Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (14:42): My question is to the Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation. Will the minister inform the chamber about the recent visit to Wilpena Pound to celebrate the co-naming of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Climate Change) (14:43): I thank the honourable member for her most important question. She is a person who gives me a thorough grilling all the time on these issues, and I am very pleased to be able to give her a response.

On Friday 12 February, I had the very great pleasure of joining members of the newly named Ikara-Flinders Rangers National Park Co-management Board, the Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges Co-management Board and some representatives from the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association at Wilpena Pound. We were there to celebrate the two boards working together so very closely and to have a discussion with those boards, and also to acknowledge the co-naming of what was the Flinders Ranges National Park, which is now Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park.

This is not just simply the addition of a word stacked onto the beginning of a name that we have known for a long time. In changing the name to Ikara-Flinders Rangers National Park, we are acknowledging in a very concrete way that long, long before the notion of national parks was even thought of, long before the first Europeans were there and the first pastoralists were working the area, the Adnyamathanha people were there as well, and they had been there for a long, long time prior. The word Ikara, I am told, means special meeting place, and to the Adnyamathanha people Wilpena Pound has always been known as Ikara.

Around 170,000 people visit the park every year, from across the nation and around the world. Of course, they come for the natural environment, the breathtaking scenery, the ancient geological landscapes and the very high biodiversity values, but they also come to learn about the rich Aboriginal and, indeed, European cultural history, and the history of Aboriginal peoples and Europeans working together. The new name, together with the great work being undertaken by the board within the park, will deepen tourists' cultural understanding and appreciation of that fantastic location; that is my hope.

Since 2011, the Adnyamathanha people and the state government have been working in partnership to manage this park under the co-management agreement process. Co-management in South Australia was introduced first in 2004. It is a model which helps ensure that land is managed in a way that combines traditional knowledge with contemporary park management. There are many examples of very successful co-management in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park. The board has developed a new management plan to ensure that Adnyamathanha cultural values are recognised and valued and protected into the future. The park's new interpretive plan will provide a strong Adnyamathanha perspective through interpretive signs across visitor sites within the park.

A new fire management plan for the northern Flinders will ensure that cultural practices associated with the use and management of fire are recognised and applied, and a traditional use zone has been developed for Adnyamathanha people where hunting and gathering can be undertaken in a safe environment . We are also working together to identify long-term plans to protect Sacred Canyon, a very significant cultural site that has been damaged by graffiti over the years and inappropriate visitation.

The co-management board and the Adnyamathanha people have also supported the reintroduction of two very special animal species that have become extinct in the area: the idyna, or Western quoll, and the wyulda, or brushtail possums, through the state government's Bounceback program. Each of these achievements are important steps in promoting Adnyamathanha culture to park visitors, as well as to local businesses and neighbouring landholders and other people involved in park management. The co-naming of the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is a great achievement, not just for the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park co-management board but also for the broader Adnyamathanha community.

I might just say at this point that we are planning a much more public celebration of this later in the year, I understand, for the Adnyamathanha community, the local Flinders Ranges community, the two park co-management boards as well, and any other interested parties who may have an interest in being there. I will certainly circulate as broadly as I can some advance notice about that. As Michael Anderson, the chair of ATLA, said after the ceremony we had, 'Renaming of the park is the most significant act of reconciliation with, and recognition of, the spirit and culture of the park and its traditional owners, the Adnyamathanha.'

I would like to thank and commend the co-management board, its members both past and present, and ATLA for their commitment to our partnership to this very great important work.