FINNISS SPRINGS STATION

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (15:02): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation. Will the minister inform the house about the recent lease of Finniss Springs Station to the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:02): I would like to thank the honourable member for his most important question and his very sincere and ongoing interest in these matters. I am pleased to advise that on 25 May I had the pleasure on behalf of the South Australian government to attend a signing ceremony and provide a 99-year lease over the former Finniss Springs Station to the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation.

This was the culmination of a long process, one that came out of the Federal Court's decision to acknowledge the Arabana people's native title claim on 22 May 2012. That Federal Court decision awarded the Arabana with native title rights over some 70,000 square kilometres of land or an area, I am told, that is about 1½ times that of Switzerland, not that I have been there. This land included Finniss Springs and a number of national parks and reserves. These include recently renamed Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre National Park, Wabma Kadarbu Mound Springs Conservation Park and Elliot Price Conservation Park. All beautiful and magnificent places, I am sure, that capture the varied landscapes and diverse wildlife present, but also the spiritual and cultural importance of these places to the Arabana peoples.

In recognising this, officers from my department recently drew up comanagement agreements and Indigenous land use agreements over these sites and places. They also prepared a lease in conjunction with crown law and the Arabana people over Finniss Springs.

As noted by the Federal Court, the Arabana people have had an ancient relationship with the land that was the former Finniss Springs Station. At the signing ceremony, I had the pleasure of hearing some of the stories the Arabana have about that place, its geography, wildlife and flora, and some of the more personal history. In particular I would like to thank Mr Aaron Stuart and Mr Syd Strangways for taking the time to help me understand the past of the Finniss Springs community. I would like to thank the elders, Millie Warren, Ken Buzzacott, Esther Kite and Martha Watts for the hospitality they gave to me at Finniss Springs. That moment and the stories that were shared with me are something I will remember for a very long time to come.

Perhaps of particular interest to members today was the story of the early pastoralist Mr Francis Dunbar Warren, a man of Scottish descent, I am told, who came to the lands of Finniss Springs and its surrounds in the 1860s. In fact, I am told that Mr Warren was the son and grandson of two former members of this place, the Hon. John Warren and the Hon. Thomas Hogarth.

Francis, soon after arriving at Finniss Springs, fell in love with a Arabana women named Nora Barelda, and they bore many children and, through their hard work, they turned Finniss Springs into a productive station. Nevertheless, Francis realised and understood the terror being wrought upon Aboriginal people around Australia at the time, and he therefore sought to make his land a refuge for his family and the Arabana people.

I am told that in the written histories of this time and place, they give an account of one occasion where police and welfare officials came to Finniss Springs to take Aboriginal children and children of mixed descent into state care. Francis, I am told, refused and forced the police and welfare officials off his land by gunpoint. They were different times, sir. Over the years, this early settler's actions allowed the Arabana to continue their spiritual relationship with the land at a time when other Aboriginal people were being dispossessed of their land.

Finniss Springs remained a pastoralist property until the 1980s. Since then, it has been managed by the Aboriginal Lands Trust on behalf of the Arabana. I acknowledge the Aboriginal Lands Trust for the care and dedication they have shown in managing this land. I am pleased to advise that, from 25 May, Finniss Springs is now held by the Arabana Aboriginal Corporation on behalf of the Arabana people; the Arabana people will be directly responsible for its care and control. The granting of this lease to the Arabana will ensure that the quality of the natural environment is enhanced and that its cultural significance is both recognised and protected for future generations.

I am looking forward to working with the Arabana people over the coming years to further conserve and protect these lands, and I am looking forward to hearing of the successes of their custodianship.