Gregory National Park
Aboriginal Benefits Account provides Joint Management Infrastructure for Gregory National Park.
The Aboriginal Benefits Account (ABA) is established under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act and accumulates funds from mining royalties on Aboriginal lands in the Northern Territory. The ABA provides funding for Aboriginal people whose lands are directly affected by mining, for projects and infrastructure for the benefit of Aboriginals more generally and funding for the Aboriginal Land Councils.
On-country camps present the best opportunities for traditional owners to discuss and make decisions about joint management, and for transfer of cultural knowledge to their young people.
In a large Gregory, with several hundred traditional Aboriginal owners and at least seven different language groups, meetings involving the wider group are expensive and logistically difficult. Traditional Owners who are on other people’s country are often unwilling or uneasy about speaking on matters related to their land. Managing on-country camps is easier when basic facilities are established at centralised locations. In 2008 parks basic facilities including a shade structure, rainwater tank, shower and a pit toilet were installed at Bullita. Traditional Owners for other areas were keen to have similar facilities on their country.
The traditional owners of Gregory decided on two additional areas where there was commonality between groups and where members of those groups could meet to discuss joint management matters relating to their estates. Traditional owners were keen to provide similar facilities to those at Bullita to sites near Paperbark Yard in southern Gregory and in the Victoria River Gorge Sector.
With the support of the Northern and Central land councils an ABA grant of $94,000 has been won to construct the additional infrastructure at Gregory. During the 2010 Dry Season traditional owners agreed on the specific locations for the new facilities. Construction is expected to be completed before the Wet Season.