Our project Protection of Historical, Social, Cultural and Spiritually Significant Sites - Kaanju Homelands was jointly funded by Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation, Cape York Peninsula Development Association Inc. (CYPDA) and the Cape York Natural Heritage Trust (CYNHT) Targeted Grants Programme for Heritage Site Management (HSM).
This project has been very important to the achievement of the aspirations outlined in our Kaanju Homelands Land and Resource Management Framework. Our HSM project has addressed impacts on places of significance to Kaanju traditional owners and assisted in the delivery of information that will facilitate the protection of places and landscapes of historical, social, cultural and spiritual significance to Kaanju people living on homelands. Our project has produced meaningful long term outcomes including:
1. Kaanju Ngaachi web site - Our web site has proven to be a very important tool for the management of our Homelands. It informs and educates people about Kaanju Homelands, the history of the forced removal of Kaanju people from homelands, the subsequent disruption of Kaanju land management, the reaffirmation of Kaanju management on homelands, and the importance of protecting places of cultural and heritage significance to Kaanju people. We have had very positive feedback to date on the value of our web site.
2. Signage - We have established eight signs at strategic locations on our homelands. Our main 'Protocols' sign is erected at the main road turn-off into Kaanju Homelands. It educates and informs people passing through and camping on our homelands about the appropriate way to behave on our traditional lands. Importantly, our cultural and land management protocols will facilititate the protection of the Indigenous and natural heritage values of our homelands. This sign also displays a map that indicates to travellers the extent of our traditional lands. Four signs display access and use restrictions and are erected in areas of high cultural significance and also at degraded areas that are undergoing rehabilitation and natural regeneration. A further three signs display Kaanju language names and are erected in the particular area of the 'Dreaming' Story with which each language name is associated - Chuulangun (Frilled-neck Lizard), Muula (Place of Boulders) and Pa'un (Head). These signs act as another tool for informing and educating people that the landscape they are travelling through is named and is of spiritual and cultural significance to traditional owners.
3. Conservation, preservation, restoration and rehabilitation of significant sites and landscapes - Increasing the level of information available about the significance of Kaanju Homelands to traditional owners and delivering this information strategically via our web site and well-appointed signage gives traditional owners enormous headway towards the conservation, preservation, restoration and rehabilitation of significant sites and landscapes and for sustainable land and resource management on our homelands.
Importantly, this project has addressed one of the main land management problems threatening the integrity of our homelands - the deterioration of significant sites and landscapes due to unrestricted and unmanaged public access. The project also set out to promote the recognition of the Kaanju people as the primary managers and decision-makers for Kaanju homelands.
The benefits derived from our HSM project are long-term, cumulative and on-going. The success of the project will continue to be measured by monitoring improvements of particular areas due to the management of public access, and the evaluation of visitor surveys. Kaanju Land Management Officers will collect this information during patrols of our homelands and report back to the Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation Land Management Office. The project will also be evaluated by considering the number of visitors to the Kaanju web site and their feedback.
Chuulangun Aboriginal Corporation and Kaanju people living at Chuula wish to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals and organisations to the success of this project. We thank Don Duggan, Nick Smith, Rex Pratt and Chris Witana for invaluable assistance in establishing the signage. We also thank the Coen Regional Aboriginal Corporation for making a truck available for the freight of materials from Archer Roadhouse to Chuulangun and for carrying materials for the set up of the Kaanju Ngaachi Protocols sign.
We also acknowledge the support of CYPDA and NHT for making funding more assessible to homelands-based grassroots organisations via the Heritage Site Management Targeted Grants Programme. CYPDA in particular has been unwavering in their support for our project.
