Thirty years ago today the Native Title Act became law, the stated goal being to uplift and enrich indigenous communities. This was a case of good intentions at odds with history. Earlier, after the Gurindjis gained title, they swapped life and work on a productive cattle station for welfare, and they were not alone. By 1990, 30 other stations had also been abandoned, as Quadrant reported in 2012
In 2000, the widespread popular disgust and anger at the continuing appalling conditions of most Aboriginal people was channelled behind a pro-business agenda that has benefited only a small layer of wealthy indigenous entrepreneurs, bureaucrats and academics.
A group of longtime friends are trying to rekindle the spirit that used to steer social performance in mining before those functions were parked in corporate PR departments.
A mining company has flagged the destruction of a sacred Gulf Country hill. Is it Queensland’s own Juukan Gorge disaster, or a chance to raise a community out of poverty?