Indigenous Legal Geographies

Presenting author: Rachel Hughes (University of Melbourne)

This paper considers the recently announced Truth and Justice Process in the State of Victoria in relation to recent, global reparation talk and the advancement of a 'geographic case for reparations' (Inwood, Brand and Quinn 2020). Justice is necessary to unsettling settler dominance (Howitt 2019) and yet successive Australian governments' responses to the ongoing effects of historical injustices experienced by Indigenous Australians has amounted to 'reparative failure' (Durbach 2019). I seek to extend the geographic case for reparation to Australia specifically, but by reflecting on my prior research experiences of truth and justice seeking and what I term 'foreclosed reparation' in a non-settler state context.

Presenting author: Smrithi Talwar (GNS Science)

Other author: Diane Bradshaw (GNS Science)

What does co-governance between the state and an indigenous community look like when one actor approaches the issue technocratically, seeking to mitigate and manage the risk from a natural hazard, while the other views the issue of 'governance' itself as being problematic when applied to a cultural deity?  Over the last decade in Aotearoa New Zealand Treaty of Waitangi settlement claims around volcanic regions have established formal and informal governance arrangements between local iwi and the Crown.  This paper explores these co-governance structures in two areas:  the Tongariro Volcanic Zone and Auckland's Tupuna Maunga.

The co-authors work at GNS Science.  Smrithi is an environmental lawyer and social scientist while Diane facilitates partner relations with iwi.   

Presenting author: Daniel Robinson (UNSW)

Other authors: Dr Margaret Raven (UNSW), Elizabeth Making (UNSW)

This paper continues our previous work mapping the patent landscape relating to plants with Indigenous uses in Australia. We have searched approximately 800 plant species with documented Indigenous Australian uses in the main global patent databases. We report on the hundreds of 'patent hits' where there is potential misappropriation or biopiracy of Indigenous knowledge. We then discuss some of the implications and possible next steps to help alleviate these injustices.

Presenting author: Emma Ligtermoet (Australian National University; University of Western Australia)

Other author: Richard Baker (Australian National University)

The effects of unregulated commercial hunting can reverberate across generations for local and Indigenous peoples already engaging with the targeted species. In northern Australia, the regional population of the saltwater crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, a culturally significant (keystone) species for many Indigenous clans, suffered a decline almost to extinction from unregulated commercial hunting between the 1940s to the early 1970s. Following protected status, the saltwater crocodile population made a rapid recovery.

This research documents Aboriginal people's perceptions and experiences of this rapid (within living memory) 'bust then boom' in crocodile population, in West Arnhem Land and Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory. Through semi-structured interviews, archival work and on-Country learning, the influence of this crocodile population change on freshwater customary harvesting practices was traced. Impacts included loss of access to harvesting sites and key freshwater species, changes in harvesting methods and consumption preferences for saltwater crocodile meat and eggs. Significantly, the experiential losses from impeded access have reduced opportunities for intergenerational knowledge sharing. Findings demonstrate the need for conservation recovery programs of cultural keystone species to include concurrently, programs considering associated local/Indigenous ecological knowledge of the species or system in question. This is particularly critical in joint-management contexts.