Worlds Village

Intervention Update: Tangentyere under attack! Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced that the Commonwealth Government of Australia is going to compulsorily acquire Aboriginal Community Town Camps in the Northern Territory. This will start happening from early August 2009. The main focus so far has been on the Tangentyere Council which is based in Alice Springs. Tangentyere provides services to the 1600 people from most Central Australian tribal groups living on the 18 town camps around the town. Over the years the council has been a spearhead for the establishment of other organisations as the need arose, such as Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (medical services), Central Australian Aboriginal Alcohol Planning Unit (alcohol rehabilitation), Institute for Aboriginal Development (educational institution), Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, Yipirinye School (independent Aboriginal school), outstation resource centres and so on. The NT Intervention took out compulsory 5-year leases over the town camps serviced by Tangentyere, along with outstations and other remote communities. The government said it needed powers to build housing quickly but not a single house has been built for Aboriginal people through the Intervention. Communities across the NT have been told that no housing will be built until long-term leases are signed with government. Town camps are now under threat of having their living areas compulsorily acquired permanently …

Visit a place where time stands still and an ancient culture lives on. For more than 40000 years, the Aboriginal people of Kakadu and Arnhem Land have lived at one with the land. Follow in their footsteps and discover Australia through their eyes. Stories, told on rock canvasses, endure on the walls of Ubirr and Nourlangie Rock in Kakadu and further east at Injalak Hill in west Arnhem Land. On the remote, unspoilt coastline of Port Bradshaw at Bawaka, share their culture through traditional song and dance. Here, men attempt spear fishing mud crab and mullet, while ladies learn the ancient craft of pandanus weaving. Aboriginal history is intrinsically linked with the land and a visit to the Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Art Centre in Yirrkala, 17 kilometres south of Nhulunbuy is a must. If you’re lucky, you may get to watch artists bring their canvasses to life. For more information visit en.travelnt.com For more information about Kakadu National Park visit en.travelnt.com

Jumbulla Aboriginal Discovery Centre – shows the visitor the changes that have taken place to the land of the D’harawal People – Aboriginal people of the Illawarra and South Coast. How these changes have affected people and the coastline. Visit Jumbulla at the Southern Gateway Centre – Bulli Tops – Wollongong – NSW – Australia

Less than three hours drive from Darwin, Kakadu National Park has a rare dual World Heritage listing for both its natural beauty and its ancient Aboriginal culture, dating back 50000 years. It is a place of rugged escarpments, lush wetlands, savannah woodland and cascading waterfalls covering over 19000 square kilometres making it the largest national park in Australia. Kakadu is shaped by water, being the catchment area for the South Alligator, East Alligator, Katherine, Roper and Daly rivers. From November to May, waterfalls are at their most spectacular and the lowlands are flooded, attracting millions of migratory birds. The diversity of nature contained within the Park is astounding and keen birdwatchers are spoilt for choice. The unique and diverse avian life in Kakadu includes jacanas, azure kingfishers, cuckoos, rufous owls, magpie geese, jabiru and more. Take a cruise on Yellow Water Billabong literally teeming with migratory birds. You may even spot a croc or two! Over one-third of Australian bird species, around one thousand different plant species and a quarter of all Australian freshwater fish species can also be found here. A number of Aboriginal language groups still reside within the park, which is home to one of the largest concentrations of Aboriginal rock art in the world. Ubirr and Nourlangie Rock are among the most vivid and extensive examples. A must is a climb to the top of Ubirr for unbeatable 360-degree views of the surrounding floodplains. Other …

documentary that addresses the dumping of nuclear waste in the homelands of Indigenous peoples. The dumping of waste would do irreparable harm to the land, and would stop all traditional hunting and gathering, effectively poisoning the water and food sources of Indigenous peoples. The federal government announced their proposal to put a nuclear waste dump in Central Australia in 2005. The areas of Alice Springs and Tennant Creek were the likely sites. The documentary offers a window into the lives of the people who live in these areas, and the effect the nuclear waste will have on their well-being and their ability to live in accordance with traditional Indigenous values and cultural practice. The federal government proposal treats the proposed dump sites as uninhabited land, but the documentary shows that these areas are in fact well populated. The seriousness of this issue, told from the perspective of the Indigenous peoples, is absolutely refreshing, and this documentary captures the intimacy with which the people inhabit the land and how the environment plays a central role in Indigenous cultural practice. All aspects of Indigenous culture, philosophy and religion have land as the foundation, and to disrupt the land is to threaten the continuation of cultural well-being. The federal governments Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act was passed on the 8 December 2005. The Act prevents any challenge to the waste dump decision.