In July 2002 the descendants of a focal Kuuku I'yu Northern Kaanju ancestor, being members of the Claudie/Moreton/Nelson families and living at Chuulangun on the upper Wenlock River, established Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation under the Commonwealth Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976. This Act has recently been superceded by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations Act.
In March 2002 the Chuulangun community compiled a '13-page report', Chuulangun, Pa'un and Malandaji - Kaanju Homelands Development 2002 and Beyond, that built on an earlier paper we compiled, Wenlock Outstation Development Plan 1999/2000. Both documents outline our vision for the reestablishment of northern Kaanju communities on our homelands on the upper Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers, Cape York Peninsula. They also highlight the problems we have experienced in moving back to homelands and suggest possible solutions.
The 13-page report stresses that there are serious inadequacies within regional and sub-regional Aboriginal organisations and government bodies to meet the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal people living on homelands. In the case of the former, a number of regional and sub-regional indigenous bodies, community councils and land trusts have been formed in Cape York over the last 25 or so years. Many of these organisations are comprised of several families and clan groups from differing tribal groupings and are based on one group's traditional lands. This situation often creates tensions within the body and communities involved, with particular individuals and families directing proceedings and the allocation of available resources. This is still the case today.
During our reoccupation of homelands over the last 15 years we have found that certain organisations whose role it has been to support Aboriginal people of the region have been less than supportive, and often a hindrance, to us realising our homelands development aspirations. Nevertheless we have strived to overcome these obstacles and have climbed over them to achieve our aspirations.
In the case of government bodies, the 13-page report describes a number of experiences of the Chuulangun community that highlight the need for a complete re-evaluation of homelands policy on Cape York, if indeed a policy exists at all. This is still the case eight years on, and the Australian government is still debating a homelands policy. We recommend that such a policy be formulated by Aboriginal people living on their homelands for only those people on the ground know how they want to live and the best way to manage country. Further, funding and resources should be under the direct control of people living on their traditional lands, as at present it is clear that there is not the support or motivation at the regional level to support homelands development.
The report stressed two further principles that must be observed in order to facilitate appropriate homelands development:
(1) One must be living on one's traditional homelands in order to have a say in its management.
(2) The many government and non-government, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organisations concerned with Aboriginal issues must work together and with Aboriginal people focused on the ground on their homelands if proper change is to be achieved. The major difference between Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation and many other incorporated indigenous bodies on the Cape and elsewhere is that our organisation was formed from the grassroots level on our homelands and with the family-based group or clan as the basis for membership and governance. Membership is open only to those people who live normally and permanently at Chuulangun and/or associated northern Kaanju clan estates on the Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers.
Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation is managed by an annually elected executive and directors who meet regularly to consider planning issues, project proposals, and funding for infrastructure development and service delivery for the growing community at Chuulangun. As our organisation is localised and based on northern Kaanju governance structures, our governing committee too is indigenous and the leaders and decision-makers under northern Kaanju law and custom form this committee.
The main responsibility of Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation is to represent the interests of Kuuku I'yu northern Kaanju people associated with the upper Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers, on land and resource management issues and to help facilitate sustainable homelands and economic development.
In doing so we have developed mutually beneficial relationships with neighbouring leaseholders on northern Kaanju homelands and are developing collaborative research arrangements with a number of individuals, academic and scientific organisations. Since 2002 we have had a range of funding successes from State and Australian government programs and from philanthropic organisations. Our funded projects can be viewed on the Projects page.
Our aspirations for land and resources management, homelands and economic development are outlined in the Kaanju Homelands Wenlock and Pascoe Rivers Indigenous Protected Area Management Plan.
"...there are serious inadequacies within Aboriginal organisations and government bodies to meet the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal people living on their homelands".
"...(homelands) policy (must) be formulated by Aboriginal people living on their homelands for only those people on the ground (level) know how they want to live and the best way to manage country."
