Australia’s road to net zero must pass through Indigenous-held land, which is likely to host many clean energy projects. First Nations people want partnerships that help them protect their Country.
One crucial question about the Voice to Parliament is how it will ensure voices from regional and remote communities, such as those in the Kimberley, are truly heard in Canberra.
Archibald Prize winner Blak Douglas plays the yidaki next to his painting of Victoria Cross recipient Flight Lieutenant William ‘Bill’ Newton during a handover ceremony at the Australian War Memorial in October 2022.
Lucas Coch/AAP
For many millennia, Indigenous Australians have engineered our landscape. From an ochre mine to fish traps, here are five remarkable examples of First Nations technical know-how.
Floodwaters over the Great Northern Highway and the Fitzroy Crossing Bridge in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
AAP Image/Supplied by Department of Fire and Emergency Services WA
The Kimberley region of Western Australia is currently being devastated by flooding. Remote communities need more support with prevention and recovery plans.
Political activities on the University of the Witwatersrand campus in 1959.
Wits University
The findings come from placoderm fish fossils found in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. This extinct order of fish represents some of our earliest jawed ancestors.
Indigenous artists have been engraving rock shelters for millennia - long before the Kimberley’s celebrated rock art paintings. Now the rocks’ natural coatings are yielding clues to the engravings’ creation.
The Western Australian government’s decision to green-light fracking in selected areas aims to walk a line between industry interests and community opposition. But across Australia the picture varies widely.
Drinking water in Australia can be contaminated by natural and manmade processes, especially in communities. Innovation is needed to ensure water is ‘fit for purpose, place and people’.
The new Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council aims to overcome a management problem faced by many traditional owners: the fact that major rivers flow through lands home to many different groups and languages.
Could better regulations have persuaded Woodside not to mothball its Browse gas project?
AAP Image/Richard Wainwright
Woodside’s decision to shelve its $40 billion Browse project off Western Australia’s north is not a disaster, but it does highlight some areas where the gas industry needs to get much smarter.
A student beats the statue of Cecil John Rhodes with a belt as it is removed from the University of Cape Town.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
The Randlords left a big dilemma in their wake: contemporary South Africa is not sure whether to thank them for bringing civilisation, or to curse them for complicating future race relations.
The remote rivers of northern Australia could be home to untold numbers of new and threatened fish.
Matthew Le Feuvre
Cane toads, introduced in 1935 to control cane beetles, have now spread across a huge swathe of Australia, from the Kimberley in northern Western Australia to northern New South Wales. They’re still spreading…
Indigenous land owners weren’t consulted in the past about the creation of Western Australia’s huge Ord River irrigation scheme – but a recent agreement offers a more positive example for developing other parts of northern Australia.
Pete Hill/Flickr
We are very happy to have got this far. We have had our disagreements but we have managed to work through them and now we are all getting on with the job. We have learnt a lot through the process. Standing…
Aboriginal (Kija, Malnjin, Mirawoonga and Worla) cultural law holds that Argyle mine’s pink diamonds are scales of the female Baramundi creative Dreaming Being.
Swamibu/Flickr
On Tuesday Lateline ran a story built around a report: “Developing the West Kimberley’s Resources” that the program breathlessly presented as a “secret plan” to industrialise the region, unlock its resources…