Bana Yarralji Ranger Base 'Opened' for Business

The Bana Yarralji cultural enterprise continues to plough ahead.  The Bana Yarralji cultural entreprenuers, Marilyn and Peter Wallace plus families have not rested in their ceaseless pursuit of cultural dividends for family and friends wishing to live and work on country.   It is only the record of Bana Yarralji's endeavours. within this blog, that has dropped off.

Back in September, for instance (it's now November!) the Bana Yarralji entreprenuers suceeded in recruiting the assistance of local Cooktown event manager and Bana Yarralji partner, Vanessa Gillen; together with project managers, Centre for Appropriate Technolgy to put out press releases, cut many many sandwitches, put up a marquee

.. and on the Friday afternoon (streching into the evening), 9 September 2011, somehow everything came together for Bana Yarralji to give thanks, celebrate, and open the brand new Bana Yarralji ablutions block (Cape York's most expensive loo), office block, caravan, shipping container, phone, power and water   ..opening the whole Bana Yarralji ranger base for business.

The Koori Mail was there (see top portion of the article below), many of the the Nyungkalwarra Elders were there;  engineering firm Aurecon (represented by Aurecons' Trevor Sharrock) was there, CSIRO Tropical Sustainable Ecosystems Ro Hill  was there, Invasive Animals CRC research Kana Koitchi was there, Glamorgan University students, Balkanu Caring for Country Business Manager was there, Department of Environment and Resource Management was there,!!   There were lots of people there to finally have a look at plus try out long envisioned facilities, listen to some speeches, and  celebrate Bana Yarralji achievements to date.

Bana Yarralji's cultural entrepreurs Marilyn Wallace and Peter Wallace took the oppotunity;

-  to welcome everyone including particularly Nyungkalwarra elders to make use of the new facilities; 

-  to eleborate on their vision as a hopeful vision of a healthier people taking up more healthy and rewarding living working on country;

-  to seek the blessing of everyone including particularly the Nyungkalwarra elders to continue to push ahead and show the way for Nyungkalwarra to return to live and make a living on country, and 

-  to ask for their support to obtain a commercial lease needed to secure control over the assetts, obtain possible business loans, and run their enterprise as an enterprise.

Altogether a postive and uplifting occasion for all who participated, but didn't seem the Nyungalwarra elders themselves quite understood just what kind of life energy and effort these basic facilities and ranger base represented; nor did they really seem to know how any one of them might go about supporting plus promoting commercial leases nor any kind of leases for anyone on Country (there are none!), let along supporting Bana Yarralji to get the leases they want.

A Wonderful Opportunity to Host Year 3/4 Students

Bana Yarralji would seem to be moving faster and faster towards forming itself into a particular kind of business ie a cultural enterprise - but, one might ask, how is it really possible for two cultural entreprenuers (no matter how determined) to estalblish a cultural enterprise of this kind and seek to launch this enterprise in the way being recorded in this blog??

Very little would have been SO possible and everything would have been moving much more slowly: all prospect of a cultural enterprise even being formed would be much much more difficult ...  if it weren't for the existence of  a Commowealth Aboriginal employment program (ie 'Working on Country')  matching the existence of a tight knit group of long termed unemployed people from Wujal Wujal and Cooktown who'd been trained in Conservation and Land Management (CALM) and were ready plus prepared to work on country, caring for that country (ie the Bana Yarralji rangers).

It was a spectacular thing when Marilyn and Peter Wallace, with their vision, happened upon the Commonwealth's 'Working on Country' program (back in 2009)  specifically aimed at:

i.  picking up unemployed Aboriginal peoples from places like Wujal Wujal and Cooktown  ... and

ii. see such unemployed people working full time establishing a self-sustaining natural and cultural resource management service on country.

Most recently, within the last couple of weeks, Marilyn and Peter Wallace were expected to be in one place (ie in Cairns helping celebrate and recall 20 years of Cape York regional organisations working to improve the position of Aboriginal peoples in Cape York); while the Bana Yarralji enterprise was needed in another place  (ie back 'home' taking up opportunity to host 70 year 3/4 students from Cooktown - promoting Nyungkal lore in Nyungkal country)

On Tuesday August 23 2011, then, as part of the Bana Yarralji Working on Country project fulfilling Bana Yarralji Working on Country contracted outcomes:

i.   Marilyn and Peter Wallace revisted and reignited long established relationships at 'Kicking the Dust' celebrations in Cairns,

ii.  Bana Yarralji Working on Country rangers, at the same time, took up Bana Yarralji's wonderful hosting opportunity - warming (smoking) approx 70 year 3/4 students from Cooktown on Nyungkalwarra country & - introducing 70 year 3/4 students to Nyungkalwarra lore on Nyungkalwarra country.

Marilyn and Peter Wallace succeeded in re-establishing some potentially important connections with some senior Aboriginal politicians, and some senior Eastern Yalanji elders - in their wish to lay more secure foundations for their cultural enterprise, in pursuit of a vision of seeing Nyungkal people more permanently living and making a living on country.

The coordinator of South Cape York Catchments (Jason Carroll) who co-hosted the whole school excursion into the bioculturally rich rainforests reported Bana Yarralji Working on Country rangers (Ruby Winkle and Horace Friday) did a great job and the whole exercise involving so many young students on country at once  "went very well indeed".

Being Good Hosts Can Be Very Demanding!!

It seems Bana Yarralji's key cultural entreprenuers, Marilyn & Peter Wallace, have been building relationships, welcoming people into their lives, and working towards their vision for their whole lives!!  

If anyone asks when they first started working towards their vision, it goes back, back before the decision to set up on country; back before the early Balkanu Cape York Development efforts in the early 2000's to assist people move on to country; back before Peter Wallace was chairperson of Wujal Wujal Council; back before Marilyn's Mum so contantly urged them back 'home'.

The vision, it seems, has been growing for a long, long time, with a lot of life energy being expended building relationships, building partnerships, inviting people into their lives, constantly hosting people en route to becoming what they are now striving to be ie good Aboriginal hosts on country, using 'hosting' as a means to achieve a vision.

Most admirably, though, in a life full of extended family, poverty, racism, chronic health problems, and serious wellbeing issues and stresss .. it is a tribute to the strength of these entrepreneurs faith, that they continue to be able to constantly smile, give warm welcome, and generally host whole range of peoples at whole range of times, at whole range of hours.

It is most admirable Bana Yarralji's key entrepreneurs continue to be committed and able to be good Aboriginal hosts providing genuine experience of Aboriginal lore, generously sharing knowledge and recruiting people to their vision.   It is admirable and, as a business, it is a risk!!

To seek to build an enterprise and a build a future around being good hosts is hard work.  It is hard, demanding work, and at this stage, now, of the journey into forming a cultural entreprise (against the odds?)  ..  Marilyn and Peter Wallace may be feeling some of the accumulating stresses and strains of constantly striving to be good on country hosts.

Over the last couple of weeks, recognizing the increasing risk, Bana Yarralji has started looking around (with some positive sounding prospects) to secure some very purpose designed 'cultural hosting' training and experience up on country early in the new calander year - enabling whole range of other Nyungkal family members to also practice and trial hosting, catering, providing cultural experience .. and help pick up some of the load, towards a clear, positive, shared vision for the future!!

Hosting a Health Action Team to Achieve Health Dividends

A Strategic Directions Compass was once, back in 2009, workshopped, designed, and adopted by Marilyn Wallace, Peter Wallace and family (assisted by Andre Grant from the Centre for Appropriate Technology).

This 'Compass' was workshopped, adopted and printed up into a a single page poster to be regularly referred to as a symbolic strategic guide picturing these cultural entrepreneurs key priorities and strategic direction,  in the ongoing pursuit of a vision of seeing Nyungkal families, lore and people restored to country.

On Wednesday, 27 August, (last week) multiple greyscale A4 copies of this poster were printed in preparation for a meeting with representatives of Cape York's regional Aboriginal health organisation (Apunipima Cape York Health Council), in the hope of Apunipima auspicing, and Bana Yarralji hosting Nyungkalwarra 'Healing on Country' type activities and programs

Looking at that Bana Yarralji's compass, then, Bana Yarralji is most clearly pointed in the following strategic direction as follows:

i.    [S]ocial/cultural:   Bana Yarralji's compass points first and foremost in the [S]ly direction, wherein Bana Yarralji is expected to favour. above all other activities, hosting [S]ocial/cultural activities on country -  in the pursuit of social/cultural dividends

ii.   [W]ellbeing/Healing:  where Bana Yarralji chooses to try to expand beyond social/cultural hosting services, then the compass clearly points them in the [W]ly direction, favouring [W]ellbeing/healing activities on country above other activities -  in the pursuit of wellbeing/healing dividends

The purpose of the meeting with Apunipima representatives, in the Apunipima board room was to explore the options with Cape Yorks premier Aboriginal health organisation for Bana Yarralji expanding into hosting Wellbeing/Healing activities from the Bana Yarralji base along Shiptons Flat Road in core Nyungkalwarra country.

Bana Yarralji therefore took their vision, and their hosting enterprise model (see earlier July post entitled 'Mikes Magic Doughnut') to Apunipima in the hope of their auspicing a Live Longer Local Community Campaign for Nyungalwarra in Nyungkal Country, and discovered that regional health organisations and regional health programs may not be well adapted to the cultural enterprise model!!

Within Apunipima and possibly Queensland Health, 'community control' over the delivery of health services and programs comes about by communities forming formally recognised 'Community Health Action Teams', and if Bana Yarralji wished to host publically funded health programs on country, they would first have to host a Nyungalwarra Community Health Action Team.

So, on the cultural enterprise journey, guided by the Bana Yarralji strategic directions compass .. while it is hard to see the income and profit in Bana Yarralji hosting a Nyungkalwarra Community Health Action Team .. that IS, never the less, exactly what Marilyn Wallace and Bana Yarralji have now undertaken to do in the persistent pursuit of their vision for the future.

Imagining Possible Dividends of Hosting Research on Country

Marilyn and Peter Wallace are in a hurry to form their cultural enterprise; register Bana Yarralji as a business;  actually make a start hosting whole range of people and activities on country, and move more certaintly towards obtaining their vision for Nyungkalwarra and Nyungkal country.

They may be in more of a hurry than they have been in the past as they have been getting a glimpse of some of the possible opportunities and potential arising out of hosting research institutions on country.   They can see a win-win-win all around;  students gaining  natural and cultural experiences; natural resource managers (South Cape York Catchments) gaining valuable data; and Bana Yarralji showing  themselves to be both hosts and emerging custodians of Nyungkalwarra lands and waters.

The editor of the local Cooktown newspaper came out on to Nyungkalwarra country to have a look at what's going on and seem to get caught up in all the excitement and visioning of the potential dividends of this kind of hosting into the future, writing a front page newspaper article entitled "The Next Big Thing"

As noted above, then, Marilyn and Peter are excited and in a hurry to actually form their business and really start trading as a cultural enterprise.   They are in a hurry, yet, being in a hurry:

i.   they've been running into hard questions being asked by business advisors from the Balkanu Business Development Unit (whom they have been seeking to recruit for assistance to properly apply business principles to their enterprise)    ..

ii.   they've been running into the hard questions like  "Is there really money in it?  Is there money in it, or is everyone going to be working hard for no profit??"

With opportunity, prospect and whole range of dividends sparkling in their eyes, on Friday 26 August 2011, Marilyn and Peter Wallace went to check to see if their nearest research institution ( ie James Cook University) might be interested in being hosted on country.

In particular, Bana Yarralji went to check out the School of Marine and Tropical Biology, and Professor Steve Williams (& Dr Yvette Williams) whom, they understood may be playing a significant role overseeing research programs mapping the expected impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (including Nyungkalwarra country)

Opportunity, prospect and whole range of dividends sparkling in their eyes, the outcomes of this initial visit to James Cook University can only be described as positive and encouraging

i.    Over more than two hours across a table in the new Australian Tropical Sciences and Innovastion Precinct (ATSIP) their was much that was shared, their was postive interest in all Bana Yarralji may have to offer as keen hosts; and growing range of possibilities and potential mutual dividends were identified.  

ii.    Over the more than two hours of generally rewarding discussion it also became clear that the possibility of research hosts (ie Bana Yarralji cultural enterprise) not only tapping significant knowledge and research resource but making income from playing hosts  .. is not going to be easy, and is likely to take some heavy investment in building partnerships before it might really pay

It would seem, then, that to suceed as a cultural enterprise, this whole journey is likely to be a possible strange and unusual mix of real impatience, strong faith, and a vision that looks, unflinchingly, into the longer term future with a clarity and certainty sufficient to look beyond more immediate prospect of costs (in money) outweighing profit (in money)

Seeking Security over Assetts Built on Aboriginal Land Trust lands

The Bana Yarralji vision is to see Nyungalwarra lore restored, and Nyungalwarra living and working on Aboriginal freehold lands that are promised to be transferred to an Aboriginal Land Trust (Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Land Trust)  as part of a local native title settlement

Key to the way Marilyn Wallace, Peter Wallace and Bana Yarralji have chosen to promote and achieve this vision of Nyungalwarra living, making a living, and working on country, is to lead by example, establishing an effective, viable enterprise on country applying business principles to generate the income and the means necessary to actually see Nyungkalwarra living, making a living, and working on country.

Initially Marilyn and Peter Wallace simply moved onto country setting up home, and setting up their proposed base on Aboriginal land.   They drew on extensive networks of relationships to procure water tanks, water pumps, assistance digging pit toilets, assembling used corrugated tin, and Lutheran church group assistance to cut Cooktown iron wood logs and build a shed to live in and operate from

Unfortunately, while Marilyn Wallace and family may have had every right under local Aboriginal lore, through her father, to set up home and base on the selected land  - in Australian law - everything Marilyn and co. put onto that Aboriginal freehold land automatically becomes the property of the Aboriginal land trust holding the land; and there is no formally recognised 'right' by Marilyn and co. to control and maintain the home and the base they built.

After setting up on country -  Marilyn Wallace, Peter Wallace, and Bana Yarralji, with the support and assistance of the Centre for Appropriate Technology, all worked to increase infrastructure on the block of land - starting with proper toilet blocks, warm showers, electricity, telephones, office, caravan parks etc.   (See previous posting on the building of tiolet blocks as the beginning of community development)

Again, unfortunately, while working to show the way, and working to increase quality of life plus infrastructure on Aboriginal freehold lands held by an Aboriginal Land Trust  .. all that they built onto the land automatically became the property of the Aboriginal land trust, with NO certainty or security for those who worked so hard for so long to see this infrastructure put onto this land. 



It turns out Bana Yarralji couldn't even themselves directly apply to the local council for necessary development approvals to put in the infrastructure; nor submit vegetation management plans clearing the way for infrastructure put in; nor apply for caravan and camping permits over the area.   In every instance Bana Yarralji was required to go to the Aboriginal Land Trust some distance away with fingers crossed in the hope that Land Trust would make all the necessary applications on Bana Yarralji's behalf

Hanging around Balkanu Cape York Development Corporation, there is a story that the Treasurer of a prominent Bank (Westpac?) visited Cape York to cast specialist eyes over some of the Aboriginal economic development issues,  and, within 5 minutes of touching down quickly concluded that ".. unless and until leases are able to be issued, nothings  going to happen.."

Whether the story is true or not, it seems the only cure to the whole problem of obtaining security and control over assetts and infrastructure necessary to run an enterprise is for the likes of Bana Yarralji to take the approach of businesses across Australian and approach the landholders to obtain a lease!

It turns out that while it is theorectically possible for Aboriginal Land Trusts under Queensland's Aboriginal Land Act to grant leases .. after more than three years of constant requests by Marilyn Wallace and co seeking a lease   .. and after an accumulating body of increasingly complex legal opinion has been collected .. the lesson being learnt is that;

i.   obtaining a lease from an Aboriginal Land Trust under the Aboriginal Land Act is not a simple matter of entering in to a business relationship for the conduct of business (there are almost no such commercial leases for Aboriginal Land Trust lands in the Cape)

ii.  obtaining a lease would seem to effectively establish exclusive private property rights for a few over lands that are held communally for the many ..  in a way that seems to challenge and run counter to the way most people conceive of native title plus associated tradition and lore

Very frustrated and running short of options,  Bana Yarralji's Marilyn Wallace now;

i.   wishes to 'host' an event at which relevant specialists plus land trust directors and elders are assembled, in the hope of bringing about some open discussion about the relative value, difficulty and need for families wishing to move onto country to be able to lease lands from their land trust.

ii.   wishes to 'host' such an event to coincide and occur together with a planned official opening of the newly constructed Bana Yarralji ranger base in a few weeks  (being a ranger base over which no lease has yet been obtained).   

There is also a bit of a wish that participants in such an 'event' might see that there need not be any necessary contradiction between:

-   the granting of private commercial property rights to a cultural enterprise like Bana Yarralji, and
-   the general promotion of the interests of a community of people who share a vision with that cultural enterprise

There is bit of a wish that it will be seen that support for a private, commercial lease may be one way for all Nyungalwarra to move closer, together, to seeing more people living and making a living working on their ancestoral lands (in their garden of eden)??

Changing Lifestyles and Living Longer on Country

Behind Marilyn and Peter Wallace's drive to try applying business principles to changing people's lives -  is a belief that it is healthy for Nyungalwarra to live with their ancestors in their own lands, and a faith that assisting bring Nyungalwarra back onto country will help Nyungalwarra heal as a people.

Knowing the above, it should not be of any surprise to hear that, while there was no profit in it at the time, the emergent cultural enterprise (ie Bana Yarralji) just leapt at the opportunity, earlier this year, to host a Department of Health and Aging 'Healthy Community Day' on Country (just up the road from the Bana Yarralji base, at a place with healing waters known in Kuku Nyungkal as Bangalnarran)

Arising out of this hosting venture was a Bana Yarralji Healthy Families Day in which large number of extended family of all ages camped on country, ate healthy food (including a kup-muri), engaged in healthy activity, painted the above 'Live Longer' banner, and generally explored the prospect and potential for a healthier lifestyle living and working on country.

The event was also recorded on digital video, and a brief 3 minute clip posted onto you-tube, including brief interview with Marilyn, plus images of Nyungalwarra on country here:

The Department's webpage describing this Bana Yarralji Healthy Community day confirms and explains this key motivation driving these cultural entrepreneurs as follows:

"Marilyn Wallace, of Cape York's Kuku Nyungkal people, has long held a dream for the return of her people to a healthy life-style on their ancestral lands. That dream came one-step closer in mid-May at the Bana Yarralji Healthy Families' Day at Shiptons Flat"

The whole Bana Yarralji Healthy Family Day was generally regarded as a successful event by one and all.  It was an event sufficient to inspire Bana Yarralji to strive to build more business like partnership with the likes of Apunipima Cape York Health Council to possibly repeat, extend, and more regularly host healthy, lifestyle changing events such as the Healthy Family day on Country.

Today Bana Yarralji may have started moving little bit closer to formalising the kind of relationships and partnerships with Apunipima and other possible partners needed to help realize this key aspect of the Bana Yarralji vision, and we'll see how things go at a proposed meeting in Cairns next week!!