| |
|
|
Infrastructure
|
|
|
Introduction
Alice to Darwin Railway
|
| |
Raymond Dixon (left) and Jimmy Wavehill aboard one of the railway's
new locomotives
|
 |
Alice Springs to Darwin Railway
|
| |
History
Aboriginal Interests
Land Use Agreement
After more than a century's worth of discussion,
proposals, reports and studies, work finally started on the railway
project in April 2001after a landmark agreement between the railway
developers and the Northern and Central Land Councils.
Dubbed the 'Steel Snowy' in recognition of its nation-building
potential, the 1,414-kilometre railway will complete the rail link
between Darwin and Adelaide and - by extension - all of Australia's
other major metropolitan centres. It is due to come into operation
in early 2004.
|
|
History
|
| |
|
The Darwin to Alice Springs Railway has
been part of the political agenda in Northern Australia since
1878, when a proposal to link Darwin with the southern capitals
was first raised.
|
|
The Commonwealth made its first commitment to
the project in 1910 as part of the arrangement for
South Australia to take over the administration of the Northern
Territory. The next Commonwealth commitment was made by the
Fraser Liberal Government in 1980, and an Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) was drafted and made available for
comment in December 1982. Following the election of
the Hawke Labor Government in 1983, an inquiry recommended
that the Commonwealth not proceed with the railway.
|
|
Meanwhile, the EIS was finalised (Dames and
Moore 1984) and planning was advanced to a point where
construction could commence as soon as funds were available.
|
|
The proposal was revised in the mid 1990s
when South Australia, the Northern Territory and the Commonwealth
of Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The new
proposal was based on a freight-only operation, privately
built, owned and operated, and linked into other major infrastructure
developments in the Northern Territory.
|
|
Three consortia submitted detailed tenders for
the project, and in June 1999 the Asia Pacific Consortium
was announced as the winner of the bid, though funds were
still required to ensure the construction of the project.
By late October 1999 the Commonwealth, South Australian
and Northern Territory Governments had agreed to increase
their $300 million commitment to $480 million.
|
|
Financial closure for the railway occurred
on 20 April 2001. Asia Pacific's construction arm, ADrail,
is currently building the railway while another subsidiary
of the consortium, Freightrail, will operate the railway once
construction is completed.
|
 |
|
|
Aboriginal Interests
|
| |
|
The Alice Springs to Darwin railway corridor
encompasses 219 kilometres of Aboriginal Land Trust Land and
252 kilometres of land under claim under the Aboriginal Land
Rights Act, with nearly all of the remaining 943 kilometres
covering land in which Aboriginal people hold native title
rights.
|
|
In January 1998 the Northern Territory
Government issued notices for the compulsory acquisition of
the 1,414 kilometre corridor of land required for the railway,
thus formally commencing the negotiation process over land
acquisition.
|
|
The corridor traverses the traditional country
of 17 different language groups, and the process of negotiating
a settlement of the land acquisition was a long and complex
one. As part of the negotiations the Northern and Central
Land Councils secured funds from the Northern Territory Government
to undertake a study of the impacts of the railway, and how
to mitigate negative impacts and maximise positive possibilities
from the project's construction and operation.
|
|
Traditional owners and community organisations
attended numerous meetings and consultations to discuss how
the railway would affect them, socially, culturally and economically,
and to consider the compensation being offered by the Northern
Territory Government. In one instance a community required
total relocation, and in others the railway passes within
500 metres of existing houses.
|
|
The cultural and spiritual significance of the
country has placed specific requirements on the construction
process in some places, and these requirements are part of
the final agreement with the Government.
|
|
"A Railway through our Country", the
final report of the railway impact assessment study, points
out that Aboriginal people "made an enormous effort to weave
this proposal into their worlds - to facilitate a project
that is strongly advocated by many elements of Australian
society that have sometimes been less than respectful of Aboriginal
interests and the impacts that their 'development' activities
have on them."
|
|
|
|
A Single Indigenous Land Use Agreement
|
| |
|
The agreement negotiated between the Land Councils
and the NT Government includes protocols governing access
arrangements, compensation for buildings and other infrastructure
destroyed, a direct stake in the railway and protection of
sacred sites. Importantly, the ILUA also includes explicit
targets for ADrail to employ and train Indigenous people from
communities living along the railway corridor.
|
|
ADrail's commitment has helped the NLC
secure subsidiary employment and training agreements with
several of the railway project's main subcontractors, including
sleeper-manufacturer Austrack, caterer Morris Ltd
and quarry operator Roche Ltd.
|
|
As part of the employment and training agreement
the Northern
Land Council receives direct funding from Asia Pacific
to operate its Railway Unit, whose duties include ensuring
contractual arrangements are met and overseeing the Indigenous
training and employment process.
|
|
From the NLC's perspective the great
success of the railway project so far has been the employment
and training of significant numbers of NLC constituents.
One of the NLC's primary goals during the negotiation
of the ILUA was to maximise Indigenous participation on the
railway project, and the Railway Unit's work has succeeded
in achieving an estimated 30 per cent participation rate across
the whole project in its area.
|
|
The Railway Unit has also used the project
to build its own employment database, which has already logged
the employment and training histories of many hundreds of
Aboriginal people. Planning is already well under way to expand
the concept of the Railway Unit's employment and training
initiative into the Northern
Land Council's regions.
For details, click
here.
|
|
| |
|
|
