NGAUT NGAUT CONSERVATION PARK

Ms BREUER (Giles) (14:20): Will the Minister for Environment and Conservation inform the house how the government is working with the Aboriginal community in Mannum to co-manage the Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park? Ngaut Ngaut: perhaps some members opposite might be interested in going there.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Environment and Conservation, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister Assisting the Premier in Cabinet Business and Public Sector Management) (14:20): I thank the honourable member for this question. It was my great pleasure to be at the Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park on Saturday to launch its management plan. This is one of the really bright spots in Aboriginal affairs in this state. In many respects we lead the nation in the way in which our co-managed parks have been set up. Something like 60 per cent of our state's parks are now under management plans, including the Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park.

The management plan is one of many co-management plans throughout the state that intimately involve the traditional owners in the management of the parks, and it has been one of the keys to the success of that initiative. Not only does it involve Aboriginal people in the care and control of their own country, but it also adds something very special to the cultural experience in these parks.

This particular park is well known for its extensive rock engravings and, of course, this plan is about ensuring that they are protected, but it is also a very important site from an archaeological perspective. Indeed, in the 1920s, Tindale and some of the other archaeologists of the day carried out extensive surveys of this area, with about 13 feet of digs in that area that demonstrated 1,000 years of continuous occupation in this one site.

It is a fascinating historical record of the way in which the Aboriginal people stayed at this site and used it. It also gives a very important window into the traditions associated with the way in which people left sites around the death of children and family and then returned to that site over a period of time. So, there is an incredibly rich cultural heritage there, which is explained by Aboriginal people, the descendants of the traditional owners.

The other extraordinary thing about this park is that all of the infrastructure there has been funded by the Aboriginal community itself out of the earnings it has received, with, I think, a small amount of assistance from tourism, but certainly out of a lot of its own proceeds. What they have done in this community is that they have really gone by the principle that you have to reinvest in your own community. They have been incredibly self-sufficient. It is a strong community, built around a particular family. Mr Richard Hunter was the patriarch of this family, and his daughter Isobel now continues that tradition.

The new plan is designed to protect sites and objects of significance. It will also mean that many more people will be able to enjoy this site. I would like to acknowledge my predecessor, John Hill, the minister for the environment, who signed the co-management agreement with the Mannum Aboriginal Community Association Incorporated, which now runs this very important site.