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‘Ways of learning’ about country must give our old people the opportunity to hand down knowledge, culture, and ceremony, and that knowledge and culture needs to be recorded and stored for the future. Kartya (white people) can be encouraged to understand and value country and culture. Our young people must learn the culture and the practice of caring for country, through scientific and cultural research, education, training, mentoring, and skilling. New ‘ways of controlling’ will make sure the right people make decisions about country, and allow us to do long term planning (150 years+). The new‘ways of doing things’ will include improved communications, partnerships, and proper land management training. Good use of fire, and control of introduced plants and animals will be combined with strategic reserves (sanctuaries, sacred areas, breeding grounds, etc) to make sure they survive into the future. Of course, talk on its own is not of much use. What can we do to make these things happen? Can we develop businesses and employment opportunities that protect our natural and cultural heritage? Can we convince Governments and big business of the need for long-term planning for controlled and sustainable development? We need to have faith in our abilities to build the future of our choosing. We need the courage to back our initiative, our self-reliance, our self-expression, so that we can build responsible enterprises that are economically and environmentally viable, that respect our culture. We must all work together for our shared future, leaving country healthy for the next generations. I started off talking about my own personal experiences and beliefs, and that’s what I will finish with. We are not greedy people, we have shared the Fitzroy River with non-Aboriginal people for over 100 years. We know we are not alone in our fight to look after the Fitzroy; we have support from many sectors of our community including pastoralists, keen fishing people, and environmental groups and the general public. We welcome their support and hope we can work closely together to find the balance of protecting the integrity of our home, the Fitzroy. We want to establish more partnerships in caring for our country. We know we have a responsibility to look after the River but at the same time, we are not afraid of economic development, if it is done in the right way. If there is development, it must firstly look after the river and the land around it. We are looking for projects and ideas that can help Aboriginal people to start businesses, get jobs and better incomes; we want a future where our children can share in the economy, like many Australian people. We as a people want better health, better education and better opportunities for our children. If we can hold our law strong, and if we bring economic development gently into our lives alongside our river – we might be on our way to building a stronger, more independent future for this region. We don’t want a quick fix; we are here for the long term. I believe that a fund should be established that assists in the protection of our country and also provides resources for sustainable businesses that balance and protect the integrity of our land, the Fitzroy River, and the wider Kimberley region. Our River is strong and alive - we must work as one people to keep it this way. We all know if we look after our country it will look after us. Thank you 38
Ian Lowe President, Australian Conservation Foundation I would like to begin my acknowledging the Traditional Owners and thanking them for their welcome to country and allowing us to talk on their country. I would also like to acknowledge the offices of Environs Kimberley and the Kimberley Land Council who are our partners in this important venture and thank the Elders who are here guiding our deliberations. I especially thank Joe Ross and Wayne Bergmann for their wise counsel on which the session started. I would also like to acknowledge the special region in which we are meeting. When meeting in a special place it is difficult not to feel the guidance of the spirits of those that have gone before us, helping us in our deliberations. As a whitefella scientists reading about the Fitzroy Basin I was aware of the things we know about it such as 37 fish species, and 65 species of waterbirds – most which are endemic to this region, and having RAMSAR listed wetlands and the significance of the annual floods for the preservation of those biological values. The letter of agreement between the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Kimberley Land Council and Environs Kimberley last year noted that the region is important to the whole world because of its people, their culture, the land and the sea, and the plants and the animals. But it’s more important than that as Wayne reminded us; it also a place of belonging, of both physical and spiritual sustenance. Wayne also reminded us in his words that ‘If we look after the Fitzroy River, it will look after us’ and more generally that if we look after country, it will look after us. The converse of that of course is that if we don’t look after country, sooner or later it will bite us on the backside. In southern Australia the teeth marks are only too evident. So that’s why it is important to ensure the mistakes that have been made in the south are not made in this special place. That’s why the letter of agreement went on to say that ‘Kimberley communities must decide what development comes to the region and make sure they are managed properly to fit in with local culture, the land, plants and animals. So the discussions over the next few days need to recognise, as Wayne said, the relationships between your identity, your culture, and your wellbeing and the special values of this region. So it is a real honour to be involved in this important project. It’s a recognition that the health of the landscape is related to the health of communities. That relationship flows both ways – you can’t have a healthy community without a healthy landscape, and you can’t have a healthy landscape without a healthy community. The purpose of this Roundtable is to recognise that the health of the community in turn relies on developing economic opportunities that are culturally sensitive, socially inclusive, economically viable, sustain the natural systems of the region and maintain your law and culture. I don’t need to remind Indigenous communities about this relationship – the importance of the land and the importance of balance and appropriate priorities between economic development, social stability, and the integrity of natural systems. But I perhaps need to remind the whitefellas in this room because most decision makers down south still have the pig headed model of the relationship between the economy, society and environment. They see the economy as the main game – or the face of the pig – and society and the environment as the smaller areas like its ears. And they seem to believe that if the economy is strong, problems in society and environment can always be patched up later on. That is not only a wrong headed model, but it’s actually not working. Successive reports on the state of the environment monitor the decline of our natural systems and our natural values. Even the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in three reports on measures of Australia’s progress, show that the unprecedented economic progress over the last 15 years has come at some social cost and very large environmental cost. So I think it is a very silly model. A much better model is the three circles – the view from space. I tell people if you look at the world from space you can’t see the economy, but what you can see is the perilously thin membrane that supports life and some of the physical boundaries that mark our different societies like rivers, mountains, and oceans. If you take that 39
Page 1 and 2: Kimberley Appropriate Economies Rou
Page 3: Kimberley Appropriate Economies Rou
Page 6 and 7: Why would you? The first three word
Page 8 and 9: From our culture, we have certain r
Page 10 and 11: We have won some battles, at least
Page 12 and 13: INTRODUCTION The Kimberley Appropri
Page 14 and 15: appropriate development in the regi
Page 16 and 17: SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ROU
Page 18 and 19: Pastoralism Workshop Danielle Eyre,
Page 20 and 21: actions to come out of the Roundtab
Page 22 and 23: OUTCOMES There were two main Outcom
Page 24 and 25: in the Kimberley with rules based o
Page 26 and 27: Research Action 2 Action 3 the regi
Page 28 and 29: Action 9 Tour operators from the Fi
Page 30 and 31: 26 Projects or enterprises that ach
Page 33 and 34: APPENDIX A PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE
Page 35 and 36: And sometimes people like myself an
Page 37 and 38: forgetting that intrinsic value tha
Page 39 and 40: Keynote Address Wayne Bergmann, Exe
Page 41: Is there a role for Aboriginal know
Page 45 and 46: Address by Tom Birch Chairman, Kimb
Page 47 and 48: Address by Pat Lowe, Founding Membe
Page 49 and 50: In recent years, Aboriginal people
Page 51 and 52: from the freshwaters of the river.
Page 53 and 54: ecorded. Dolores Cheinmora and Agne
Page 55 and 56: development of the area. Failures i
Page 57 and 58: 3b. Vegetation change The loss of s
Page 59 and 60: The Future The entire river system,
Page 61 and 62: Woirnarski, J.C.Z. (1992).Introduct
Page 63: 4. Recent photo of the same locatio
Page 73: APPENDIX C KIMBERLEY APPROPRIATE EC
Page 78 and 79: 74 Don Henry ......................
Page 80 and 81: 76 APPENDIX F TABLE OF PRESENTERS
Page 82 and 83: 78 APPENDIX H ROUNDTABLE SPONSORS A
Page 84: KIMBERLEY APPROPRIATE ECONOMIES ROU

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