"In two years we finished 15 projects, which speaks for the relationship we have with Traditional Owners," said Leah Saltner, organiser for the NQ Dry Tropics Traditional Owner Management Group.
This Management Group represents 15 Traditional Owner groups across northern Queensland, and Leah’s job is to help the Group access information and funding for land and sea activities that are important to them. When the group started six years ago, it wanted to be the hub for Indigenous people interested in managing land and sea. Since that time, it has worked well towards this objective, supported by natural resource management group, NQ Dry Tropics, and continues to enjoy strong community support today.
Some of these projects have included introducing a cultural education program to school children in Ayr, a two-day workshop of Traditional Owner women at Cape Upstart, just outside of Bowen, and weed management projects at Palm Island and Magnetic Island. North Queensland Dry Tropics also published a very successful landholders’ guide to cultural heritage in the region, called ‘Healthy Land Yarn’, in partnership with the group.
Recently, NQ Dry Tropics helped a Traditional Owner organisation to work with the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation to set up a team employing over a dozen people – now called the Green Army. The Green Army started in August, 2009, and will train staff to do land management jobs, like weed control.
Other projects currently underway include development of an educational DVD showing the cultural importance of turtles, traditional ecological knowledge recording, and the use of online social networking tools, like Facebook, to connect Indigenous communities.
“NQ Dry Tropics is committed to furthering these projects and partnerships in any way we can, expanding on past successes,” Leah said.
Photograph: Leah Saltner
13 November 2009
