WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

of Important Wetlands of Australia (Sutton 1998; A. Poelina pers. comm. 2010).
North of the Fitzroy River, alluvial plains are bounded by the ranges of the Devonian
reef. These black soil plains support grasslands, with scattered trees and shrubs. To
the south, the floodplain abuts the Great Sandy Desert. The dune vegetation of the
Great Sandy Desert is simple in species and structure. The sides of dunes sometimes
support thick growth of hummock grass (Plectrachne schinzii) and scattered shrubs,
but the crests are kept bare by the harsh climate and the action of the wind.
Traditional Owners relied on their detailed and intimate knowledge of the availability
of permanent and seasonal water sources to survive here; these water sources have
been used for generations. Freshwater soaks and springs hold intense spiritual
significance for desert people, and these water sources also have high biodiversity
values. Each place where water can be found is individually named and known, and
has many stories associated with it, although some of these stories may be secret or
culturally restricted. Permanent water sources are called 'jila' and are all connected
through the underlying groundwater system, which is known as kurtany, or mother.
Through performing their obligations, Traditional Owners maintain the water levels
(WWF–Australia 2007; Yu 2000).
CONTACT HISTORY
Although permanent European settlement occurred later in the Kimberley than in
most other parts of Australia, the coastline was the site of sporadic contact between
Aboriginal people and outsiders since at least the sixteenth century. The region's
recent history has been shaped by the ambitions and fears, curiosity, hope and needs
of these diverse newcomers; as well as by the broader political and economic
circumstances which led them to the region, and the institutional structures they
imported or created. Central to the post-contact history of the Kimberley has been the
capacity of Kimberley Aboriginal people to resist, adapt to and survive the changes
outsiders have brought.
From the 1870s, Aboriginal people have been coerced or forced into the pastoral and
pearling industries, and institutionalized in missions, prisons, hospitals, ration depots
and reserves. Colonisation has had a severe impact on the lives of Kimberley
Aboriginal people and forced dramatic changes to traditional ways of life - many lost
their lives or were dispossessed of their country and homelands. But throughout the
intense disruption wrought by colonisation, over time Aboriginal people have devised
strategies that have enabled an accommodation with the new regime and which has
ensured their long-term survival as a distinct and proud people. The effectiveness of
these strategies is demonstrated by the success in the Federal Court of Australia of
fourteen applications for the determination of native title throughout the Kimberley
since the passage of the Native Title Act in 1993 (Jebb and Allbrook 2009).
The southernmost shore
Before European settlement, Australia's north coast was the southernmost shore of a
network of trade and travel which connected south-east Asia with the marketplaces of
China. The Kimberley lies within 400 kilometres of the south-eastern limit of the
Indonesian Archipelago. For perhaps hundreds of years, Indonesians came to Kayu
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