesian Basin, salinity, soil erosion and water quality.

There is often a cross-over between culture and natural resource management which in some instances is not recognised in formal natural resource management processesand the Indigenous Advisory Committee will provide a two-way flow of information between the Georgina Diamantina Catchment Committee and the Indigenous community.

The Indigenous Advisory Committee will be made up of representatives from those claimant groups within the Georgina Diamantina catchment who have lodged claims and been accepted by the National Native Title Tribunal.

According to John De Satge, identifying the Traditional Owners will be the hardest part of the process.

“Many Indigenous groups were removed from the landscapes after the 1960 Industrial Relations ruling of ‘same work; same pay’ when pastoralists couldn’t afford to pay such a large workforce,” he says.

“A lot of people were forced into reserves on the outskirts of towns and connection with country was lost. The forced movement of people onto large Aboriginal Reserves many miles away from the landscapes they grew up on further added to this loss and ability to carry out responsibility for country.”

Discussions have commenced with the National Native Title Tribunal to identify those claimant groups within the physical boundaries of the Georgina Diamantina catchment. The four Native Title Representative Bodies covering the area have already been identified. These are the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement of SA, Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, Cental Qld Land Council Aboriginal Council and Qld South Representative Body Aboriginal Corporation Land Council.

Mr De Satge said there will need to be good coordination between these four Native Title Representative Bodies, the Georgina/Diamantina Catchment Committee and the staff of Lake Eyre Basin Coordinating Group.