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Pastoral

Introduction Equal Pay Getting Pastoral Land Back The Future

Introduction

Up until the early 1970s, the Northern Territory cattle industry depended for its success on Aboriginal labour.

It was Aboriginal people who built the fences, dug the bores and tended, mustered and drove the cattle. It was common to find them 'paid' with meagre allowances of flour, tea, sugar and tobacco. Aboriginal people also had extensive knowledge of the land which was vital to the operation of grazing enterprises.

Equal Pay

In 1968 Aboriginal stock workers won the right to award wages and conditions equal to white workers. But it was a hollow victory. With the mechanisation of the industry - sub-divisional fencing, modern trapping yards, road transport replacing droving and the advent of helicopter mustering - pastoralists had already begun to do away with Aboriginal labour. The Aboriginal camps which had been pools of cheap labour were no longer needed and many people were forced off the stations.

As well, with the establishment of assimilation settlements run by government officers and missionaries, Aboriginal people were "encouraged" to move off the pastoral properties.

For more information on the history of Aboriginal people and the pastoral industry in the Northern Territory see: Community Living Areas

Getting Pastoral Land Back

Under the Land Rights Act, Aboriginal people cannot claim pastoral land that is leased to someone else. However, they can claim the land if they themselves own the lease. (No land claim lodged after 7/6/1997 can be heard by the Land Commissioner.)

A number of Aboriginal organisations run pastoral leases in the Northern Territory and have claimed ownership of the land under the Land Rights Act. For example, in recent years alone traditional Aboriginal landowners have regained control of Bauhinia Station, Innesvale Station, Elsey Station and Urapunga Station.

Gulin Gulin Buffalo Company workers mustering in the Bulman region

The Future

The Northern Land Council helps Aboriginal pastoralists examine ways to rehabilitate their country, develop their pastoral enterprises and consider additional or alternative activities on the land, such as tourism and feral animal harvesting.

The pastoral industry as a whole is experiencing difficulties. The challenge for Aboriginal-owned pastoral properties, to meet changing economic circumstances, is to develop new and innovative strategies to identify ways of realising reasonable economic returns