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The National Archives of Australia bring up many good points when it comes to deciding how we should preserve the records of our event.
- Digital records, such as a website, Facebook Page or stored on a hard drive require less physical space and can be updated to different file formats. However there is a risk that the storage media may become outdated or corrupted.
- Paper records, such as marketing material or print outs, require more space and run the risk of deteriorating over time. While having a original records will have more historical and sentimental value, they must be stored correctly, for example in offsite storage such as a GRACE facility to limit deterioration.

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Preserve - National Archives of Australia

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This page provides access to information about the storage of Commonwealth records, including minimum environmental conditions for appropriate storage, and selecting storage service providers.

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This is the website for the annual Text Festival. The festival organisers are not only interested in archiving the event, but are also acquiring contemporary works of art for future use. I think that this is an interesting way of keeping interest in an event the whole year round. For an event like ours, a information sharing archive maybe something to look into.

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Through donations and key acquisitions of contemporary works and collections the archive will become a dynamic project space that offers both critical reflection and pre-emptive activity. The archive project will be a focus point for continuing links between Bury Art Museum and Birkbeck's CPRC as well as strengthening collaboration between the Art Museum and Archive institutions at Bury.

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Example: Archiving the First World Festival of Negro Arts (Dakar 1966). 

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Example: Archiving the First World Festival of Negro Arts (Dakar 1966). 

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This article studies the challenges in archiving cultural festivals and how the events organisers where already looking at it's marking material from a posterity point of view. It also discusses what effect past events have on future festivals.

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The first part of my research looked into why we keep a record of the things we do.  I found a great summary of we we archive from the Tauranga City Libraries Website from 2009:

Archives are records that are of lasting value to society and as such are worthy of preservation. Records document human activity and can be vital for providing an audit trail for evidential, research, accountability and legal reasons. They provide verification of transactions by government, business, organisations or individuals. Things like legal documents, minutes of meetings, correspondence including emails, plans, charts and maps can be preserved as archives as well as personal records such as letters, diaries, wills, house deeds, birth certificates, and photographs.

The National Library of Australia (2013) also have a great article on the archiving of Queensland's regional festivals.

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This is a guest post by Maxine Fisher, Digital Content Coordinator (and PANDORA Archive curator) at the State Library of Queensland.

Queensland has a great variety of festivals. Some commemorate significant events from the past or celebrate a unique aspect of a locality; or the produce or culture of a region. Others are based around sports, arts or music events. Whatever their focus, our state's festivals encompass a huge range of exciting activities. The reason we capture their web presence for the future is that most festivals are more than just entertainment. Festivals bring people with shared values together. They engender community spirit and reveal something of our Australian identity through public gatherings. They are in essence expressions of our culture. It's particularly important to archive the websites of festivals in regional and county areas as they can hold significant information and images, and a website is a resource that is readily collectable, no matter where the festival is held. Archiving these sites is one important way of helping record the contemporary values and the collective memory of a place or region, and in a state as large as Queensland, there's a diversity of peoples, industries and interests. Festivals can also evolve over time or may cease. For example, Queensland once had a Tobacco Festival, complete with Tobacco Festival Queen. In this post I'm highlighting just a couple of our unique and interesting festivals so you can gain a sense of life and celebration in regional Queensland. Chinchilla Melon Festival Chinchilla, 300km west of Brisbane, is Australia's 'Melon Capital' and grows a quarter of all Australian melons. The Melon Festival began in 1994 as a way of lifting community spirits during a long drought. The festival is now biennial and celebrates pride in the local produce and the resilience of the community. Festival events include melon tossing, melon bungee, pip-spitting, and the big melon competition. In 2007, the winning big melon weighed a whopping 87kg! One festival highlight is melon skiing - participants place their feet inside watermelons, and are towed along a plastic surface covered in crushed melons and detergent. Squishy but awesome fun, this festival draws huge numbers of people from Australia and overseas.

'Melon skiing' at the Chinchilla Melon Festival. Image supplied courtesy of Western Downs Regional Council.

Tree of Knowledge Festival What originally began as a May Day parade for the town of Barcaldine, 1070km from Brisbane, has now expanded into a weekend of celebrations commemorating the town's significance in Australia's social and political history. Barcaldine bore witness to one of Australia's earliest industrial disputes when in 1891 it became the centre for striking shearers who reportedly gathered in the shade of a large eucalyptus by the railway station. Events around the time were pivotal in the birth of the Australian labour movement and flowing from that, the Australian Labor Party. The tree was added to the National Heritage Register in 2005, but the following year when the tree was noticed to be deteriorating it was found to have been poisoned. Festival activities include rugby league for juniors and seniors, May Day march, combined church service, horse racing and goat races. One highlight is the Barcy Revfest: automotive muscle goes on show in the Saturday night street cruise, then the following day the pedals are put to the metal in eighth-mile drag races.

Screen shot of the 2013 Barcaldine Tree of Knowledge Festival website. From the PANDORA Archive.

This is just a brief glimpse into our state's diverse regional festivals. You can discover more of how Queensland celebrates in PANDORA

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This is a guest post by Maxine Fisher, Digital Content Coordinator (and PANDORA Archive curator) at the State Library of Queensland.Queensland has a great variety of festivals. Some commemorate significant events from the past or celebrate a unique aspect of a locality; or the produce or culture of a region.

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First People, First Earth is an event designed to raise public awareness of one of the biggest environmental issues we face today; climate change. In particular the Airlie Beach region of Queensland. This festival encourages us to look to the traditional owners of the land, to see how we can work in harmony with our environment. I believe that archiving and preserving local events is extremely important. For future generations, it can be seen as an historical resource or for use to run a similar event. For the events future, we can see how it has grown and changed over the course of its life time.  Archiving can be done with a digitally in the form of a website or digital files preserving things such as photo records or as a hard copy, preserving things such as event marketing materials and financial records.

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Librarianship and Corporate Information Management.

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We are privileged to have some Australian indigenous people from sports and entertainment who are happy to give their time to narrate the stories of the Ngaro and surrounding people. A fantastic opportunity to introduce a whole new audience to the world of the first people and to learn from their relationship with the land.

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Aboriginal Australia Art and Cultural Centre, Alice Springs. 2014. Aboriginal Art. Accessed May
20, http://aboriginalart.com.au/didgeridoo/dance.html.

Aboriginal Ceremonies and Dances. 2015. Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery. Accessed May 23,
http://www.aboriginalartshop.com/aboriginal-dancing/.

Aboriginal Dance. 2014. Factfile. Accessed May 20, http://factfile.org/8-facts-about-aboriginal-dance.

Aboriginal People – How to Misunderstand Their Science. 2014. The Conversation. Accessed May
27, https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-people-how-to-misunderstand-their-science-23835.

About Clancestry. 2015. QPAC. Accessed May 27, https://www.qpac.com.au/clancestry/about-
clancestry.html.

ART, Culture and Heritage, Northern Territory. 2016. Do the NT. Accessed May 23,
http://travelnt.com/en/things-to-do/art-culture-and-heritage/aboriginal-culture/aboriginal-
music-and-dance.

Art, Music and Dance. 2016. Australian Government, Great Barrier Reef, Marine Park Authority.
Accessed May 22, http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/our-partners/traditional-owners/traditional-
owners-of-the-great-barrier-reef/art,-music-and-dance.

Australian Indigenous Ceremony, Song, Music and Dance. 2015. Australian Government. Accessed
May 21, http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-indigenous-
ceremony.

Culture and Cutting Edge Technology. 2015.  Deadly Vibe. Accessed May 19,
http://www.deadlyvibe.com.au/2013/10/culture-and-cutting-edge-technology/.

Dale Chapman: The Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Products & Learning Programs. 2016. Generation One.
Accessed May 20, http://generationone.org.au/job-seeker/real-stories/dale-chapman.

Education Resources. 2013. Education Services Australia. Accessed May
23, http://bangarra.com.au/education-resources.

Educating, Sharing and Learning. 2016. Yothu Yindi. Accessed May
25, http://www.garmafestival.com.au/.

Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu Biography. 2015. World press, NT. Accessed May
20, http://skinnyfishmusic.com.au/artist/gurrumul/.

Koerbin, Paul. 2013. Queensland Regional Festivals. National Library of Australia. Accessed June 3, https://www.nla.gov.au/australias-web-archives/2013/05/23/queensland-regional-festivals-how-we-are-celebrating.

Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival. 2016. Cairns, QLD. Accessed May 21,
http://www.lauradancefestival.com/.

Mark Olive Bio. 2016. Black Olive. Accessed May 27, http://www.blackolive.net.au/mark-olive-bio/.

McCauley, Debbie. 2009. The Importance of Keeping Archives. Tauranga City Libraries. Accessed June  3, http://tauranga.kete.net.nz/en/tauranga_city_libraries_history/topics/show/985-  the-importance-of-keeping-archives.

Murphy, David. 2016. Archiving the First World Festival of Negro Arts (Dakar 1966): Recuperation, Nostalgia and Utopianism. Taylor and Francis Journals. Accessed June 5, http://www-tandfonline-com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1080/21500894.2016.1165730.

National Archives of Australia. 2016. Preserve. National Archives of Australia. Accessed June 3, http://www.naa.gov.au/records-management/agency/preserve/index.aspx

Stubington, Jill. 2007. Singing the land: the power of performance in aboriginal life. Currency House.
Accessed May 24, https://currencyhouse.org.au/node/134.

Text Festival. No Date Given. Text Festival. Accessed June 5, http://www.textfestival.com/education-and-projects/the-text-archive/.

The Aboriginal Land Rights Act. 2016. Central Land Council. Accessed May
27, http://www.clc.org.au/files/pdf/13937_Land_Rights_Act_Brochure_web.pdf.

The First Scientists - Aboriginal Science in Queensland. 2016. World Science Festival. Accessed May
27, http://www.worldsciencefestival.com.au/program/events/the-first-scientists-aboriginal-
science-in-queensland/.

Traditional Aboriginal Hunting in Australia: A Cultural Heritage Issue. 1994. Cultural Survival. Accessed
May 13, https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-
quarterly/australia/traditional-aboriginal-hunting-australia-cultural.

Unsustainable Food Production – It’s Social Roots and Remedies. 2007. Permaculture Australia.
Accessed May 20, http://permacultureaustralia.org.au/2007/06/05/unsustainable-food-
production-its-social-roots-and-remedies/.

Whispers of the Dreamtime. 2016. Whitsunday Arts & Cultural Centre. Accessed May 13,
http://www.thewacc.com.au/events/whispers-of-the-dreamtime/.

Why Haven’t We Embraced Indigenous Foods? 2014. One Million Women. Accessed May
13, http://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/why-havent-we-embraced-indigenous-foods-a-
guest-post-from-sustainable-table/.

Working Together On Country. 2013. Queensland Government. Accessed May 20,
http://reefcatchments.com.au/files/2013/02/WorkingTogetherOnCountry.pdf.

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When I came across the Bunjilaka First Peoples Exhibition, I realised that this was almost what I had in mind for the Ngaro story-telling event.

The view is to have the audience placed in a cinema style environment where they will be immersed in the sounds of the Ngaro performers, the telling of stories narrated by indigenous celebrities, and a visual of the stories in a Ngaro art motif animated format. Emphasis will be on the land, its creation and its relationship with the Ngaro people.

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The Bunjilaka First Peoples exhibition is an exciting new display that marries the world's oldest continuous culture with cutting-edge technology to provide a once in a lifetime experience to everyone who visits it.
It's the largest exhibition to focus on the rich story of Aboriginal Victoria right from the time of creation to today. It celebrates the diversity, continuity, strength and vitality of Koori people, and presents a new and truly shared approach to the telling of history.

"I don't know if I can put into words how important it is for communities across the country to have access to the content in this exhibition and the stories that it tells," says Lead Curator, Genevieve Grieves.

"The pride that an exhibition like this builds is just amazing."

This shared endeavour of Museum Victoria and the Victorian Aboriginal community caters not only to Aboriginals but to everyone who is lucky enough to come visit it.

"We want audiences to understand the diversity of Aboriginal people and culture, we want them to understand the continuity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, and to see that culture has been maintained despite the past and will continue into the future," she says.

What makes this exhibit so unique is the fact that it is owned by the Aboriginal community of Victoria and incorporates their identity, community and culture directly into the foundation. It gives them the opportunity to voice their experiences - good and bad.

"The real difference form what has come before is that this exhibition is told in community voice, not in a museum voice," she says.

"We've talked to audiences and they really want to know about this country that they're on and they're also ready to hear the harder stories.

"Since we've opened, I've seen a lot of people brought to tears by the stories and a lot of the non-Indigenous people say they never know about these things and are really shocked and moved by it."

A highlight of the permanent exhibition is Bunjil's nest, named after the wedge-tailed eagle Bunjil, a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being in Aboriginal mythology.

Bunjil's nest is embodied in a spectacular moving sculpture with multi-media effects telling the creation story of the Kulin nation - a favourite among the many school children learning about the amazing culture through the exhibit.

"It's going to educate a whole generation of school children and they get to learn about the beauty, sophistication and complexity of our culture," she says.

First Peoples at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Melbourne Museum opened on 6 September 2013 and has been flooded by keen spectators of all persuasions.

"We have had a really positive response; it's always full, and there are constantly school kids in there," says Genevieve.
Images courtesy:Museum Victoria-Photographer: John Broomfield
Tags: Aboriginal Victoria, Bunjilaka, exhibition, First Peoples

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Culture and cutting-edge technology - Deadly Vibe

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The Bunjilaka First Peoples exhibition is an exciting new display that marries the world's oldest continuous culture with cutting-edge technology to provide a once in a lifetime experience to everyone who visits it. It's the largest exhibition to focus on the rich story of Aboriginal Victoria right from the time of creation to today.

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In 2014, The Whitsunday Arts and Cultural Centre hosted a show 'Whispers Of The Dreamtime" It was put together by indgenous performers Shannon Ruska of Kayleen O'Chin. The performance featured Mackay's Nulla Nulla people in story and music.

Prior to the show, there was a press release  which documented the Nulla Nulla people passing a message stick to the elders of the Ngaro people to acknowledge them and to be able to perform on their land.

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Cultural Centre | Terms & Conditions Website

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Whispers of the dreamtime | thewacc.com.au

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Ancient stories of this land place great emphasis on the land and its flora and fauna.

The ethos of indigenous story telling compels listeners to:

respect the environment

animate the environment

see the environment as a living thing

appreciate what it means to communicate with the environment

bond with the environment

understand the importance of our relationship with the environment

realise that the environment can be harmed in a real way

act upon protecting the environment

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It is important that the information is conveyed in an interesting and novel format.

It is important to accommodate for the attentive standards of the common young person because if the format is relayed in a traditional manner without cultural consideration of the audience, then there is a strong chance that the event will miss the opportunity of reaching its goals of effectively assimilating information.

In other parts of the world, there has been successful merging of indigenous story-telling and engaging multimedia.

Below is an example of effective use of multimedia as a vehicle for ancient content.

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Anthropology and Sociology

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As a sociologist, my objective is to maximise positive effects and productive results to achieve change in attitudes towards the land, sea and air by introducing the medium of storytelling of indigenous people to the greater community with an emphasis to attracting the children to the event.

The first step is to contact and meet with those in the indigenous community who know the material intimately and discuss ways in which we can relay ancient stories in a fun and effective format to people of all ages.

We would discuss each story and its relevance to the objective.

I would discuss the types of formats we are permitted to work with so that we maintain integrity and avoid offending the indigenous community. It is, however important that the method of transferal of information is tweaked for a non-indigenous audience for an effective assimilation of information.

I would set up a meeting with local government, alongside with our logistics department, to discuss the merits, on a sociological level, of such a project so we can attain approval to conduct events in a public arena.

The story-telling is not designed to instruct audiences on specific methods of environmental preservation, but is designed to instill a respect for our natural surroundings and gain long lasting interests in seeking out those methods.

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Mark Olive is another renowned Indigenous chef in Australia, and internationally, best known as 'The Black Olive'. He is a Bundjalung man, from the river regions of New South Wales, with 30 years experience cooking; on television with his Outback Cafe series, on lifestyle and travel shows, and at Indigenous celebrations and food events.

Training under a European chef, Mark has since created a distinct for himself combining native Australian ingredients and contemporary cooking.

At the end of cooking demonstrations, we would hold a conversation between Dale and Mark on sourcing products and how they have shaped their cooking.

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Mark Olive (aka 'The Black Olive') is Australia's renowned Indigenous Chef with his The Outback Cafe series televised in living rooms all over the planet.
Who is Mark Olive?
Mark Olive, known as 'The Black Olive' is Australia's most celebrated and renowned Indigenous chef. He has been cooking for more than 30 years and his charismatic style and creative approach to food have developed him an esteemed reputation and a large following in Australia and around the world.

Mark has cooked and presented locally in Melbourne, across Australia and around the world and is in frequent demand to present and appear at food events, Indigenous celebrations and representing Australia's vibrant culinary and cultural tapestry, right across the world.

Mark is also a host of cooking, lifestyle and travel shows, with his The Outback Cafe series televised in living rooms all over the planet. Mark has a passion for fusing native and Indigenous Australian ingredients with contemporary cooking techniques to create a dynamic and unique gastronomic philosophy. This has led to a remarkable international profile, and the creation of Black Olive Catering, an indigenous catering company in North Melbourne, Victoria.
Where is Mark from?
As a Bundjalung man, Mark's family originated from the Northern Rivers region in NSW. Born in Wollongong, he became interested in cooking as a child after watching his mother and aunts prepare meals. He trained under a European chef and has worked in a variety of kitchen environments ranging from theatres, universities, health services, film sets and in a lá carte restaurants around the globe, as well as cooking in the bush and the earth, some of nature's greatest appliances. In 2008 Mark established his own catering business to share the tastes and flavours of Indigenous Australia that he has melded with his contemporary cooking style .
What makes Mark tick?
Along with his daily business operations, Mark now cooks regularly for clients such as Tourism Australia at large corporate, public and cultural events around the country and the world, bringing his signature infusions of contemporary outback flavours to every occasion.

In 2010 Mark's business was chosen as one of the destinations on Oprah's Victorian itinerary when she travelled to Australia with her Ultimate Audience. Her lucky guests were treated to a cultural experience of indigenous food, art and storytelling during Mark's infamous cooking demonstration.

2013 is a big year for Mark - with more local and international travel taking him to food and cultural events around the country and abroad, he will continue to champion the cuisine for which he has become known as well as providing guidance and opportunity to young Indigenous Australians - in the hope of handing down his knowledge and skills to the next generation of cooks.

There is more television in the offing too. Mark has teamed up with a good buddy of his to make a TV show that sees them travel across Australia, meeting the people that have inspired him and that he hopes to inspire. Mark also plans to establish an academy to train young Indigenous people in food and cooking, influencing the next generation of Black Olives.

Due to his success, Mark has been selected to be a member of Tourism Australia's 'Friends of Australia' program, which was "created to harness the power of bright and influential individuals who are making a name for themselves on the world stage, and who have a genuine affinity with Australia".

Mark Olive is available for appearances and events and would be happy to be considered as a part of your next celebration.

For event, media, TV and appearance inquiries, please mail info@blackolive.net.au or telephone +61 424 159 946.

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Melbourne's Best Indigenous Chef at Black Olive

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Who is Mark Olive? Mark Olive, known as 'The Black Olive' is Australia's most celebrated and renowned Indigenous chef. He has been cooking for more than 30 years and his charismatic style and creative approach to food have developed him an esteemed reputation and a large following in Australia and around the world.

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This second image, retrieved from The Aboriginal Land Rights Act brochure, is another example of the kind of brochure design we would employ. It is an easy to follow infographic on the process of correct consent regarding decision made about Aboriginal land. This will be to further teach the audience about respect for traditional owners, in conjunction with information on hunting and land management in these communities.

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This graphic, taken from the article in 1MillionWomen "Why Haven't We Embraced Indigenous Foods?" is the kind of attractive design which would be used to develop a brochure of recipes and a native foods guide to be handed out at the stalls. The article also addresses some of the reasons why we haven't seen a great deal of hype and interest in using native produce, such as the year-round demand for produce we see today which does not complement the natural way that produce grows; seasonally. This is also some of the content information that we would like to address.

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Example: Indigenous Sustainable Science Event

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Example: Indigenous Sustainable Science Event

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This event held at the Queensland Museum was host to bush tucker chef, Dale Chapman from The Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Projects and Learning Programs, sustainable resources advocate Mibu Fisher, biocultural strategist John Locke, and previous manager for Indigenous Engagement at CSIRO, Jim Walker. While the event itself was not organised in the same manner as First People, Earth First, the mandate is much the same; educating the public on the environmentally sustainable capabilities of Indigenous communities, and their long-honed solutions to practical problems.

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Event Description

On a wing: taxidermy display & art exhibition Everybody knows that birds have feathers and fly but did you know that they can sing, imitate, walk, run, swim, and dive...

Queensland Museum

Event Description

On a wing: a taxidermy display & art exhibition Everybody knows that birds have feathers and fly but did you know that they can sing, imitate, walk, run, swim, and...

Queensland Museum

Event Description

Albert Street is celebrating the start of World Science Festival Brisbane with a pop-up pocket park celebrating the intersection of science and art. The street will be filled with green...

Albert Street, Brisbane City

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Queensland Museum Event Description Albert Street

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The First Scientists - Aboriginal Science in Queensland - World Science Festival

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Meet the Speakers From Australian bush tucker to French chefs in Nice, Dale Chapman is busy sharing her special blend of ancient Australian foods and contemporary cuisine internationally and at home. Born in Dirranbandi, Kooma tribal lands, Dale always had a passion for cooking and moved to Brisbane to start her apprenticeship.

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Example: Celebration of First People Event

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Example: Celebration of First People Event

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Clancestry, A Celebration of Country is an annual, Brisbane QPAC based event celebrating the worlds First Nation Peoples, in particular, Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people. The event is a week long, free arts and culture festival which is host to workshops, performances, and conversations, showcasing tradition and contemporary practices. This festival seemed to echo the same desire to showcase cultural practices with an eye to acknowledging 'first owners'.

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About Clancestry - Clancestry 2015 - Queensland Performing Arts Centre

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Festival celebrating the arts and cultural practices of the world's First Nations Peoples

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One of the steps to preparing this component of the event will be to contact a speaker/cooking demonstrator to head the main performance.
Dale Chapman is an indigenous woman from the Kooma tribal  region in SW Queensland. She is a fully qualified chef with 25 years experience in the field; moving from Queensland to Nice to spread her knowledge of bush tucker and its creative uses, as well as its innumerable health benefits. She has run many Bush Tucker Workshops through her own business: The Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Products.

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Dale Chapman

The Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Products & Learning Programs

Dale is an Indigenous woman, born in Dirranbandi in SW Queensland - Kooma tribal lands, and a fully qualified chef.

Dale has been in the Food Industry most of her working life mainly in the Sunshine Coast region for nearly 25 years. From French cuisine to contemporary Australian, Dale's experience is varied but she is most passionate about bush tucker and has promoted its use for a number of years through her own business known as The Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Products and Learning Programs which she set up in 2000 with nothing more than a few dollars and a little dream.

Today, Dale's expertise as a Bush Tucker Chef is greatly sought after - to lecture and demonstrate her special melange of ancient Australian foods and contemporary cuisine in her own unique Indigenous style. In October 2004, and again in January/February 2006, Dale was invited to the French Riviera [the Nice College of Hospitality] to teach the French to cook using our own native bush tucker products and to impart some of her Indigenous cooking techniques and recipes.

As a chef and teacher with Aboriginal roots, Dale's goal is not only to introduce these unique foods and tastes to the public but also to re-introduce her People to using bush tucker again.

Dale considers traditional food to be an effective weapon in the fight against heart disease and diabetes, 2 of the major health problems affecting many Aboriginal people today.

Dale conducts numerous Bush Tucker Workshops and Training Sessions as and when required - just use the "Workshops" page on this site to communicate your needs. The workshops are designed for the participants to become aware of the unique array of flavours and textures of bush tucker and how easy it is today to incorporate in our daily lives.

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Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Products & Learning Programs Dale

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GenerationOne | End Indigenous Disadvantage - Take Action Now!

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The Dilly Bag Bush Tucker Products & Learning Programs Dale is an Indigenous woman, born in Dirranbandi in SW Queensland - Kooma tribal lands, and a fully qualified chef. Dale has been in the Food Industry most of her working life mainly in the Sunshine Coast region for nearly 25 years.

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The following article on The Conversation discusses the misconception of indigenous culture as being 'primitive'. We have yet to fully acknowledge how far their knowledge, developed over 40,000 years, extends when it comes to the natural world. However, it is known that they have possessed a great knowledge of seasonal cycles, navigation techniques, bush medicine and careful land management.

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Just one generation ago Australian schoolkids were taught that Aboriginal people couldn't count beyond five, wandered the desert scavenging for food, had no civilisation, couldn't navigate and peacefully acquiesced when Western Civilisation rescued them in 1788.

How did we get it so wrong?

Australian historian Bill Gammage and others have shown that for many years land was carefully managed by Aboriginal people to maximise productivity. This resulted in fantastically fertile soils, now exploited and almost destroyed by intensive agriculture.

In some cases, Aboriginal people had sophisticated number systems, knew bush medicine, and navigated using stars and oral maps to support flourishing trade routes across the country.

They mounted fierce resistance to the British invaders, and sometimes won significant military victories such as the raids by Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy.

Iryna1 / Shutterstock.com

Only now are we starting to understand Aboriginal intellectual and scientific achievements.

The Yolngu people, in north eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, long recognised how the tides are linked to the phases of the moon.

Back in the early 17th century, Italian scientist Galileo Galilei was still proclaiming, incorrectly, that the moon had nothing to do with tides.

Some Aboriginal people had figured out how eclipses work, and knew how the planets moved differently from the stars. They used this knowledge to regulate the cycles of travel from one place to another, maximising the availability of seasonal foods.

Why are we only finding this out now?

We owe much of our knowledge about pre-European contact Aboriginal culture to the great anthropologists of the 20th century. Their massive tomes tell us much about Aboriginal art, songs and spirituality, but are strangely silent about intellectual achievements.

They say very little about Aboriginal understanding of how the world works, or how they navigated. In anthropologist Adolphus Elkin's 1938 book The Australian Aborigines: How to Understand Them he appears to have heard at least one songline (an oral map) without noting its significance.

[...] its cycle of the hero's experiences as he journeyed from the north coast south and then back again north [...] now in that country, then in another place, and so on, ever coming nearer until at last it was just where we were making the recording.

How could these giants of anthropology not recognise the significance of what they had been told?

The answer dawned on me when I gave a talk on Aboriginal navigation at the National Library of Australia, and posed this same question to the audience.

Afterwards, one of Elkin's PhD students told me that Elkin worked within fixed ideas about what constituted Aboriginal culture. I realised she was describing what the American philosopher Thomas Kuhn referred to when he coined the term " paradigm ".

The paradigm problem

According to Kuhn, all of us (even scientists and anthropologists) are fallible. We grow up with a paradigm (such as "Aboriginal culture is primitive") which we accept as true. Anything that doesn't fit into that paradigm is dismissed as irrelevant or aberrant.

Only 200 years ago, people discussed whether Aboriginal people were " sub-human ". Ideas change slowly, and the underlying message lingers on, long after it has been falsified.

As late as 1923 Aboriginal Australians were described as " a very primitive race of people ".

Not so primitive

The prevailing paradigm in Elkin's time was that Aboriginal culture was primitive, and Aboriginal people couldn't possibly say anything useful about how to manage the land, or how to navigate.

Kitch Bain

So an anthropologist might study the Aboriginal people as objects, just as a biologist might study insects under a microscope, but would learn nothing from Aboriginal people themselves.

Even now, the paradigm lives on. In my experience, well-educated white Australians, trying so hard to be politically correct, often still seem to find it difficult to escape their childhood image of "primitive" Aboriginal people.

We must overcome the intellectual inertia that keeps us in that old paradigm, stopping us from recognising the enormous contribution that Aboriginal culture can make to our understanding of the world, and to our attempts to manage it.

As Thomas Kuhn said:

[...] when paradigms change, the world itself changes with them.

Still to learn

In recent years, it has become clear that traditional Aboriginal people knew a great deal about the sky, knew the cycles of movements of the stars and the complex motions of the sun, moon and planets.

There is even found a sort of " Aboriginal Stonehenge ", that points to the sunset on midsummers day and midwinters day. And I suspect that this is only the tip of the iceberg of Aboriginal astronomy.

So in the debate about whether our schools should include Aboriginal perspectives in their lessons, I argue that kids studying science today could also learn much from the way that pre-contact Aboriginal people used observation to build a picture of the world around them.

This "ethno-science" is similar to modern science in many ways, but is couched in appropriate cultural terms, without expensive telescopes and particle accelerators.

So if you want to learn about the essence of how science works, how people learn to solve practical problems, the answer may be clearer in an Aboriginal community than in a high-tech laboratory.

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Aboriginal people - how to misunderstand their science

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Just one generation ago Australian schoolkids were taught that Aboriginal people couldn't count beyond five, wandered the desert scavenging for food, had no civilisation, couldn't navigate and peacefully acquiesced when Western Civilisation rescued them in 1788. How did we get it so wrong?

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The traditional people of the Whitsundays region, the Ngaro or "vanishing" people, have long been a nomadic and seafaring. Their transition to hunting on the water in canoes was a necessity as the rising water levels submerged the shoal which connected Whitsunday Island to the mainland.

During this transition, the people moved from using primarily shellfish, turtle and small fish, to hunting larger turtles, small whales and dugong. These resources were always carefully managed by the ancestral Ngaro people.

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The Whitsundays may now be one of Australia's most well-known tourist playgrounds, but it is first and foremost Ngaro country. Queensland archaeo-anthropologist, Dr. Bryce Barker, has discovered some of the oldest archaeolological sites in Eastern Australia within the Island group.

The Whitsundays may now be one of Australia's most well-known tourist playgrounds, but it is first and foremost Ngaro country. Archaeo-anthropologist, Dr. Bryce Barker has discovered some of the oldest archaeolological sites in Eastern Australia within the Island group, and evidence of a peoples who made their living from the sea.

"It's the first archaeological work that's been done on the Whitsunday Islands, and some of the first comprehensive archaeological work to be done in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park," says Dr. Barker.

"The Whitsunday people were different even from coastal people, in that they were a full on maritime people. They hunted large marine animals from very sturdy three-piece bark canoes, and sometimes outrigger canoes. Their domain was the sea, the reefs and the tidal mangrove systems within it."

"One of the reasons we know about things like bark canoes is that people in the Whitsundays were one of the first peoples to have contact with Europeans in Australia. Captain [then Lieutenant] Cook first recorded an outrigger canoe in 1788."

"The Ngaro experienced continual contact with shipping going through the Whitsunday passage from 1788. So we have a very good historical record relating to the Ngaro people, the kinds of canoes they had and to some extent their ways of life."

"In the archaeology we find literally hundreds of sites on the islands. Some of these are what we call rock shelter sites, where during the wet season people would come and camp and build their fires."

"In the Nara Inlet [Hook Island], we got a date of initial occupation, back to 9,000 years ago. That is the oldest site discovered in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and one of the oldest sites so far discovered on the East coast of Australia."

One of the reasons Dr. Barker says there aren't any older sites, is that formation of the Whitsunday Islands group is a recent geo-coastal change.

"Mackay is now on the coast. But 18,000 years ago the coast was over a hundred kilometres to the East of where it is now. During the ice age, water was locked into the ice caps, which lowered the sea level. When people first started using that site at Nara Inlet, it [Hook Island] wasn't an island - it was the mainland."

"As the global climate warmed, the ice melted and the seas rose. It got to the level we now know today around 6,000 years ago. Many of the older sites are now under the sea."

"From about 9,000 - 3,000 years ago we find shellfish, fish and occasional turtle in the sites. But 3,000 years ago there is a dramatic change. We start to see an expansion in types of food - small whale, dugong and large turtle start being hunted."

The detachable harpoon point, a vital tool in hunting large marine species from small canoes was developed at this time. "They would spear the animal, and let it tire itself out, before bringing it in to the side of the canoe and returning to shore."

This method of hunting stopped large amounts of blood escaping into in the water and the Ngaro were able to avoid attracting competing predators, such as sharks.

Dr. Barker says that all the species hunted by ancestral Ngaro were a managed resource.

"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can point to the archaeological record to show that they were able to hunt sustainably for thousands of years. It's only in the more modern era where we see a severe decline in numbers. It's clearly linked to the higher density activity and loss of habitat due to fertiliser run off, for example."

The late Holocene began approximately 3,000 years ago, and Dr. Barker says there is an explosion in the number of sites dating from this time throughout coastal Eastern Australia.

"The major changes occurring could be to do with population increase, and because of that, territories becoming more bounded. People start going to a lot more trouble to demarcate their boundaries, than had been necessary before."

South Molle Island, another of the Whitsunday group also has one of the largest pre-European stone quarries in Australia. The distinctive stone from this quarry was used to make a specific tool, called a juan knife.

"We can find artefacts from that quarry traded right up to Cape Cleveland, just south of Townsville, so it was a very significant stone source for the region. One that the Whitsundays' people probably did quite well out of."

Dr. Barker says they don't know exactly what it was exchanged for, but suggests that it may have been traded in return for social access (such as access to marriage or access to ceremony). If it was traded for material goods, these must have decomposed, as they haven't found any archaeological records.

The historical record suggests European interaction with Ngaro people, from 1788 to 1861, appears to have been largely amicable and conflict free. There are records of outrigger canoes meeting with shipping in the Whitsunday Passage and trading dugong and turtle meat for glass and nails.

"In some of the archaeological sites we find these artefacts too," says Dr. Barker. "They would use the glass in much the same way as they would use stone, and the nails were used as spear points."

However, once Bowen began to be settled in 1861, relations between Ngaro and settlers became strained. Bowen's old homes were principally made form hoop pine, sourced from the Whitsundays.

"There was a realisation that these people weren't passing through anymore - but they were actually encroaching upon the resources of aboriginal people. Then we start getting reports of attacks. A number of attacks were made on shipping, a couple of ships were even burnt and people were killed."

"The Native Police then went through there. From 1870 onwards, the traditional way of life that we have recorded archaeologically, was gone."

"The traditional life was so disrupted and people were forcibly removed from their land. A lot of traditional knowledge was dissipated. Aboriginal people continued to live in the Whitsundays, but they were no longer living the life they used to. They were employed by the sawmills on the islands, and there were Ngaro people working for the Nicholsons on Lindeman Island."

"Those contacts, and connections and the descendants of those people still live within this region today - in Proserpine, Mackay and Townsville. They still have stories, dreaming stories and stories related to places and events," says Dr. Barker.

"Their connection to the Whitsundays remains. Their way of life certainly changed, but they remain steadfastly Ngaro and strongly identify with country. They didn't just become extinct or go away. "

For those interested in learning more about aboriginal occupation of the Whitsundays, both Proserpine Museum and the Airlie Beach National Parks office have more information. Tel (07) 4946 7022. Dr. Barker's book, The Sea People, is available through Pandanus Press, Canberra, 2004.

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The Whitsundays may now be one of Australia's most well-known tourist playgrounds, but it is first and foremost Ngaro country. Queensland archaeo-anthropologist, Dr. Bryce Barker, has discovered some of the oldest archaeolological sites in Eastern Australia within the Island group. The Whitsundays may now be one of Australia's most well-known tourist playgrounds, but it is first and foremost Ngaro country.

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Research: Contested Land and Hunting Rights

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Research: Contested Land and Hunting Rights

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In showcasing indigenous cooking techniques and produce choices, we will also educate guests on contested hunting rights, and the misconception surrounding Aboriginal land use and management.

As the traditional custodians of the land, indigenous people have long been careful managers of populations in terms of hunting. However, the general misconception of the extent of their knowledge has allowed people to argue against reclamation of title, and permits to hunt on conservation sites.

Debates surrounding the effects of hunting on dugong populations are futile; indigenous aims have always been directed at conservation, avoiding endangered populations, and maintaining hunting at the local level. While catches have always been used in ceremonies and as items for exchange, the primary purpose for hunting has always been subsistence, and commercial fishing practices have been found to have a far greater effect on populations than hunting alone.

It is important, not only to restore land rights formally, but also the land use. To acknowledge indigenous involvement in traditional species management, and to allow customary uses of resources for cultural practices where it works compatibly with conservation.

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An Aboriginal student from Strabroke Island in Australia wrote a noteworthy essay in 1993 on the question "What is cultural heritage?" He wrote that for him, and his people, all this is in the land and all that is in the knowledge about the land and the life of the people is cultural heritage. He gave as an example, the shellfish eugarie (pipi) which he had been taught by his father to gather, and which appear in the shell midden deposits accumulated by his ancestors.

Both the resources and the exploitation of those resources were a part of this man's cultural heritage. The decline in traditional food resources, and in knowledge about Aboriginal management ad exploitation techniques, are matters of some concern in Australia. Loss of cultural knowledge is not just a process that occurred in the past, when Aboriginal children were prevented from speaking their language, or were taken from their parents. It is happening now, when access to traditional resources and traditional ways of life is denied to Aboriginal people. The question of Aboriginal hunting lands in Australia is one perspective on this issue.

The debate on Aboriginal hunting in Australia, particularly in national parks, has often been dominated by those concerned with nature conservation issues. In this article it will be argued that the primary issue in the debate is the survival of indigenous culture. The geographical focus of discussion will be the Australian state of Queensland, where the government is currently considering possible legislative options for permitting indigenous communities to hunt and gather on protected lands.

BACKGROUND

Recent legislation in Queensland has paved the way for limited hunting by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The Queensland Aboriginal Land Act, 1991, allows that gazettal of some national parks for claim by Aboriginal people.

Following a successful claim in these parks, Aboriginal people may be permitted to hunt traditional foods in certain circumstances and subject to controls established in a plan of management for the park and the species concerned.

The Queensland Nature Conservation Act, 1992, allows the taking of protected wildlife on private land by Aboriginal people, provided such activity is permitted by a species conservation plan and approval from the landowner has been gained.

The current debate is about whether or not to extend these rights and allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to hunt on any government-owned and-controlled land to which they have traditional links, including land reserved for conservation.

Those most vocally opposed to Aboriginal hunting rights in national parks are some biologists, and many in conservation movements, although there is considerable variety of opinion within this movement. This opposition has been supported by letter from concerned citizens in the press and in the publications of some conservation organizations.

DISCUSSION

From a review of the literature and letters to the press, there seem to be four main reasons for opposition to traditional hunting in national parks, summarized as follows: 1 National Parks exist to protect natural landscapes, natural systems, and biodiversity, not to encourage destruction of resources; 2 Allowing Aborigines to hunt in national parks will endanger species; 3 If hunting is to be permitted, Aborigines should be restricted to traditional technologies; 4 It is discriminatory. "It's one law for us and another law for them."

I will now analyze each of these objections in turn. 1 National parks exist to protect natural landscapes, natural systems, and biodiversity.

Let us consider this concept of a "natural landscape," often referred to as "pristine" or a "wilderness." Ask anyone you know "what is wilderness" and 90% of responses will be along the lines of "a place untouched by the hand of man."

But in Australia there is no such place! Aboriginal people had occupied every Australian Environment before 20,000 years ago, from the arid desert heart to the ice caps of Tasmania (Dodson, 1992). Aboriginal people have therefore been a part of all Australian environments for at least 1000 generations, and likely many more generations. During this period Aboriginal people managed the land in various ways - by the use of fire, by hunting, by water control techniques - all rooted in traditional ecological knowledge.

For the past 50,000 years or more Australia has been a hunted and a modified landscape. Present day so-called "neutral" ecosystems, and the biodiversity within them, owe their very existence to humanly created ecological processes proceeding without the influence of humans (Head, 1990; 1993).

Aboriginal land management processes have so shaped Australia's ecosystems that the abandonment of traditional land use practices is now seen as a major factor in the extinction of medium-sized mammals (Flannery, 1989; 1990b).

Clearly there is no such thing as a natural national park or "wilderness" in the sense that it is pristine and without the influence of humans.

World heritage areas listed under the category of "natural heritage," and considered by many to be largely "wilderness," are consequently problematic for Aboriginal perspectives on landscape (Ross, in press). One example is Fraser Island, recently added to the World Heritage (natural heritage) list. Some management strategies employed on Fraser Island since its listing have been criticized on the philosophical basis that they interfere with the "natural processes" on the Island. In fact some revegetation works to stabilize an eroding midden were actually removed by a local environmental activist for these reasons. Yet Fraster Island has been a cultural landscape, managed by humans and modified by fire and hunting, for at least 1500 years (McNiven and Russell, in press).

We need to reassess and redefine our western paradigm of national parks and wildernesses as sanctuaries (De Lacy, 1992:390; Stevens, 1994; Guy, in press). We need to incorporate into our thinking the concept of cultural landscapes (Ross, in press), and accept that humans have shaped the very ecological systems which drive Australia's "wildernesses."

We also need to recognize that at present "immensely important Aboriginal cultural landscapes are being conserved in the national parks and reserve systems" by biologists (Sullivan, 1992: 172). And Aboriginal people - the original managers - are being denied access both to traditional land use practices and to present day land management decisions about their land.

I believe that the problem is one of differing paradigms (Ellis, 1994), a clash of worldviews. Most white Australians, and many conservationists, have a concept of "traditional" Aborigines as archetypal conservationists, living off the land in total harmony with their surroundings. This paradism has as its corollary the view that present day Aborigines are somehow "tainted" because of contact with white culture, and incapable of looking after their land as their forebears did.

This is a simplistic view of the past. As Lesley Head has pointed out: 1 Aboriginal lifestyles were sustainable in the environment for a period of 40,000 years.... This sustainability has more to do with technological and population limitations, in association with detailed local knowledge, than with people being inherent conservationists (Head, 1990:452).

To deny Aboriginal people their role in the creation of the Australian landscape is to deny them their place in the history of Australia, and perpetuates the fiction of terra nullius - a land unowned and unmanaged (McNiven and Russell, in press). 2 Aboriginal hunting threatens the survival of endangered species.

Another argument against recognizing Aboriginal hunting rights and access to traditional resources is to imply that permitting traditional hunting will threaten the survival of endangered species. The most commonly cited examples in support of this position are the extinction of megafauna and recent cases of Aboriginal hunting which have destroyed large numbers of certain species, such as the dugong (an animal similar to a manatee).

Megafauna include several species of giant kangaroo (e.g., Protemnodon sp., Macropus titan, Sthenurus and Procoptodon), giant marsupials with no surviving descendants (e.g., Diprotodon, Zygomaturus, and Palorchestes), a predator (Thylacoleo carnifex), giant wombats, goannas, and emus. Some 60 or more species, all of which are now extinct, once roamed the Australian continent.

All these species coexisted, for a while, with Aborigines, and there are those who believe that Aboriginal hunting and firing practices were the sole causes of their extinction (Jones, 1968). However, there is no archaeological or other scientific evidence to support this notion despite targeted research (R.V.S. Wright, personal communication). In fact, many archaeologists and palaoecologists believe that, at most. Aboriginal hunting was only one of many factors in the extinctions, with climactic change probably playing the most significant role (Flannery, 1990a).

Dugong Hunting

To set this issue in its context, it is important to note that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are likely to have been fisherfolk even before their arrival on this continent (Bowdler, 1977). Fishing, as with many forms of food collecting, was never a purely "subsistence" activity; food was also used in ceremonies, at large communal gatherings, as items for exchange, and stored for famine times (Cordell, 1991; Williams, 1979). Yet subsistence was always the principal focus of food collecting (Meehan, 1982), and although [those involved in] contemporary hunting and foraging for subsistence now partake in non-Aboriginal techniques and elements, the centrality of subsistence is undiminished and continues to reinforce peoples' knowledge and connection to ancestral countries (Cordell, 1991:27).

It is easy to cast blame at modern Aboriginal hunters for the decline in the dugong population. Dugong hunting, which uses powered boats and modern hunting technology, is very visible. However there are no accurate data on the effects of Aboriginal hunting on dugong populations. Furthermore it is now widely acknowledged that there are many pressures on dugong populations.

Most specialists in this area now concur that commercial fishing practices have a far greater impact on dugong numbers than does Aboriginal hunting, but because commercial fishing practices are less visible, they are often easily overlooked: Hunting, even with guns and power boats, has insignificant impact on Dugong populations compared with the large numbers killed accidentally in the nets of commercial fishermen (Marsh, cited in Toyne and Johnston, 1991).

Overall it would appear that traditional hunting practices, which focus primarily on subsistence, do not cause pressure on endangered fauna:

Most research indicates that the effects of hunting and gathering are very localized and that rare species are not usually targeted (Figgis, ACF, cited in Hill, 1992:272).

Furthermore, many Aboriginal communities have publicly stated that their primary concern is conservation, not species destruction:

A delegation of the Cape YorkLand Council met with the main Queensland conservation groups on May 15, 1991 to discuss their concerns with the proposals for Aboriginal claims on National Parks. The Land Council assured them of its agreement that conservation should be the primary consideration in determining arrangements and use of National Parks by Aboriginal owners and that the Land Council had no problem with this requirement being legislated (Cape York Land Council, 1991:8). 3 Use of traditional technology.

The antagonism surrounding this issue appears to be linked to the paradigm of the traditional Aborigine as a primeval conservationist. Part of this paradigm involves "freeze-framing' tradition" (Cordell, 1993:11). To see Aboriginal people using nontraditional technology in the exercise of traditional hunting somehow shatters that paradigm. So we see that those opposed to traditional Aboriginal hunting are often also opposed to the use of nontraditional technology by Aboriginal hunters.

One of the main arguments used in support of "turning back the clock" on hunting technology is that, if Aboriginal people use four wheel drives and rifles, they will be able to take far more animals over much greater areas than was possible in pre-European times. For this reason, many feel that if traditional hunting, on any lands, is ever to be allowed, Aboriginal people should be restricted to using traditional technologies.

The main problem with this notion is that it fails to recognize that technology is far more than just weapons. Technology includes ecological knowledge. Our western paradigms, obsessed with material goods, may make it hard for us to recognize this (Lewis, 1993:9).

Traditional Aboriginal knowledge of ecological management is knowledge accumulated over more than 2000 generations. Our modern science of ecology is only two generations old. No wonder we have made so many ecological mistakes! Perhaps we should remove the environmental mote from our own eyes before we attempt to remove the speck from the eyes of Aboriginal hunters.

It is widely acknowledged that Aboriginal people may have enormous contributions to make to our knowledge of native species (both animal and plant) and to the management of ecosystems, whether within national parks and reserves or outside them.

Experienced Aboriginal hunters, equipped with whatever weapons, traditional or otherwise, possess a much more sophisticated, much more elaborately developed technology than contemporary, non-Aboriginal sports hunters, outfitted with the most expensive high-powered weapons, four wheel drive vehicles, and the best survival gear... Missing from the technology of such "weekend warriors" are the kinds and degrees of knowledge held by Aboriginal hunters (Lewis, 1992:18).

But if Aboriginal hunters are to be limited to using traditional weapons, we must consider what is meant by "traditional." Archaeologists have documented continual cultural change during the 50,000 years or more of Aboriginal occupation of Australia. These changes continue to the present day, and to deny these developments is to deny indigenous people their identity in the modern world. As John Cordell notes:

Indigenous people are constantly refashioning customs today, reconstructing traditions and the past to affirm cultural identity in the present (Cordell, 1993:13).

So what is it that critics mean by traditional technology? Are each of the cultural phases seen in the archaeological record to be regarded as equally traditional? And does "traditional" include changes associated with contact with outside groups, such as those who brought the dingo to the Australian continent some 4,000 years ago? Or Macassan traders of the last millennium? Or the British?

Should Aboriginal hunters be restricted to the unbarbed spears and core tools of 40,000 BP (years before present)? Or could they be allowed to include boomerangs, which only appeared after 10,000 BP? Or perhaps the stone-barbed spears of the last 4000 years could be considered? Or stone hatchets, known in southern Australia only in the last 4000 years? Or can steel hatchets, given to Aborigines by Europeans as a common means of payment, be allowed?

And if Aboriginal hunters are to be restricted in this way, should all sporting shooters also have to use their traditional weapons from the same time period?

Clearly this is nonsense. White Australia has been denying Aboriginal people the right to carry traditional weapons for 200 years. Only three years ago an Aboriginal hunter in New South Wales was charged with cruelty to animals for killing a goanna with a club, a traditional hunting weapon. There are many contradictions in this argument.

Another issue for the hunters themselves is that, without the use of motorized transport, most Aboriginal people would be unable to reach their traditional hunting areas, the only lands in Queensland they are permitted to hunt under both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal law. And it is only through the active continuation of traditional hunting practices on traditional lands that traditional ecological knowledge can survive.

As Eugene Hunn (1993:14 - 15)notes:

Just as the extinction of biological species represents a loss of genetic diversity and thus a restriction of future evolutionary options, so also does the loss of traditional ecological knowledge and the traditional cultures that generated such systems represent a reduction in the range of choices available to future generations. 4 Traditional Aboriginal hunting rights are discriminatory.

Yet another argument against the recognition of traditional Aboriginal rights to hunt to traditional lands is that such recognition discriminates against non-Aboriginal people.

In many ways this issue of "rights" can be linked to the 1992 High Court decision on Native Title. Many (and particularly some journalists and politicians) have argued that this High Court decision is, of itself, discriminatory, as the HIgh Court has "given" Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders rights to land that non-indigenous Australians do not have. The High Court has done nothing of the sort. it has simply made a declaration about the interpretation of common law in Australia, and asserted that the declaration of British sovereignty "did not automatically render Aborigines trespassers on their traditional land" (Brennan, 1993:7). In other words the HIgh Court ruling recognized that Aborigines and Torres Strati Islanders had traditional ownership rights to the land prior to British invasion, that these rights had never been surrendered (although in many cases such rights have been extinguished by subsequent actions of governments).

The Native Title issue is more than just about land rights. It is also about land use:

[Native Title] is about owning and/or having the ability to use the land occasionally or permanently within a complex web of cultural, spiritual, economic, political, and social rights and responsibilities (Duffy, 1993:2).

There is little worth in land rights if responsibilities for land management do not come with the package. These are basic rights of land ownership, and as such they are not at all discriminatory.

Let it not be said that the fair and equitable recognition of Aboriginal rights to land is discrimination. To call for the acknowledgment of the land rights of people who have never surrendered those rights is not discrimination. Certainly, what has been done cannot be undone. But what can now be done to remedy the deeds of yesterday must not be put off until tomorrow (Pope John Paul II, 1986, cited in Cape York Land Council, 1991:9).

CONCLUSION

In summary, to deny Aboriginal people their rights to traditional hunting is "a new dispossession," in the words of Toyne and Johnston (1991). Decisions are being made outside the Aboriginal community and are then being imposed upon the community, with little or no consultation (Pearson, 1988; Smyth, 1992; Wallace, 1992).

Such decisions conflict with Articles 8 and 10 of the United Nations International Convention on Biodiversity, to which Australia is a signatory. These articles call for the involvement of indigenous peoples in species management, and for the encouragement of customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices, where such practices are compatible with conservation goals.

Similar consensus exists within other international organizations. At the 1992 Fourth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas, sponsored by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), there were numerous recommendations made regarding the role of indigenous land managers in protected area management. One example is that from a workshop on people in protected areas:

IUCN should urge protected area managers to acknowledge the conservation and resource management potential of customary and indigenous tenure and further assess the implications of local property systems for sustaining biodiversity. Accordingly IUCN should develop a policy to support indigenous peoples' and other traditional communities' own tenure based resource management strategies, and initiatives to integrate their rights and interests in protected are management.

At present there is little more than token involvement of Aboriginal people in national park management in Queensland, and in several other Australian states. As Noel Pearson has observed:

The present unitary system of management is resulting in the further dispossession of Aboriginal people of their ability to, and for them to, manage their own lands (Pearson, 1988:1).

Clearly there is a need for a two-way process of management. Rosemary Hill has echoed the call of the Australian Law Reform Commission:\

Conservation goals are more likely to be achieved, not by denying Aboriginal people's rights, but by working with people whose rights have been recognized to ensure conservation is achieved. The principles established by the Law Reform Commission (1986) - that a determination of traditional should focus on the purpose of the activity, not the methods, and that where a conflict occurs between conservation and traditional practice, the former should take precedence - have been supported by Aboriginal people (Hill, 1992:272).

However I believe we should go further than this. Biological conservation is not the primary concern in the debate. The issue is the survival of Aboriginal cultural heritage. Claims regarding rights of access to traditional lands and traditional resources "should not have to pass a conservation test" (Cordell, 1993:5), and conservation goals should not take precedence over cultural and social justice concerns. Issues such as management and biological conservation must take second place in the debate.

Why should Aboriginal people not be able to make the decisions about the management of their lands? Why should governments, or biologists, or conservationists, or cultural heritage managers, have a power of veto which is not available to the main protagonists in this case - the Aboriginal people themselves!

With the passing of the Native Title Act (1994) we in Australia stand at a vital threshold. The way in which we respond to the challenge of the High Court decision on Native Title, and related issues of access to traditional subsistence resources, will decide whether or not we will ever achieve meaningful reconciliation in this country.

Article copyright Cultural Survival, Inc.

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International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

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United Nations International Convention on Biodiversity

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Traditional Aboriginal Hunting in Australia: A cultural heritage issue

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An Aboriginal student from Strabroke Island in Australia wrote a noteworthy essay in 1993 on the question "What is cultural heritage?" He wrote that for him, and his people, all this is in the land and all that is in the knowledge about the land and the life of the people is cultural heritage.

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Why is food important in considering climate change?

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Why is food important in considering climate change?

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Our unsustainable food production, In Australia and globally, plays a role in so many of todays most pressing issues; the population's health, imbalance of profits in the food production industry between classes, and the industries contribution to climate change.

Sociologist Dr Terry Leahy from the University of Newcastle wrote the following article for Permaculture Australia. In it, he explores the reasons why we have developed such an unsustainable food industry, and why that matters. He addresses the underlying problem of capitalism and how it is a tough structure to change. Even when society is presented with more socially and sustainably inclined methods of production, the biggest profit margin will always win.

This is why we need to approach it from a local level, and provide the  individual with the right information to make informed food choices.

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...by Terry Leahy, June 2007

Sociology and Anthropology Discipline
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
University of Newcastle
University Drive
Callaghan, NSW 2308

Three Main Questions

What are the environmental problems of agriculture today?

What agricultural technologies are available to deal with these problems?

What are the social causes of these problems and what are the social alternatives?

As we humans of the planet earth go about producing and consuming our food we set in train a long list of environmental problems. What we are doing is unsustainable because the environmental damage we are causing will make it harder and harder for us to live well. We are also drastically reducing the opportunities for other forms of life. These problems come out of specific social structures. It is not "us" as a mass of individuals or even "us", meaning the whole of society, that creates environmental problems. They come from our relationships with each other, relationships of class, economy, work and power. It is possible to set out some of the ways in which current practices of food production damage the environment and also to look at some of the alternatives. Agricultural strategies designed to achieve commercial success are inevitably constrained by the market. Often the more satisfactory environmental solution is impossible in the market place. We can also look what kinds of social structures might deal with this crisis. While capitalism may be considered to be a problem, alternative social structures seem unlikely to gain popular support soon, whether we are talking about more nationalised ownership of the economy, an anarchist gift economy or a deconstruction of industrial civilisation.

Environmental problems and food production

In the developed countries

In rich countries with high labour costs, technologies designed to save labour costs cause environmental problems.

Monocultures, fertilisers, pests and weeds

The term monoculture is used when land produces a single crop. With farming industry based on large pieces of land serviced by machinery and cheap fuel, monocultural production is cheaper than growing a variety of crops together. However, a single crop is the perfect environment for a pest or disease - it spreads easily and can destroy all the produce (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992, p. 53; Watson 1992). So toxic chemical pesticides are used. These cause some damage to human health and also kill off microbes, earthworms, insects and animals which can actually aid food production (Leu 2006). After time, pests develop resistance to pesticides. The crop may be unable to be grown at all or even more toxic pesticides could be called in (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992; Mannion 1995).

Monocultural production also makes considerable use of artificial fertilisers such as superphosphates. These destroy microorganisms that normally create soil fertility. They also acidify soils. The result is reduced agricultural productivity. Up to 60 million hectares of Australian agricultural land will become too acidic for plant growth in the next ten years (Cullen, Williams & Curtis 2003, p. 3). Soluble fertiliser is also washed into waterways and causes a problem of nutrient overload. The fertiliser in the water provides nutrient on which algae can grow. The algae uses up oxygen and water weeds, fishes and insects die. The algae can itself be poisonous, like the blue green algae of the Darling River (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992; Thomas & Kevan 1993; Vanclay & Lawrence 1995).

We can look at two kinds of solutions to these problems.

Food Forest solutions

Some permaculture writers recommend systems that mimic natural woodland environments. (Fern 1997; French 1993; Mollison & Holmgren 1978; Soule & Piper 1992; Whitefield 1998). For example a polyculture or food forest where a mixed variety of foods are grown together. 'Forest gardening' is a strategy in which carbohydrates come from trees or bushes - a food forest of nuts and fruits with an understorey of low vines and shrubs. If pest species do cause a problem it is then confined to some crops. The rest flourish. Pests do not easily move between small pockets of the same crop. In companion planting a specific plant is grown which helps control the pests of the second species. Animals are also part of the food forest - providing fertiliser and eating many pest species. (French 1993; Morrow 1993; Mollison 1988). Crops chosen for a particular location are those that flourish and resist pests (Mollison & Holmgren 1978; Mollison 1988; Watson 1992; Morrow 1993).

Methods of polycultural production could work very well if we did not have a capitalist system. If people grew food for their local neighbourhood and had plenty of time to plant, maintain and harvest by hand, a mixture of species that had to be cared for individually would take time but could sustain the soil and be fun to grow. However, for farmers who are saving labour costs with harvesting machinery, the polyculture solution seems unrealistic (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992, pp. 52-53).

Organics solutions

Another kind of solution to these problems is 'organic' agriculture. In organics, inputs come from organic plant or animal resources - such as animal manure for fertiliser and plant species used to deter pests. No artificial fertilisers or synthetic pesticides are used (Kristiansen & Merfield 2004; Leu 2006). Originally, this kind of agriculture was developed to be healthy for people. There is no danger of long lasting chemical toxicity that can lead to cancers and nerve diseases. This system of agriculture also looks after the environment better.

Methods such as crop rotation, growing living mulch and slashing it to lie on the ground, the use of animal manures, the planting of legumes which fix nitrogen in the soil, or the building of earthworks to increase water retention are all techniques used in organic agriculture to create soil fertility. In organic agriculture, there are no articifial fertilisers to destroy soil organisms, to acidify soils and wreck aquatic environments with nutrient overloads. There are no long lasting pesticide or weed killing chemicals to harm wild species and the micro-organisms in soils (Kasperczyk & Knickel 2006).

While crop yields per hectare are generally lower in organic agriculture, costs of inputs are less and farmers can end up better off if they get higher prices for organic produce (Pretty 1999). Reductions in crop yields after conversion to organics were up to 40% in some European countries but only 10% to 20% in Australia, Canada and the USA (Wynen 2006). While organic yields can be low immediately after conversion they improve over the next five years and can be as high as in conventional agriculture (Leu 2006).

The organics market has been growing at a phenomenal rate in the rich countries of the world - at rates of between 8% and 20% per year (Lockie, Halpin & Pearson 2006, p. 245). In 2004 the total value of the organics market was US$23 billion (Kristiansen & Merfield 2006, p. 10). On the other hand, organic food is still up to 80% more expensive - usually more than the 15% to 20% extra that most buyers will be prepared to pay (Wynen 2006, p. 234; Lockie, Halpin & Pearson 2006, p. 247). The basic reason is the extra labour that goes into organics. Producing composts, spreading manure, weeding by hand, companion planting, resting fields to grow cover crops (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992; Thomas & Kevan 1993). Organic farming also involves a considerable investment in skills and knowledge, in itself expensive (Vanclay & Lawrence 1995; Campbell 1991; Pretty 1999).

It is hard to imagine that the organics market is going to grow year by year until it dominates 90% of the market. It is still only one to two per cent of the food market in rich countries and growth is levelling off where it has been most successful (Lockie, Halpin & Pearson 2006, p. 245).

At a Landcare conference in 2006 I spoke to wheat farmers from Western Australia. Everyone in their region was worried by toxic pesticides and herbicides. After aerial spraying to control locusts, lambing rates would drop by 30%. Fearing birth defects, all pregnant women would leave the district. People were very concerned about Parkinson's disease, cancers, birth defects and the developmental effects of childhood exposure to toxic chemicals.

Nevertheless, these farmers claimed it would be impossible to move to organics. Any individual farmer who tried to do this would not get certification as an 'organic' farmer because of the drift from chemical sprays from neighbouring farms. It would take five years to reach the level of production they now had - the time needed for soils and beneficial organisms to build up after toxic chemicals have been removed (Wynen 2006). This five year window would be financially crippling. They would have to install their own mill to keep their crop separate and market their own product - at great expense. Finally, any farmer who moved to organics would be regarded as a "greenie" and have to put up with the associated stigma at the local schools, sporting clubs, pubs and churches.

Ploughing, cultivation and weed control

Ploughing with machinery creates a seedbed and controls weeds. It saves on labour costs and favours monocultural production. When soil is ploughed the top layer is turned over completely. This destroys microorganisms which create soil fertility. The use of heavy machinery packs the soil down and creates an infertile hard pan (Thomas & Kevan 1993; Gardner 1996).

Ploughed fields are very susceptible to erosion. Rain washes away the topsoil - a non renewable resource for agriculture. The removed topsoil silts waterways, polluting them with excessive nutrients (Land & Water Australia 2002).

So monocultural production of cereals and potatoes is unsustainable. For example in Australia's top wheat growing areas 13 tonnes of soil is lost through erosion for every tonne of wheat produced (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992, p. 40). A thirty year study has revealed that 8 tonnes per hectare of soil is lost in summer cropping of annual cereals - compared with 0.01 tonnes lost from undisturbed native forests (Turner, Wareing, Flinn & Lambert 2004). In the world as a whole soil is being lost to erosion at the rate of 5 tonnes per person per year (Trainer 1995, p.18; see also Watson 1992, p. 21).

Clearly, a food forest strategy is one kind of solution - tree crops produce carbohydrates without the soil being constantly disturbed. So ploughing is abandoned.

Within the organics framework, cereal monocultures are achieved by rotating different crops in different seasons, using hand weeding and some ploughing to reduce weeds. Living mulch, legume crops and fallowing fields are used to keep organic matter in the soil and retain moisture - soils are less frequently exposed to rain and suffer less erosion. So organics protects soils from the effects of ploughing, while retaining a cereal as the basic carbohydrate crop (Morse 2006).

Minimum tillage

Within typical commercial farming one approach that has been used is 'minimum tillage', or'no-till' or 'conservation farming' as it is variously called. By 1996, up to 80% of Australia's cropping farms were using some or all aspects of this technique (Cullen, Williams & Curtis 2003, 11). After the grain is harvested, the stubble and crop residue is left on the field to add organic matter. To kill weeds, the fields are regularly sprayed with herbicides. This technology has been widely adopted in the last few decades. Importantly, it comes without the labour costs associated with organic agriculture.

This technology certainly works to improve soils. The amount of carbon in the soil is higher in conservation farming systems than on conventional farms. There is less ploughing to control weeds and soil is not turned over by the plough - a procedure which kills soil organisms. Instead, to prepare for sowing, tractors are fitted with machinery that chisels a thin furrow deep into the soil. Crop residues and dead weeds rot down to improve soil, protect the ground from sunlight and retain moisture.

Nevertheless, this technology has certain pitfalls. Most of these weed-killing chemicals have a damaging effect on wildlife. For example "Roundup', the most common one, washes into waterways where it kills frogs. It is acutely toxic to beneficial insects, fishes, birds, earthworms and soil microorganisms. It is also a danger to the health of farm workers (Leu 2006, p. 2; Sundquist 2004, 7). Other weed killing chemicals are as bad or worse (Sundquist 2004, 7). For example Atrazine, one of the world's most commonly used herbicides has been found in rain samples from 30 to 90 percent of sites tested in Greece and the USA. It interferes with the endocrine system, causing cancers in humans and animals (Leu 2006, p. 2).

The most problematic aspect of no till technology for farmers is that weeds are developing resistance to all these chemicals. The result is a complicated schedule of different chemical sprays in different months and years to kill different kinds of weeds. The end result of this is that farmers rarely avoid ploughing for weeds at least once a season - with the attendant problems of soil quality and soil erosion.

In other words, the problems of soil erosion that permaculture or organics can actually solve are not addressed in the long term by 'conservation farming'. The toxic effects associated with these chemicals intensifies as weed species develop resistance and more chemicals are sprayed.

Large grazing animals

Large animals grown for meat generally cause environmental problems. Overgrazing is a common response to competitive pressures on prices (Watson 1992). Yet too many sheep or cattle pack the soil down hard, destroying soil aeration and killing soil microorganisms, leaving a hard crust that grows little fodder and does not admit rain. Without cover, the soil easily washes away. These problems are rampant in grazing around the world (Thomas & Kevan 1993; Crosby 1986).

Grazing solutions adapt permaculture to commercial production. Deep-rooted perennial pasture species reduce the risks of salinity and soil erosion. Properties are fenced so paddocks can be rested. In 'rotational grazing', livestock are moved regularly between paddocks. Nevertheless, these systems do not necessarily have much impact on how many animals can be grazed (the 'stocking rate'). The solution to grazing pressure is always to reduce herds and farmers worry that profitability will be reduced. The time required to run a careful grazing management is also relevant (Hutchings 2004; Sundquist 2004).

Agroforestry

Another common technique is to combine grazing with timber crops - 'agroforestry'. The farm benefits from the biodiversity of species in a woodland environment (Holmgren 1994). This can be profitable - for example improving the quality of milk, the numbers of stock and reproduction rates even though up to 8% of the pasture has been removed to grow trees (Cullen, Williams & Curtis 2003, pp. 10, 14). Nevertheless, agroforestry costs money in fencing and planting trees, and returns on timber take decades. So innovative farmers pioneer agroforestry but most others ignore it. For example it is advised that 30% of native vegetation cover may be necessary to prevent ecological damage but figures between 2% and 4% are most common. (Cullen, Williams & Curtis 2003, pp. 13,14).

The National Land and Water Resources audit of 1997-2002 showed that 6 million hectares of agricultural and pastoral land in Australia is suffering from dryland salinity problems and predicted 17 million hectares would be affected by 2050 unless drastic measures were taken (National Dryland Salinity Program 2004, p. 10). There are also salinity problems with irrigated agriculture - 2.5 million hectares in Australia at present (Murray-Darling Basin Commission 2004).

With irrigation, a constant supply of water causes the water table to rise. Salts lower down dissolve and rise to the surface. A salt pan inhibits the growth of plants. This effect is extremely hard to reverse. The irrigated area becomes a useless desert (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992; Thomas & Kevan 1993).

Where land has been cleared a similar problem arises - dryland salinity. Rainfall on higher areas is taken up and travels down the slope. Here, it causes the water table to rise, bringing salt to the surface. This salty area of low ground becomes poisonous to most plant life. Prior to clearing this salinisation process was prevented by deep rooted tree species. These trees brought water up from their roots, released it as vapour into the air and stored it in their foliage. Water did not move down the slope, causing problems of salinity further down (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992).

There is a commercial angle to these issues. Irrigated land is very profitable before problems of salinity develop. Clearing slopes for pasture or cereal crops is also profitable. Once salinity develops it is expensive or impossible to reverse. A common finding is that almost all the area of land up slope from the salting problem has to be replanted with trees and shrubs - 80% is a typical requirement. Then, it is likely to take between 50 and 100 years for the salting to be reduced (National Dryland Salinity Program 2004, p. 39; Stirzaker, Vestessy & Sarre 2002, p. 35).

The unfortunate reality is that in most areas where salinity is a problem there are no tree or shrub alternatives that can return a profit. 'The conclusion of recent studies is that no profitable system of farming, even applying "current best practice" could control salinity' (National Dryland Salinity Program 2004, pp. 73, 79, 83). Large amounts of public money would have to be spent. We are talking about planting 17 million hectares of trees, in areas with low rainfall, and compensating farmers for all this area taken out of grazing or cropping.

Deep drainage

A quick fix engineering solution is to dig channels deeper than the water table. The water coming up and carrying salt is drained away from the zone where plant roots grow. About 10,000 kilometres of these deep drains have been constructed (National Dryland Salinity Program 2004, p 87). There are various drawbacks. The raised edges of channels have to be maintained to prevent surface water from draining into channels, filling them when rainfall is heavy. If the channels become blocked, they will also fill up - spilling salty water onto fields. What can be done with the salty water from these drains? It is all too common for farmers to channel their drains to a big pond on edge of their farm. After heavy rain, the pond spills onto the neighbouring farm. Salt leaks out to destroy roads and buildings. Grand visions of channels all the way to the coast become a rationale for ignoring these negative effects.

Costs of salinity

The long term 'costs' of Australia's salinity problem are difficult to assess. The annual cost in lost production and destroyed infrastructure is estimated at $230 million - only a small fraction of the value of Australia's $35 billion agricultural industry (Stirzaker, Vertessy & Sarre 2002, p. 4). So, while these up front costs of salinity are low, the costs of stalling salinity are prohibitive. Yet other large costs are looming. The Murray river is becoming too salty to supply Adelaide with drinking water - by 2020 it will be too salty 40% of the time (Stirzaker, Vertessy & Sarre 2002, p. 5).

Environmental problems beyond the farm gate

Ecological problems are not confined to the paddock. Farming, food transport and storage uses fossil fuels, an irreplaceable resource. Today, many more calories of energy are used to produce fertilisers, run farm machinery, and transport and store food than are present in the food itself. In the United States, three units of energy are used in farming for every unit of food energy consumed. Adding the energy costs of transporting and processing food, there are ten units of energy needed. As a result, seventeen percent of energy use goes into food production and distribution. If every country in the world was using energy at this rate to produce food, all fossil fuel reserves would have been exhausted by 1996 ( Mannion 1995; Soule & Piper 1992). So modern agriculture is dependent on cheap fossil fuel energy - especially oil.

One reason that all this is a problem is the global warming. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change maintains we need to cut carbon dioxide emissions (and fossil fuel use) by between 60 and 80 per cent. To allow for economic growth in developing countries, rich countries would have to cut emissions to about 5% of what we now use (Trainer 1995). Unless this is done the most likely result is a devastating climate change that would seriously increase the costs of agriculture (Flannery 2005, Maslin 2002). This is just the beginning of the problems of global warming. The likely results are catastrophic.

We are also likely to run out of accessible oil reserves. The peak of oil discoveries was in 1960 and since then less and less oil has been discovered. Yet the world consumption of oil is rapidly increasing. An estimate can be made of when oil is going to become much more expensive - the oil crunch. Most forecasts are of dates between 2003 and 2020. (Campbell 1997 Heinberg 2003), What would make most sense is to begin setting up the physical and social structures that are going to be necessary in an agricultural economy without cheap oil (Gunther 2002; Holmgren 2002).

Without cheap energy for transport and refrigeration, we would have to produce almost all food in the local neighbourhood - within walking distance (Trainer 1995). However today, the average distance food has travelled to reach the plate of a United States resident is 2000 kilometres (Durning 1991, p. 159). This far flung distribution of food makes perfect economic sense. Consumers spend more buying exotic foods. For a large supermarket chain, producing a uniform product and distributing it over a large area is cheaper than marketing a variety, different in each locality. Bananas from Coffs Harbour are sent to Sydney to be bought by big food conglomerates and redistributed back to Coffs Harbour to be sold.

Packaging of food also causes environmental problems. The two factors producing excessive packaging are long distance transport of food and competition between businesses to attract consumers. The consumer merely chooses the most attractive packet on the shelf. They become part of a system in which unnecessary mountains of plastic, aluminium and paper are manufactured and distributed.

In Developing Countries

In developing countries, peasant and tribal subsistence has been replaced by food production for the international market (Bennett 1987; Trainer 1994). A wealthy landlord or business class monopolizes land. Ted Trainer estimates that 80% of land in developing countries is owned by 3% of the population (Trainer 1994; p. 17; see also George 1988; Trainer 1995). On the land used to produce cash crops for the international market, environmental problems are similar to those in developed countries - erosion, toxic pollution, overgrazing and so on. As in developed countries, these problems are caused by competition on the international market.

Displaced subsistence farmers either starve, try to find some employment in towns or remain in rural areas. They may be unemployed and driven to eke out a subsistence by clearing less productive and previously forested land. The environmental effect is that areas of high biodiversity are destroyed by farming. Often soil erosion or leaching of nutrients makes these effects virtually irreversible (George 1988; Pearce, Barbier, Markyanda 1990; Fargher & Cadaweng 1990; Trainer 1994).

One billion of the world's six billion population are undernourished (UNDP 1998; Sachs 2005). One response is for families to have as many children as possible. They hope some of them will survive to provide for their parents (Bennett & George 1987, p. 22). Increasing population is the norm in developing countries. This is a response to food insecurity - caused by the takeover of land for cash cropping for a global market.

One way of looking at this is to consider how much land outside their own country is used by wealthy consumers. Africa, a continent where many starve, actually has more farming land per person than the United States but much of it is used for export crops (Trainer 1995, p. 155).

Crops such as rubber, sugar, tea, coffee and meat are all grown in areas where wild animals and plants were dominant. Sixteen million hectares in developing countries are planted for export crops of coffee, tea and cocoa (Trainer 1995, p. 155). Annually, 100 million kilos of meat is exported to the United States from Central America - mostly from land that was recently tropical rainforest (Trainer 1995, p. 34; see also Pearce, Barbier, Markyanda 1990; Revkin 1990; Trainer 1994). Recently, World Wide Fund for Nature has found that 20% of a national park in Sumatra, Indonesia has been occupied by illegal coffee plantations exporting their product and selling it to companies including Nestle, Kraft, Lavazza and Starbucks - this is a park that is home to endangered Sumatran tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses (Shahab 2007).

As Jules Pretty points out (1999) sustainable agriculture solutions can work well in developing countries if the training and government infrastructure are in place to support them. With labour costs very low in these countries it makes sense to use more labour and few industrial inputs of chemical fertilisers and pesticides.

Nevertheless, solutions to environmental problems in developing countries require time, effort and money. In a world where wealth is very unevenly distributed there is little left to deal with these problems (Trainer 1994; 1995). For those of us in the rich countries, our affluence is bought at the expense of environmental destruction, in the countries in which we live - but also in the rest of the world.

How these problems are related to the economic and political structures of global capitalism.

I have begun to show how the ecological problems of food production are related to economic and political structures. There are three basic classes in today's world. Firstly, there is the global capitalist class. The richest 2% of adults own more than half global household wealth. The richest 1% alone owns 40% (UNU-Wider 2006). For example 25 million rich Americans receive as much income as 57% of the world's people (New Internationalist 2004, p. 21). The next class is the affluent middle class of all countries and the relatively affluent working class of the developed world. These people are the global consuming class. They are probably between 10% and 20% of the world's population - no more than one billion people. For example, the richest 10% of adults account for 85% of the total of household wealth (UNU-Wider 2006). 20% of the world's people in the high income countries account for 86% of total private consumption expenditures (UNDP 1998, 2) Finally, the rest of the world's population are the global poor - the unemployed of developed countries and the subsistence peasants, low wage workers and unemployed urbanites of developing countries. A large fraction of these people - 840 million - do not get adequate energy and protein in their diet and at least another billion are anaemic from food shortages (UNDP 1998 49, 50; Sachs 2005). Each of these three groups have a role in the ecological problems of food production. It is their interaction which creates the problems.

Prior to the colonial period most land in developing countries was used for subsistence production either by peasants or by tribal owners - horticulturalists or hunters and gatherers. Now, most land is being used to produce food for the commodity economy - for sale for cash.

In developing countries today, larger landowners produce food for a global market. Much land is controlled by the global rich and is used for cash crops. These are exported for sale to the affluent consumer class in developed countries. Ecological problems come about because this land is farmed unsustainably or because this land has been converted from forests or woodlands to its present use. The transport and packaging of cash crops exported from developing countries is itself an ecological problem. For the shareholders in the transnational companies that manage this farming, environmental controls interfere with profits. If profits fall they move their shares to another company or another country. So farmers in poor countries compete to reduce prices. Often they crash - cotton by 47% between 1998 and 2001 and coffee by 69% in the same years (New Internationalist 2004, p. 18).

The subsistence peasantry or tribal people displaced by these changes may move on to marginal land to grow subsistence crops, damaging the ecosystems of land previously used sustainably to provide forest resources.

Large food companies dominate markets. In 2003, four companies based in the USA and linked in two alliances, controlled 80% of the world's seed market and 75% of the agrochemical market. Six corporations handled 85% of the world market in grain and 15 controlled 85 to 90% of coffee sales (New Internationalist 2003, p. 20; Garcia 2004). Multinationals also dominate the market in other commodities such as tobacco, tea, cocoa and sugar (Trainer 1995). International competition squeezes small farmers and large companies alike.

In the developed world with high wages, the effect is to reduce human labour in farming - through high input agriculture and heavy machinery. For investors, spending money on more sustainable farming would just reduce profits. Managers know they cannot afford such risks. For small owner operated farms, the price of environmental repair is too high. Farm income is minimal. In many industrialised countries government subsidies prop up farm incomes while supermarket chains make the profits (Crosthwaite, Malcolm, Moll, Dorrough 2006; Garcia 2004).

The basic problem of capitalism and the environment is a mismatch between profit and sustainability. For example, it costs money to halt soil erosion so in any given year profits are higher if you do nothing (McLaughlin 1993, p. 32). The economic system makes it difficult for owners and managers to choose a more expensive strategy.

Along with this, a capitalist system makes it very hard to regulate markets. Owners are assumed to have full rights to use their property for maximum profit. Any impediment has to be fought for as a special case, usually after environmental damage has become too obvious to ignore. The wealth of owners makes them a powerful lobby group (McLaughlin 1993).

For a government in the developed world, a serious investment in environmental repair could be achieved in one of two ways. Firstly, regulations could force changes on the industry. The profitability of farming would drop as farm owners had to pay to conform to the regulations. Export earnings would fall and food prices rise. Alternatively, taxpayers could fund this restructuring. Then, the money paid by consumers in higher taxes would be diverted from other industries which supply the consumer goods that taxpayers now buy. There would be a damping down of consumer demand.

Either way, this investment in rural restructuring would be at the expense of the profitability of the economy.

Governments are of course aware that agriculture is gradually destroying farmland, disastrous for the farming industry and the economy alike (Lawrence & Vanclay 1992). Caught between these pressures, governments make some effort to support sustainable land use, but it is far from adequate. For example in Australia, Prime Minister Howard has announced a plan for the Murray Darling. The plan is to forestall the salting up of Adelaide's water supply and to maintain an industry facing prolonged drought. The basic idea is to use less irrigation water. Open channels are to be replaced by pipes. Some irrigators will sell their water licences back. This is a 10 year program with an average funding of $1 bn per year (Farr 2007). This is just scratching the surface of the problems in agriculture and yet it is worth about 3% of the annual value of Australia's agricultural industry (ABS 2006). What this reveals is firstly that commercial agriculture has not been able to run sustainably. This failure has ended up costing Australians a lot of government money. Secondly, the costs of actually fixing the problems are so large as to call into question the future of agriculture in Australia.

A fundamental group to be considered are the affluent consumers of the global market. Capitalism has depended on sales of mass produced consumer goods to the employed populations of industrial countries. With increases in productivity, the provision of consumer goods has continually increased.

Consumers buy food that appears on the shelves which is either the cheapest or fits their desire for luxury goods. They are reluctant to pay more or restrict their choices - by buying only organic produce, only free range meat, less meat, only food that is locally produced, only food supplied in bulk in re-usable jars or paper bags without labels and so on. One approach would be to castigate these consumers for their wasteful consumption and their environmental ignorance.

But why does this consumption appear necessary and attractive? Affluent consumers are also alienated workers ( Marx 1978a & 1978b; Cardan 1974; Willis 1990). Using this term from Marx, I want to indicate that affluent consumers have to get a paid job to live. As employees they have no control of what they produce, no control over who gets the products, and no control over their conditions at work. Work is perceived as a burden not as a creative and sociable pleasure. It is in consumption and leisure that affluent workers exercise free choice and their creative and social capacities.

All this ties into the way affluent consumers look at food. Expensive, well packaged and luxurious food seems the appropriate moral reward for a life of thankless labour. Within a puritanical culture, food is one of the few morally legitimate pleasures (Pont 1997). In fact the foods that are transported from developing countries - at great cost to the environment - are the epitome of luxury and morality. Meat and dairy products are an appropriate reward for hard masculine labour and necessary for healthy growth; sugar a sweet pleasure and an apt reward for appropriate femininity; coffee, tea and chocolate - all stimulating but legitimate drugs, an aid to concentration at work or a reward after work.

These factors make it difficult to get consumers to reform their food purchasing habits environmentally. It becomes unlikely that consumers would embrace tough environmental regulations if this meant they would pay more for food or have less choice of foods.

It may be considered that urbanisation is a factor that distances urban consumers from the environmental consequences of food production in far distant farms and other countries. Within capitalism, it makes sense economically to separate farms from affluent cities - so that cheap labour or large machinery can be readily used. It makes sense culturally for alienated workers to want luxuries from far off - as compensation for their forced labour.

This separation is not necessary. People could be reorganised to grow their own food locally (Trainer 1995). Frederick Gunther, a Swedish writer, suggests relocation of urbanites and ruralisation. We have to stop transporting food long distances and start composting our sewerage. Agricultural products would be produced close to consumers, with villages of 200 people supplied by farms of 40 hectares. Villages would end up a kilometre apart. Food would not be imported into the village. The energy used in redistributing and recycling soil nutrients would be one percent of that used just to treat sewerage now. There would be no energy needed to make synthetic fertilisers - replaced by waste recycling and legume crops (Gunther 2002, 266)

Writers such as David Holmgren and Ted Trainer think relocation out of the cities is not necessary to achieve local farming. It would be more practical to make use of the land available in our suburbs to produce most food in the cities where people now live (Trainer 1995; Holmgren 2005).

Social Alternatives to Capitalism

Nationalisation

The aspects of capitalism that lie behind environmental damage are unlikely to disappear without a radically different social organization. Yet Soviet style nationalisation seems no better at dealing with environmental problems. Despite the fact that the government is in a position to control environmental damage - through its ownership of firms - there are other problems. One is the inefficiency of allocation of resources that goes with government bureaucratic structures. (Feher, Heller & Marcus 1983). Another is that labour is alienated - people do not have any control in their jobs. As in capitalist societies, people expect an increasing affluence to justify their compliance. The environment comes last for a government attempting to increase consumer satisfaction despite the inefficiencies of the bureaucratic command economy. The sense that good work is not rewarded by opportunities for private consumption erodes dedication and undermines efficiency. Waste is endemic.

The Gift Economy

The 'gift economy' is another kind of alternative to capitalism that may be considered to be more benign environmentally.

There would be no money and no wage labour. Instead people would produce things for their own consumption or as gifts. It would be a vast extension of the kinds of voluntary work now done by citizen groups. Clubs and associations would produce technologically complex goods and services. People would be motivated to work by desires for status and the pleasure of giving, as well as by the knowledge that their work was necessary for the whole community. The standard of living would be the effect of multiple gift networks (Vaneigem 1983; Coates & Leahy 2006). Coordination would be by links between collectives of producers and consumers, and by collectives of researchers, media and administrative workers.

This social alternative could help the environment. Farmers would conserve their agricultural and environmental resources; to live well in the future and to be able to continue gaining social recognition by giving farm produce to the community. Status would come from work that looked after the natural environment. Because 'income' would depend on gifts, no amount of hard work would lead to wealth. There would be no point in producing useless items.

Creativity and choice would be here turned to creating a productive process which was also environmentally benign. People would not depend on increasing material well being for their creative outlet. An organic agriculture with an emphasis on tree crops would work well - enjoyable and creative work as well as sustainable production (Mollison & Holmgren 1978; see also Mollison 1988; Soule & Piper 1992; French 1993; Fern 1997).

The gift economy would depend on generosity and egalitarianism. Pleasure would come from giving to those in need. Other species would also be regarded as appreciating gifts of care and concern.

An end to Civilisation?

This is a somewhat rosy view. Where would the political will come from? More likely we will end up like civilisations in the past that have undermined their agricultural base. A last days flurry of grand projects and expensive wars. The inevitable collapse in food production. A corresponding collapse in population. Finally, the ruling class is massacred by an ungrateful populace (Diamond 2005). A scenario one would not wish on anyone's grandchildren! Yet the sooner this takes place, the more chance the biosphere will still be habitable (Jensen 2006).

The problems of modern agriculture come from technologies that maximise profits by cutting costs.

Technological solutions to these problems are only accepted if they promise to compete on profits.

Environmentally adequate solutions are unable to dominate the market.

Environmental problems in agriculture also go beyond the farm gate.

In developing countries, cash crops displace poor farmers and take up the habitat of wild species.

Global capitalism lies behind much of this.

Social alternatives to capitalism might work but do not have much popular appeal at present.

What environmental problems are addressed by minimum tillage, agroforestry, deep drainage?

What are the problems with these solutions?

What are the economic disincentives for food forests, organic agriculture, localized agriculture?

Why is it so hard to get effective environmental reform of agriculture?

Would nationalisation or a gift economy work better than capitalism to solve the environmental problems of farming?

Is a collapse of civilisation the most likely outcome of our current environmental crisis?

Go to your local large supermarket. Check out the origin of the foods you usually eat. For all the foods you usually buy, is there an organic alternative available? What is the price difference? Where is the organic food grown? How many of the foods that you usually eat could be grown in your own neighbourhood? How would you cope emotionally if your diet was restricted to foods that could be grown in your local area and fresh foods that would be available only when harvested? Check out the pesticides and herbicides sold in the supermarket. Go on the web and find out if the chemicals contained in these products could be harmful.

Diamond, J. (2005) Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, Penguin, Camberwell, Victoria. Much on agriculture. An excellent historical and cross cultural comparison of societies facing environmental problems.

Flannery, Tim (2005) The Weather Makers: the history and future impact of climate change, Text Publishing, Melbourne. Readable and authoritative.

Heinberg, Richard (2003) The Party's Over- oil, war and the fate of industrial societies, Clairview, New York. Well written, a good critique of some of the more optimistic scenarios for replacement energy sources.

Mollison, B. (1988) Permaculture: A Designers' Manual , Tagari Publications, Tyalgum, Australia. A comprehensive how to manual for sustainable agriculture in different climate zones.

Pretty, Jules (1999) Regenerating Agriculture: Policies and Practice for Sustainability and Self-Reliance, Earthscan, London. Global in scope, a thorough introduction to the problems of industrial agriculture and the kinds of alternatives that are working.

Trainer, Ted (1995) The Conserver Society, Zed Books, London. Shows why capitalism cannot solve environmental problems and what kind of society could.

http://gifteconomy.octapod.org/ Gift Economy - Website of Terry Leahy - author of this chapter - much detailed discussion of agriculture and other topics

http://www.holmgren.com.au - David Holmgren - a founder of permaculture and a leading permaculture designer

http://socialwork.arts.unsw.edu.au/tsw/ The Simpler Way - Ted Trainer website, detailed information on many environmental and social issues

http://www.undp.org/reports/global/, United Nations Development Programme - Annual reports on everything to do with developing countries

Garcia, D. K. (2004) The Future of Food, Lily Films. A lot about the problems of GM foods and multinational control over agriculture. Sustainable alternatives.

The Community Solution (2006) The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, Community Service Inc. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba's cheap oil vanished and they had to reconstruct their agriculture. Fascinating.

Post Carbon Institute (2004) The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream, Electric Wallpaper, Canada. Solutions somewhat different to those proposed by Australian permaculture writers.

Holmgren Design Services (2005) Melliodora, Hepburn Permaculture Gardens: A case study in cool climate permaculture design 1985-2005 A detailed account of the planning and setting up of a sustainable house and agricultural system based on tree crops. Pictures of the property at different stages from all angles. eBook from www.holmgren.com.au

Capitalist - Someone who owns productive property, employs labour and markets the product - can be the shareholders.

Capitalist society - Almost all productive property is privately owned by a small capitalist class and can be bought and sold - most people either work for a wage or are part of the world's unemployed classes.

Alienated workers - People have to work for a wage to live - they are alienated from - they have no control over - their conditions of work, the process of production, what they produce and the distribution of their products.

Gift Economy - The means of production are owned by hobby groups and clubs. All work is voluntary. Distribution of goods and services is by gifts. There is no money and no coercive state apparatus.

Civilisation - Societies with cities. A small wealthy elite based in cities extracts products from the rural hinterland. A standing army. Cereal crops.

Developing/ Developed - Idea that developing countries are on the way to become developed (industrialised). In fact rich and poor countries evolved as two parts of a global relationship.

Organics - Makes no use of artificial (synthetic) chemicals for fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides.

Food Forest/ Forest Gardening - Tree crops and other perennials provide most carbohydrates.

Permaculture - Sustainable (permanent) agriculture and settlement design. Also these ethical principles - care for the earth, care for other people, distribute the surplus.

Ruralisation - The urban population is relocated to rural villages.

Agroforestry - To establish tree plantations on a farm. To mix forestry with cropping and grazing.

Salinity/ Salinisation - Agricultural processes bring salts in the soil to the surface, creating salt scalds.

Minimum tillage - Also no-till or conservation farming. Ploughing (tillage) is minimised. Herbicides to control weeds. A chisel plough for seeds. Crop residues left on the field.

Monoculture/ polyculture - Monocultures are based on one crop; polycultures on a mixture.

Sustainable - What you are doing is sustainable if it does not undermine the chances of doing the same in future.

Perennial/ Annual - Perennial plants live for a number of years - for example trees, bushes. Annuals die and set seed each year - for example cereal crops.

Global Warming - Climate change caused by human activities - mainly carbon dioxide from burnt fossil fuels and destroyed forests.

Oil Crunch - Also Oil Peak or Big Rollover. Oil prices climb drastically as oil fields run out and demand increases.

Subsistence farming/ commodity farming - Subsistence = food is grown for local exchange and subsistence. No money changes hands. Commodity = food is grown (as a commodity) to get a cash return.

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Hutchings, Paul (2004) "Grazing Management", in Native Vegetation Guide for the Riverina, (eds) K. Kent, G. Earl, B. Mullins, I Lunt & R. Webster, Charles Sturt University, Murray Catchment Authority, Deniliquin, NSW, [website], http: www.csu.edu.au/ herbarium/riverina/, date accessed: 27 October 2004

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in P. Kristiansen, A. Taji & J. Reganold (eds) Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective, Comstock, New York, pp. 259-294

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Author Biography
Terry Leahy is currently employed as a Senior Lecturer in the Sociology and Anthropology Discipline of the University of Newcastle. Among other things he teaches the subject "Environment and Society". He has recently completed a study of the attitudes of Australians to environmental issues and to environmental politics. He has a long standing interest in permaculture and is at the present time working on a book on sustainable agriculture for rural communities in South Africa.

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State of Victoria Department of Sustainability

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World Watch Institute Report on Progress Toward

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World Institute for Development Economics Research

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Anthropology Discipline School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Newcastle University Drive Callaghan

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Grassland Management for Reforestation in Tropical Uplands

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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The Politics of Food and Farming Jan/Feb Vol

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Unsustainable food production-its social roots and remedies

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by Terry Leahy, June 2007 Sociology and Anthropology Discipline School of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Newcastle University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 What are the environmental problems of agriculture today? What agricultural technologies are available to deal with these problems? What are the social causes of these problems and what are the social alternatives?

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The intent of the First People, Earth First Festival is to address the issue of climate change by educating the wider public on the practices of the Airlie Beach indigenous communities who are faced with its growing effects today. My contribution to the event will be to organise the aspect of the festival which approaches it through the food customs of the community. Indigenous food, along with language, music, dance, art ceremonies, rituals and family ties, are all unequivocally tied to the land. Therefore, in educating the general public on food traditions and the sustainable way the community makes us of native flora and fauna, I will also raise awareness for the land title issues these communities currently face. These contested rights are the foremost problem communities have in continuing to practice traditional hunting and gathering.

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Geography/Anthropology and Sociology

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Music Research and Guest Aboriginal Musician and Speaker

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Music Research and Guest Aboriginal Musician and Speaker

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Traditional Aboriginal music combines vocals, didgeridoo with the beat of clapping sticks. Depending on the region and Aboriginal group, the songs are sung in a specific local dialect. During the event, before each performance the musician will explain to the audience the messages portrayed in their lyrics.

Gurrumul grew up in the Gumati community, off the coast of tropical North East Arnhemland. His unique voice sings songs about identity, spirit and connection with the land, and related ancestors.

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AN ENIGMA IN THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

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Example of Indigenous Festivals in Australia 

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Example of Indigenous Festivals in Australia 

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Below is an example of an annual three day festival held in the Northern Territory, known for its strong connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians through its display of dance, music, ancient story and art. The incorporation of music and dance at this festival, is what makes the event most meaningful. Without these important art mediums aspects, the cultural connection and key messages would be lost.

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Fred Chaney, WA
Attended Garma with: I have attended Garma with colleagues through the Yothu Yindi Foundation, and as guest speaker.

Why I think Garma is important: We say so glibly that Australia is the home of the world's oldest living cultures yet so much we do is destructive of them. Garma is an extraordinary window into the reality vibrancy and continuity of those cultures, the great parallel universe of Aboriginal culture that is unique to us as Australians.

Why I pledge my support of the Yothu Yindi Foundation: Nothing just happens, people make things happen. The YYF is the vehicle for ensuring this meeting of our settlement culture with Aboriginal culture happens along with the two way learning we can each offer to the other.

My memories of Garma: Each time glorious windows into people absorbed by dance and music that I do not own but which I prize as part of my country. Often sharp but always helpful exchanges on our past successes and failures, but most important on how together we shape our shared futures.

Edward Tudor, VIC
Why I think Garma is important: Garma brings together people from diverse fields - politics, academia, commerce, education and more - and, free of the buzz of emails and ring of phones, allows all to share knowledge, struggles, ideas and ambitions.

Why I pledge my support of the Yothu Yindi Foundation: pledge my support for the Yothu Yindi Foundation because of the strength that it provides to Yolngu people and, in turn, Indigenous people across Australia, and because of the way that it unites Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and organisations in the common goal of celebrating and enabling Indigenous people and culture.

My memories of Garma: Spontaneous conversations, sparked in the dinner queue, but carried all the way home and through the months and years that follow.

Teresa De Santis, NT
Attended Garma with: Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation

Why I think Garma is important: To maintain a strong Yolngu culture

Why I pledge my support of the Yothu Yindi Foundation: To ensure that Yolngu are able to continue to share their culture with others.

My memories of Garma: I have attended Garma from 2004 - 2010 as part of the health team providing health services to participants of Garma.

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Donate Now!

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Fred Chaney, WA Attended Garma with: I have attended Garma with colleagues through the Yothu Yindi Foundation, and as guest speaker. Why I think Garma is important: We say so glibly that Australia is the home of the world's oldest living cultures yet so much we do is destructive of them.

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Research and Guest Indigenous Dance Group

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Research and Guest Indigenous Dance Group

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Aboriginal culture is carried on, to the next generation through stories, legends, music, song and dances. The different styles of traditional dances known as Joonba, Wangka, Munga Munga, have been used by all Australian Aboriginal communities for thousands of years as a way to express and represent many aspects of their lives, environment and cultural beliefs. Traditional dance uses specific arm, body and foot stamping movements to imitate people and animals of the land and sea.
During the event, the meaning and relevance behind each dance will be expressed verbally by a member of the dance group, before or after the performance. This will ensure the messages are best relayed to the Indigenous and non-indigenous audience.

Bangarra Dance Theatre, an internationally recognised Indigenous dance company, fuses traditional Aboriginal and contemporary Western dance movements to express their cultural identity and connection with the environment.

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"I first saw Bangarra in 2010.. and wow! It was emotive, mesmerising and unlike anything I had ever seen before. I am delighted to support Bangarra Dance Theatre and continue my journey with them as a patron." Linda Herd, Bangarra donor

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Xavier Rudd, a well known Australian, singer-song writer  thanks his aboriginal heritage for being responsible for his strong connection to the earth, ocean, country and culture. This connection reflects the messages and sounds Rudd produces in his music regarding oppression of aboriginal people, the land, and the need for us all to come together.

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In such a small space of time, a music and dance performance has the power to bring people together, engage, inspire and educate an entire audience. By involving Indigenous music and dance into this event, provides not only a cultural perspective and atmosphere, but the messages within each Indigenous performance are significant gifts for the audience to acknowledge, appreciate and pass on. Music and dance are the primary means by which Indigenous Australians maintain their cultural identity, convey messages and stories about their culture, traditions and connection to the environment.
The genre of music and dance, aims to target youth and families in the hope these messages are acted upon and carried into future generation.
Indigenous communities along the Queensland Coast are facing many impacts of climate-change including, increased water temperatures, coral bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, and changes in seasonal patterns. Aboriginal communities of this area are most fearful for the loss of their totems, representing in a number of marine animals and plants. The totems are strongly connected to their cultural identity and are expressed and passed on through song and dance. If totem animals or plants are lost, a big piece of the traditional owners identity, their relationships with the land, stories, song and dance  will also be lost.
This is why bringing awareness about the environment and its importance to Aboriginal culture through song and dance is such an important medium, Indigenous people can convey message.
It is now time for us to come together listen and learn from our Aboriginal people and take action for our environment before its too late.

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Example of Music, Dance and Culture Coming Together

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Example of Music, Dance and Culture Coming Together

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Below is an example of a festival held in far north Queensland with the main focus on elders passing on the stories and meanings behind dances and songs, to the youth of today. The importance of song and dance to the Aboriginal people is regarded the most impactful and sustainable way to teach others about their cultural identity and connection with the environment.

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Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival (Official Website) - Laura Aboriginal Dance Festival

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One of the silent factors is to look after Country in order to help maintain the dance ground for the future. The use of environmentally-friendly materials by stall holders, 'dry' toilets, we will be looking towards the recycle bags courtesy of the Laura School initiative, and the eduction of vehicular traffic through the festival site.

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Now more than ever, it is of great importance to bring awareness to youth and families about climate-change and the current impacts its having on our environment, indigenous communities and future generations.
My focus for this event is to create increased environmental awareness and appreciation from the perspective of Aboriginal people, through the medium of song and dance. It is well known that music and dance is a common language to all people. It has powerful abilities to change the feelings and emotions of the onlookers, to then be remembered and passed on.  The messages and stories that present through Aboriginal music and dance, hold impactful meanings regarding connections with the land, sea and animals. To ensure these messages are clearly understood by the target audience of family and youth, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, we will ensure the genre and length of each music, and dance act is tailored accordingly. To fulfill this, we will contact and communicate with Indigenous musicians, dancers and community groups, to ensure each performer has a clear direction with the delivery of each act and take advantage of the target audience using age-appropriate content. Before or after each act, we will ensure each artist is able to verbally deliver and break down the messages of their act to the audience, in a way that the on-lookers are able to understand and share.
Music and dance performances delivered by Aboriginal artists, is an powerful way to highlight the beauty of our environment, the important connection and relationship Aboriginal people have with the land, as well as sending clear messages on how we must learn from these practices and protect, give back and conserve our environment.

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Anthropology and Sociology