Earlier this year i had the privilege of assisting the Bana Mindilji Aboriginal Corporation with action planning exercise for their country. The planning looked at their aspiration to manage their country and to develop a future for their people using the resources of the land and their culture.The Bana Mindilji Corporation is a representative of Bama (people) of the hinterland area near Wujal Wujal north of the Daintree in North Queensland. They are Kuku Yalanji speaking people of the rainforest. They are made up of committed family groups that are high on aspirations and dreams but low on resources and capitol for the realisation of their aspirations.
It is from these position that many groups such as the Bana Mindilji start, their key aspirations as in all cases, is to look after country, to have a presence, to ensure culture is passed on to younger generations and importantly to share this with visitors to their country.
They realise the opportunities that exist within their country. It is on the verge of well known coastal tourist route that flows between the Daintree in the south to the Cooktown to the north. Importantly they realise the obligation that they have to look after their country and their role within this.
I want to use my experiences with Bana Mindilji to paint a picture of how it is for so many groups who want to play a role in looking after their country. Like so many groups the major issues they face is the demand for ongoing resources. Having the ability to constantly draw in the critical resources to maintain this role is the key aspect of the ongoing struggle. And for many groups such as this, it is a struggle. A struggle to maintain relationships and in some cases partnerships with governments at all levels, to meet the financial requirements and expectations that they set upon themselves are also major challenges.
They have some good people involved, however this is sometimes problematic, as it is these few people that carry the workload and as a result the expectations as well. These few people have skills and abilities and are able to meet the demands of such roles they take on. And the problem is that they often take on these roles in voluntary capacities. they still have to live and provide for their families and more often then not they are successful in these roles in mainstream jobs. What they do for their mobs is time they sacrifice themselves. Maintaining and keeping good people in community is a major issue. We all need to live and may need to move in order to find employment to do so. Move away from country and away from involvement in the broader community aspirations to look after country can often disjoint momentum.
Government has many regulations and there are key aspects of legislation that affect peoples aspirations to look after country. Maintaining this relationship is ongoing. Having the skills and experiences and foresight to manoeuvre through these process is a skill on its own and can take a fair amount of time, resources and energy.
Internal governance is another factor that also requires certain amount of attention. The cloud of "black politics" often hovers in the background and is dependant on good policies and communications. If left unattended this can cause major disruptions to the directs the groups is moving towards.
Skills and maintaining skills are only as good as the resources to apply them. Often it has been the case where Aboriginal people had been trained in things they may not have direct relevance to their aspirations and there is no ability to apply these well earned and often well meant training programs. I remember in a forum years ago and elderly Aboriginal man made the point that comment that "he had been on more courses then Greg Norman, yet still no job at the end". Again good planning and policies are the key to this.
Applying skills in the workplace and building safe and sound systems for work plan implementation is critical also. Leadership within the group and building capacity around planning policies and governance is a major component of this implementation.
The planning exercise with the Bana Mindilji Corporation (and as mentioned many other groups) covered many of these aspects. They clearly understand that meeting their aspirations they need to make these key components it is a matter of twining these components together to what meets the need of that particular group. Timing, resources, support and guidance from other stakeholders are the glues that bind it together.
It is the struggle and the way in which these groups deal with these issues that can present some learnings. My hope one day is to be a part of seeing these types of groups succeed and reach and then maintain their directions.
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