Blackfeller Housing Plan

Published on October 9, 2005 By Champas Socialist In Politics

There is a controversial plan to allow individual Northern Territory Aboriginals to lease or sell their own homes on native title land .Link. The idea is that this will improve health in communities where many people live in sheds, tents and shoddy housing. Although I admire Mundine’s attempts to move forward and empower Aboriginal communities for the future, I like many, am concerned that the new plan imposes Western culture on indigenous communities.

Most Aboriginal cultures were nomadic, and for very good reasons: by moving from place to place, it allowed the natural environment to recuperate and replenish, thus providing them with an eternally sustainable lifesource. Their philosophical and religious beliefs meant that the style of housing and living was not the same as those who lived through the Industrial Revolution. Rather than attempting to dominate nature, they lived as part of it, creating an incredibly complex balance between their needs and those of the natural environment.

However, since 1788, it has been increasingly hard to live the nomadic lifestyle that the spiritual ancestors intended. There is less and less living off the land and more and more permanent housing. Whether we like it or not, the reality of 21st Century Aboriginal life is that it usually involves living in the one spot. That is the reality we have to deal with, not the culture of the past.

This does not mean however that we should try to turn Aboriginal culture into ours. There are values of indigenous society that are very dear to people’s identities, senses of belonging and pride. These are eseential elements to anyone who is trying to make a go of it in life and make themselves into independent, upstanding members of the community. The question is which elements of Aboriginal society are most important, because some have changed, and others will thus inevitably change.

I of course cannot make this judgment call, as I am a Balanda. But I will venture a tentative opinion about the issue. What concerns me is the individualistic focus of the legislation. The biggest problem in Anglo-Australian society at the moment is the increasingly individualistic nature of our culture, which I think is leading to most of our social problems. The values of doing things for the good of the group are values that we would do well to learn from our hosts, so it would of course be a tragedy if instead, Aboriginals learned our way.

Of course, Warren Mundine is right that the current situation is unacceptable and a change needs to be made. Several suggestions have been ventured over the years. The last Labor Government talked about sending the army in to build houses for the Aboriginals, a very paternalistic plan. One of the reasons it didn’t work was that this did not empower the communities to do things for themselves. However, I doubt that many will be able to afford the new proposals. We are expecting Aboriginal communities to leap up to the same standards that took us centuries to build in a matter of years.

When the early colonial white Australians arrived, there were a lot unskilled labourers who had to build their own houses, start up farms and build a new society. The houses were imperfect, but livable. It is important that Aborigines are given the opportunity to build their own homes, so that they are given the opportunity to do things for themselves.

Perhaps trained builders could work with communities to teach them basic building skills on the job, and work with them to build some houses in their communities. We should not expect these houses to necessarily be the same as you might see in the leafy suburbs of Kenmore.My plan would need funding from the Federal Government for building materials. The biggest problem with Mundine’s plan is that it is unaffordable, largely because of the price of materials. The most likely result of his plan is that it will eventually allow mining companies to pressure Aborigines to sell their hard-fought sacred land. However, if community members can work together with each other and with trained builders to build their own homes, they will have an opportunity to shape their own destiny. That would surely achieve the admirable goals that Mundine is aiming at. My plan would achieve practical goals regarding housing, make use of some traditional cultural values, and create reconciliatory links between white and black societies

Comments

Champas Socialist

on Oct 11, 2005

I had more of a think about this issue overnight and decided that I Mundine's plan goes against the very idea behind native title. When Vincent Lignari stood on his land until it was given back to him, he was offered more money. They offered him better wages, but he told them: this isn't about money, it's about land. Now Mundine wants to turn native title into a money-making exercise for Aborigines. As explained in Leah Purcell's Black Chicks Talking, land is importat becase you need t hold your corroboree on your land. It has significance. You need somewhere to practise your culture. That's what native title is about.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!