Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research

Copland Building #24

The Australian National University
CANBERRA ACT 0200

T: +61 2 6125 0587

F: +61 2 6125 9730
E: [email protected]
W: caepr.anu.edu.au/country/

People On Country

Djelk Rangers
Traditional Owners and Area of Operation

C ulturally, the people of the Maningrida region exhibit extraordinary linguistic

and cultural diversity. Precolonially, this was a region where two distinct cultural
blocs met, the Kuninjku/Bininj Kunwok bloc to the west of the region and the Yolngu
cultural bloc to the east. While precolonially there was mixing between these two
culture blocs at the margin, within each there were a number of distinct language
communities. Today there is a greater social mixing between linguistic communities,
but the region remains extraordinarily linguistically and culturally rich and diverse
with at least 13 major languages spoken.

One commonality throughout this region is that land is owned by corporate groups
generally referred to as patrilineal clans, that is clan membership is inherited from
one’s father. It is estimated that there are about 100 land-owning clan groups in
the Maningrida region, with areas owned by each clan varying enormously, being
relatively small in coastal regions and far larger inland and especially on the Arnhem
Land escarpment. There are about 35 outstations in the region.

The Djelk Rangers operate in the Maningrida region that is located entirely within the
Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust. The Maningrida region is administratively defined
as the service region of about 10,000 km2 bounded by the Glyde River to the east,
Marrkolidjban Creek to the west, the Cadell River to the south (at Kolorbidahdah) and
the Arafura Sea to the north. Of particular environmental significance are the Mann-
Liverpool and Cadell-Blyth Rivers catchments.

Landscape Description
The country managed by the Djelk rangers, in association with the Bawinanga
People On Country: Healthy Landscapes and
Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) and traditional owners living on country, falls within Indigenous Economic Futures
the Arnhem Coast bioregion. The Arnhem Coast bioregion is 33,022 km2, of which
www.caepr.anu.edu.au/poc/
 some 98.8 per cent is Aboriginal freehold land held under the
Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 (ALRA).

The Arnhem Coast bioregion comprises a coastal strip extending

from just east of the Cobourg Peninsula to just north of the
mouth of the Rose River in southeastern Arnhem Land. It also
includes the many offshore islands dotted along the coastline.
Coastal vegetation includes well-developed heathlands,
mangroves and saline flats, with some floodplain and wetland
areas with the most significant being the extensive paperbark
forest and sedgelands of the Arafura Wetlands. Inland from the
coast, the dominant vegetation type is eucalypt stringybark
(Eucalyptus tetrodonta), with smaller areas of monsoon
rainforest and eucalypt woodlands (NRETA 2005). The coastline
and islands are also significant marine turtle breeding habitats
as well as significant seabird breeding, feeding and roosting
habitats.

Feral buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) have a negative impact within

the region especially on wetlands, springs and water quality.
The National Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign
(BTEC) in the 1970s significantly reduced buffalo numbers in
the lowlands of coastal west Arnhem Land. However, during
the BTEC shoot-out there was no sign that buffalo in the upper
Goomadeer and Liverpool basins were carrying disease and
therefore the area was never destocked and continues to support
an increasing number of buffalo. Recent estimates for buffalo in the upper Mann
and Liverpool basins are 10,000, animals (NLC 2004). Pigs are also locally abundant,
causing significant damage to several ecologically important habitats, especially
monsoonal rainforest areas. (NLC 2004).

Cane toads entered the bioregion in the 2001 Wet season from the east. Their
presence and impact on native fauna causes great distress to traditional owners. There
have been regular sightings of dead freshwater crocodiles which may be attributable
to crocodiles eating cane toads (NLC 2004). Feral cats are also found in the region,
though their population and impact on native species is not known.

Illegal and unwanted fishing are also a major concern to traditional owners and
the Djelk Rangers. The Djelk rangers have been at the forefront on detecting illegal
foreign fishing vessels (IFFV). However, the long distances involved often mean
offenders are long gone by the time enforcement officers eventually arrive. Due to the
lack of enforcement powers available to Indigenous land and sea management groups
there is no local capacity to deal with such incursions on the spot.

As for most areas along the coast of the Northern Territory there is little research on
the local scale impacts of inshore fisheries such as mud crab, trepang and barramundi
fishing on local food fisheries.

2. People On Country
Land and Sea Management History
The Djelk Ranger program established by the BAC, like many other Indigenous Caring
for Country programs, is built on the extensive knowledge and skills that already exist
within traditional land owning groups.

The Djelk Rangers began in 1991 with a grant from the Community Employment
Program for Aboriginal Natural and Cultural Resource Management. In 1995, under
a feral pig eradication program in the Cadell region, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Commission (ATSIC) and Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS),
paid community rangers a bounty for pigs that were collected and sampled for
diseases that potentially threaten pastoral industries. This successful project led to
the early detection of Mimosa on the floodplains of the Tomkinson and Blyth Rivers.
The rangers’ efforts to control the invasive weed assisted in developing the groups
capacity for understanding and engaging in contemporary land management issues.

Recognising that Aboriginal people’s

ecological knowledge, land and culture
was their greatest asset, the BAC engaged
a New South Wales National Parks and
Wildlife Service Ranger to work with the
rangers on buffalo and weed eradication.
The parallel development by traditional
owners across the Northern Land Council
(NLC) region of establishing the Caring
for Country Unit (CFCU) within the NLC
afforded the Djelk Rangers and other
emerging Caring for Country programs,
such as Dhimurru, in the tropical savanna
of the Northern Territory with important
support and advocacy resources.

Over the past 19 years the Djelk Rangers

land-based management activities have
focused on maintaining biodiversity and productivity of the homelands by, working
with people on country, addressing the interrelated issues of fire, weeds, feral animals
and the exercise of Indigenous ecological knowledge along with western science.

A key innovative land management and monitoring tool now used by the Djelk
Rangers involves use of CyberTracker software (see <http://cybertracker.org>). The
Djelk Rangers are at the forefront of the application of this technology which they
are using to record their land and sea management activities, including the timing,
number and location of management burns, feral animal culls and turtle sightings for
example. This information can be used to promote accountability in Ranger work and
for adaptive management and planning of Ranger activities.

The Rangers are divided into three groups, Male Rangers (17), Female rangers (11) and
Sea Rangers (9); these 37 positions are funded by 14 (full-time equivalent) Working
on Country (WoC) positions through the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage

Djelk Rangers 3.
 and the Arts (DEWHA), five Flexible Positions through the Working on Country Flexible
employment program (DEWHA),and 13 CDEP positions. A further four fulltime-
equivalent positions are funded by BAC through the operation of various fee for
service agreements.

Land and Sea Management Activity

>> Sea Country
In 2002 the Djelk Rangers extended their area of management to include sea country.
Today the Djelk Rangers have a dedicated sea unit that undertakes activities over
an area of approximately 2 million hectares of ocean and islands off the coast. Sea
management activity focuses on protecting local natural and cultural resources
while also significantly contributing to border and bio-security protection for wider
Australia. Sea country work includes monitoring and reporting of fishing vessels to NT
Fisheries and undertaking IFFV patrols for Customs as well as monitoring turtle and
dugong habitats.

>> Fee for service work

The Djelk Rangers are involved in a number of fee for service activities for the AQIS.
These include monitoring invertebrates, marine pests, vertebrate diseases and landing
sites as well as monitoring and removing marine debris. The Australian Government’s
recognition of the important work that the Djelk rangers have been undertaking
is reflected in the recent service level agreement between the BAC and Customs.
The BAC is the first indigenous organisation to sign a service level agreement with
Customs. This followed the successful work undertaken by the Djelk rangers in
locating numerous IFFVs and the strenuous lobbying undertaken by BAC for the
Australian Government to formally acknowledge and pay for the Djelk Rangers coastal
surveillance patrols. This has meant that there are now additional jobs unsubsidised by
CDEP and funding to cover surveillance costs (BAC 2007).

The Djelk Rangers are also now partners in the Carpenteria Ghost Net Project.

>> Feral animals

Like many areas of the Northern Territory, the impact of feral animals on wetlands
and biodiversity is significant. Feral animals provide a convenient source of meat for
people living on country and are valued for this. It is difficult for traditional owners,
without cost benefit analysis information, to make decisions about managing feral
animal populations. The Djelk Rangers spend considerable time and effort controlling
feral animals, such as buffalo and pigs. The density of the buffalo population is clearly
evident. For example, in 2007 over 300 buffalo were destroyed in two days at one
location. The management of buffalo remains a difficult management issue for the
Djelk Rangers. With many traditional owners valuing buffalo as a source of meat,
they are unsupportive of systematic control such as aerial culling. In response to this
management challenge, the rangers are currently developing a bounty system for
buffalo. The aim of this bounty is to offer an incentive to traditional owners to reduce
buffalo densities on their land while supporting their access to and stewardship of
country.

4. People On Country
Throughout 2009 the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR)
has been working with the Djelk Rangers to develop and implement a billabong
monitoring project to quantify the impacts of feral animals (buffalo and pigs) on
billabong health. Twelve billabongs are now being monitored in the early and late dry
seasons using Cybertracker data collection sequences for water quality measurements
and ground based indicators of ecological health. This information will be linked with
Djelk buffalo cull data to demonstrate the ecological services provided by the rangers.

>> Fire
The Djelk Rangers are involved with traditional owners undertaking customary
fire management such as ecological burning and fuel reduction burning around
communities.

The Djelk Rangers have also played a central role in the West Arnhem Fire
Management Project (WALFA). This is a partnership between Aboriginal Traditional
Owners and Indigenous representative organisations, Darwin Liquefied Natural
Gas (DLNG), and the Northern Territory Government. The partnership was formed
to implement strategic fire management across 28,000 sq km of Western Arnhem
Land for the purposes of offsetting some of the greenhouse gas emissions from the
Liquefied Natural Gas plant at Wickham Point in Darwin Harbour.

The project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from this area by adopting
effective fire management practices in what has been mostly unoccupied and
unmanaged land. While the primary aim of the partnership for the non-indigenous
partners is to offset greenhouse gas emissions, the primary aim of traditional owners
has been to use the project to reconnect with country and undertake cultural and
natural resource management in this region of unique biodiversity.

To achieve the greenhouse gas offsets, traditional owners’ land management

organisations (Wardekken, Jawoyn, Djelk, Adjumarllarl and Mimal Rangers), working
closely with non-Indigenous partners such as Bushfires NT and Tropical Savannas CR,
implement strategic fire management from early in the dry season to reduce the size
and extent of unmanaged wildfires and measure the greenhouse gas offsets.

This project does not generate income from carbon trading; it is a fee for service
arrangement in which traditional owners are paid for fire management to produce
greenhouse gas offsets. However, the process and accounting practices used to abate
greenhouse emissions in this project will qualify for carbon trading when it comes
on-stream.

Regular early dry season burn-offs now occur and traditional owners have
consistently achieved the emission abatement targets. The WALFA Agreement created
a long-term fee-for-service funding stream which enabled the employment of rangers
in full-time positions. A core group of these rangers is now qualified to deliver aerial
controlled burning (ACB) from helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The WALFA Project
received the ‘Innovative Solutions to Climate Change’ Award at the 2007 Australian
Museum Eureka Prizes. It is important to note that the Community Development and
Employment Program (CDEP) was instrumental in assisting this project get off the
ground.

Djelk Rangers 5.
 The WALFA project was a critical ‘two-way’ (valuing Indigenous ecological knowledge
and science equally). Research and management partnership as it led the way in
demonstrating the potential alliances between private enterprise government,
Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists and land managers. It was also important
in establishing a pilot model that clearly demonstrates the importance of people on
country for fire management across the tropical savannas of Northern Australia.

>> Weeds
Weeds are an on-going environmental threat in the Djelk land management area,
especially in townships and along roads, tracks and infrastructure corridors such as the
optic fibre line. Several Weeds of National Significance are already present in (Mimosa
pigra), or are highly suited to (Hymenachne amplexicaulis, Cabomba , Salvinia
molesta) the Djelk management area. For more information on these species see the
Weeds of National Significance website at <http://www.weeds.org.au/natsig.htm>.

However tropical grassy weeds are considered by traditional owners as an equally

significant threat in their land management area. Many of these species are declared
as significant weeds by the Northern Territory Government. Grassy weeds of main
concern in the Djelk area are escaped pasture species including the Mission grasses
(Pennisetum polystachion and P. pedicellatum) and of potential concern: Gamba grass
(Andropogon gayanus), Grader grass (Themeda quadrivalvis), Guinea grass (Panicum
maximum). The Djelk Rangers are actively spraying these weeds and have developed a
draft Grassy Weed Management Plan with CAEPR, NT Government Weeds Branch and
neighbouring ranger groups.

>> Wildlife utilisation

Through the development and support of the Djelk Wildlife Enterprise BAC and the
Djelk Rangers have focused on wildlife utilisation and management as a potential
avenue for greater regional engagement with the market economy. This is achieved
by providing an employment program that incorporates education, training and
collaboration with researchers, is culturally and socially appropriate, and focuses on
commercialisation of wildlife harvesting to provide environmental and economic
outcomes and benefits for the community. The core focus of this activity is now
focused on the collection and incubation of saltwater crocodile eggs for on-selling to
commercial crocodile farms and the collection and incubation of long-necked turtle
eggs for sale to the aquarium trade. These and other wildlife utilisation activities
begun by the rangers now operate as a stand-alone enterprise the Djelk Wildlife
Enterprises (see below).

>> Linkages with schools

The Djelk Rangers supports a junior ranger program that operates out of the
Maningrida High School.

The Djelk Rangers are currently involved as industry partners in another research
project with CAEPR based at The ANU in Canberra. This research is looking at the
potential for Indigenous land and sea management programs to help re-engage
Indigenous students in the educational process. The project is innovative in looking at
custom-based knowledge and practise to articulate with growing efforts to develop
links between school and work through vocational training in school. It is envisaged

6. People On Country
that the development of new land and sea management programs and activities
for young Indigenous people will encourage literacy and numeracy development
through programs that are culturally and contextually meaningful and engaging
for young Indigenous people who struggle to see the relevance of continuing their
formal education. Such programs have the potential to provide structured work-based
learning activities and experiences that are transferable to other employment and
study opportunities outside the land and sea management area (BAC 2008).

Indigenous Protected Area

The Djelk Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) covers some 6,732 km2 of Aboriginal
Freehold Land in central northern Arnhem Land. Straddling coastal and subtropical
landscapes from islands to estuaries, wet lands, rivers, and monsoonal rainforests all
within the much wider tropical savanna. The Djelk IPA was declared on September
2009 by the Hon. Peter Garrett, Minister for the Environment.

The Djelk IPA is contiguous with the Warddeken IPA, declared at the same time, to
the west where they will share a common 50 km border and a narrow 286 km overlap
(representing customary integration of adjoining clans responsibilities for country).
These two IPAs cover some of Australia’s most biodiverse regions and will exceed the
area of both Kakadu and Nitmuluk National Parks. These two IPAs with their strong
cultural and natural values have significantly added to Australia’s National Reserve
System (BAC 2008).

Emerging enterprises
>> Wildlife utilisation
An emerging enterprise that has grown out of the land and sea management program
is Djelk Wildlife Enterprises (DWE) established in 2006. DWE aims to concentrate on
the sale of specific species of reptiles and spiders (tarantula spiders—Selenotholus sp.)
for which there is a sustainable supply on Aboriginal lands and a market. DWE will
employ traditional owners in the collection of specimens.

The BAC envisages that the venture will have economic, cultural and environmental
benefits. This will occur thorough DWE providing opportunities for traditional owners
to earn income from their clan estates and by utilising their ecological knowledge
and skill in the collection process. The economic incentive will assist traditional
owners with cultural responsibilities to care for country and provide a vehicle for
the intergenerational transfer of ecological knowledge. Fauna identification and
monitoring is an important component to the enterprise and will contribute to
scientific knowledge of the region’s biodiversity. A close working relationship is
maintained with the Djelk rangers who share expertise, knowledge and resources
where the programs overlap (BAC 2007).

Australian Government policy has not caught up with Aboriginal developments

in the area of wildlife utilisation. The DWE is still faced with what they describe
as cumbersome government regulations that impede the sale of native wildlife
(BAC 2007). An example of these barriers can be seen when Aboriginal people were
supportive of the development of conservation hunting (hunting for a fee) focussed

Djelk Rangers 7.
 on saltwater crocodiles. Supported by a strong management plan developed by the
Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife Service to underpin sustainability and animal
welfare issues the then Minister for the Environment (Ian Campbell) declined, with
little explanation to Indigenous communities, to approve the conservation hunting
component of the plan. This ensured the conservation hunting market was not
available to Indigenous Australians who wanted to sustainably utilise their saltwater
crocodile resources to support people living on country.

DWE have developed a close working relationship with NT Parks and Wildlife who
are assisting to streamline policy so that emerging wildlife utilisation enterprises can
provide another opportunity for people on country to derive income through the
sustainable utilisation of their wildlife (see Altman and Cochrane 2003).

For more information regarding the DWE see CAEPR Working Paper No. 63/2010, ‘The
viability of wildlife enterprises in remote Indigenous communities of Australia: A case
study’, available at <http://caepr.anu.edu.au/Publications/WP/2010WP63.php>.

Governance
The return of Aboriginal people to live on their clan estates in the 1970s became
known as the outstation movement. This movement of people back to country is the
root of the BAC who today continues to assist people on country.

The BAC is also the governance organisation for the Djelk Ranger program and its
emerging enterprises. BAC is located in Maningrida and services some 10,000 sq km
of country. BAC is one of Australia’s oldest outstation resource centre associations,
established in 1974 to support those people who chose to live on their clan estates in
the Arnhem Land reserve rather than in the government settlement of Maningrida. In
1979, it was incorporated under the Federal Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act.

BAC is directed by an Indigenous executive Committee elected annually by the

members at the Corporation’s Annual General Meeting. Policies developed by the
executive are implemented through the management team in conjunction with
senior staff in each program area. The Djelk Rangers have been at the forefront of
Indigenous Aboriginal land and sea management in the Top End of the Northern
Territory because they have had a strong governance organisation to lobby and
provide much-needed administrative assistance to the emerging group.

The BAC has also been a case study in the Indigenous Community Governance Project
(ICGP). The ICGP is a partnership between CAEPR and Reconciliation Australia, to
undertake research on Indigenous community governance with participating Indigenous
communities, regional Indigenous organisations, and leaders across Australia. For more
information on the ICGP, see <http://caepr.anu.edu.au/governance/index.php>.

8. People On Country
Sources
Altman, J. C. and Cochrane, M. 2003. ‘Innovative institutional design for sustainable wildlife
management in the Indigenous-owned savanna’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 247, CAEPR,
ANU, Canberra, available at <http://caepr.anu.edu.au/Publications/DP/2003DP247.php>.

Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) (2007). Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation Annual

Report 2006/2007, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, Maningrida, Arnhem Land NT.

Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) (2008). Djelk Indigenous Protected Area Central
Northern Arnhem Land - Management Plan, Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation
Maningrida, Arnhem Land N.T.

Cochrane M, J. (2005). ‘The Djelk Ranger Program: An Outsider’s Perspective’ CAEPR Working
Paper No. 27, CAEPR, ANU, Canberra, available at <http://caepr.anu.edu.au/Publications/
WP/2005WP27.php>.

Department of Natural Resources, Environment and the Arts (NRETA) 2005. Northern Territory
Bioregions: Assessment of Key Biodiversity Values and Threats, Northern Territory Parks
and Conservation Masterplan, Northern Territory Government.

Northern Land Council. 2004. Environmental Management Status Reports for Aboriginal Lands
in the Northern Land Council Region. A supporting document to the Caring for Country
Strategy 2003 - 2006. Northern Land Council, Darwin, NT.

Djelk Rangers 9.