Land Rights At Noonkanbah Essay

The events surrounding land rights at Noonkanbah in 1980 highlighted the contrasting ideas between the native and non-native people in Western Australia and the incredible lack of rights for aboriginal people at the time. For Western Australia, this was just the beginning of the increasing awareness to the general community of the issues created by white society to the aboriginal people and culture. As stated by Frank Gare, retiring Director of the Department of Native Affairs in 1978, “The basic trouble is that Australia as a whole does not appreciate the enormity of what disinheritance has meant to the aboriginal people... It remains to be seen if the rising Aboriginal leadership will be able to effectively convince the community at large

of this.” (Beresford, 2006) The dispute at Noonkanbah and events leading up to it involving Sir Charles Court, premier of the state, his government and the American mining company Amax, called attention to the flaws in Western laws regarding aboriginal affairs, and the immense need of aboriginal land rights in Australia. Although the Noonkanbah community did not achieve the outcome they had hoped for in not having their land mined by Court and the mining companies involved, the events have caused ongoing impact to modern day Western Australia.
Over a fifty year period, between the 1800s and 1930s the land at Noonkanbah had been taken from the native owners.

The people who did survive over this time were offered to stay on this land if they worked for the pastoralists, being paid very low wages or on some occasions not at all. In the late 1960’s the industrial law reformed causing the working relationships between aboriginal people and pastoralists to disintegrate which led to the aboriginal people of Noonkanbah to leave the land and move to camp outside the town of Fitzroy Crossing. The aboriginal people dealt with this in two vastly different ways; some became dependent on things such as alcohol and others began to grow independently and organise themselves politically. In 1976, with help from the Aboriginal Land Commission, the Noonkanbah community attained a 385 000 hectare pastoral lease where the “primary aim became ‘to maintain its own culture, free from European influence’.” (Beresford, 2006) The community then had the responsibility to preserve the land back to previous standards. Many people in Perth began to hear different rumours about the Noonkanbah community, although they did not have a true image of what the happenings were. Despite the original success for the Noonkanbah community in leasing their own land, this peace did was not long

lasting.
Meanwhile, Sir Charles Court, premier of Western Australia, had plans for the north-west of the state with prospects to mine the area.

Although many people deemed the idea to be much too costly, and not worth the money, Court believed there was high potential for the area. Court was aware of the growing political activism in the aboriginal population of Noonkanbah. Changes to the Mining Act 1979 (WA), which enabled miners to enter Aboriginal Reserve Land without permit, could be seen as a prevention act in opposition to these activists. Sir Charles Court had many strong views on the aboriginal community, which many said were based on the outdated idea of Social Darwinism, with one parliamentarian deeming his claims as being “as any nineteenth-century white liberal was sure of the superiority of our culture and religion and he thinks the Aboriginies should join us in due course – get with the strength and join the superior people”. (Beresford, 2006) In 1979 the media began to gain interest for the communities fight for rights against Court and the mining companies. With the Aboriginal Legal Service representing the Noonkanbah community, although not able to stop the situation completely, they successfully put mining prospects on hold in June 1979. However, with physical force and police assistance the plans for mining went through in August 1980, with Sir Charles Court and the mining companies winning their right to the

land.
Although losing the battle to Court in the dispute in 1980, the impact of the event did not stop there. There have been various ongoing impacts for each person involved in the Noonkanbah events, particularly for the aboriginal community. Although not gaining rights to the land, the Noonkanbah dispute encouraged many of the rising aboriginal leaders of the time to continue to take a stand for their people. They became role models, and began to take a stand and create a voice into the wider, western community for their issues, wants and needs to be heard. With this, the non-aboriginal community came to be more aware of the reality of the situation for the aboriginal people, who they are, and what the differing world views are. Noonkanbah created a reason for the society of Western Australia to be aware, and begin to bridge the gaps between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.
In conclusion, although the Noonkanbah community did not receive the rights to land which had been their original desired outcome, there have been many positive impacts created by the event. The dispute encouraged many growing aboriginal leaders to be inspired and whose passions for political activism and finding their voice rose, which led them to becoming influential, recognised people in concern of aboriginal rights. Consequently, and with help from the media coverage of the events, a growing awareness of the issues created by white society on aboriginal people and culture was gained by the wider western community. These events at Noonkanbah highlighted the contrast between the beliefs of the aboriginal community and non-aboriginal community, with focus on how these beliefs may clash. Although the aboriginal population in Australia still do not have full land rights, and the Australian population as a whole still do not appreciate the enormity of what disinheritance has meant to the aboriginal people, the Noonkanbah dispute sparked awareness and empowered many people to find their political voice to begin to bridge that gap between aboriginal and non-aboriginal people to find a sense of equality.