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Indigenous Peoples’ Interest in Wildlife-Based Enterprises in the Northern Territory, Australia

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Abstract

Despite high levels of poverty in Indigenous Australian communities, workforce participation is low for the few jobs available. Our research showed that, in contrast, there was a high level of interest in involvement in wildlife-based industries. Young men were particularly interested in animal-based industries whereas involvement in plant-based industries was more likely among middle-aged people of both sexes. People who had employment as land and sea managers (‘rangers’) were more likely than others to express interest in enterprise involvement. Importantly the level and type of interest differed between communities, reflecting differences in history and culture. The results, which are the first documentation of a quantitative analysis of Australian Indigenous peoples’ interest in wildlife-based enterprises, suggest that this is considered far more desirable than involvement in other types of work that might be available. It also suggests that any programmes facilitating such enterprises need to be tailored to the community for which they are being designed.

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Notes

  1. We use the definition of wildlife given by the Australian Government which refers to both plants and animals (Australian Government 1998).

  2. The Northern Territory covers an area of 1,349,129 km2 and about 50 % are under native title which means that about 675,000 km2 (almost twice the size of Germany) can be regarded as Indigenous estate (Northern Land Council 2012). Non-Indigenous people require permission to enter this land. The population density of northern Australia away from towns is <0.1 person/km2 (Garnett et al. 2008).

  3. For an animal-based industry the example used was the collection and sale of saltwater crocodile eggs to crocodile farm s around Darwin, as this is already practised in many communities. The cycad and the bush plum were used as examples of commercially used plants (see Whitehead et al. 2006 for a list of plants for potential commercial use). Some respondents also mentioned other plants that were harvested for commercial use around their community and then based their answers on these.

  4. In Maningrida 34 Djelk Rangers are currently employed (Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation 2012). In Yirrkala 12 Indigenous rangers are currently employed through the Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation and in Ngukurr the Yugul Mangi Land and Sea Rangers Corporation employs eight rangers (own investigations).

  5. In New Zealand around 84 % of Māori people are now urbanised (Meredith 2009) and in the United States 45 % of Native Americans are urbanised (Harvard Project 2007).

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Cindy Huchery, Dhanggal Gurruwiwi, Gunariny Gurruwiwi, Yululu Gurruwiwi, Fiona, Y. Marika and Djapirri Mununggirritj for help with data collection in Yirrkala, Christine Brown, Otto Campion and Desleigh Dunnett for data collection in Maningrida and Edna Nelson, Cherry Daniels, Geraldine Daniels, Grace Daniels and Godfrey Blitner for data collection in Ngukurr. We also gratefully acknowledge all the survey participants. This research was funded by the ARC Discovery Grant DP0987528 with contributions from ARC Linkage Grant LP0669497.

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  1. The Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Ellengowan Drive, Darwin, 0909, NT, Australia

    Kerstin K. Zander

  2. Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

    Beau J. Austin & Stephen T. Garnett

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Zander, K.K., Austin, B.J. & Garnett, S.T. Indigenous Peoples’ Interest in Wildlife-Based Enterprises in the Northern Territory, Australia. Hum Ecol 42, 115–126 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-013-9627-3

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