Annual Conference 2022

CNTA’s 2022 Annual Conference was held over 3 days from 9-11 February 2022. In light of Omicron events including border restrictions, CNTA proceeded with a Zoom-only conference.

The presentations in each session were developed at the initiative of Native Title Representative Bodies and Service Providers. A conference program can be downloaded from this site.

For the first time and in response to restrictions imposed by Covid factors such as closed borders and restrictions on staff travel, CNTA hosted a Webinar with technical support from the ANU College of the Arts and Social Sciences (CASS). CNTA is most appreciative of the support CASS provided, which enabled the login and recording processes across multiple time zones.

Take-up of the online options was very encouraging, with 174 registering for the event and individual logins to sessions over the three days varying between 60 and 90. Anthropologists from Native Title Representative Bodies, Service Providers and Land Councils, as well as consultant anthropologists, lawyers and community development practitioners were involved, either giving presentations, chairing, or acting as chat moderators in sessions.

For technical reasons the conference sessions each had a separate access link with all sessions over the three days recorded. The edited Videocasts are available below. Additionally, apart from these, brief accompanying notes of individual presentations are downloadable for all sessions on Days 2 and 3.

Day 1

Session 1

Welcome to the Workshop; Prof Ian Anderson AO, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student and University Experience), Australian National University.

Professor Anderson is a Palawa man from Tasmania. He has an extensive work history in Indigenous health as a health worker, education and general practitioner. Before taking up his position at the ANU, he held executive roles in various Commonwealth Government departments.

Keynote address; Prof David Trigger, co-Director of CNTA: Protection and management of the Indigenous estate: the role of professional independence in anthropological studies of native title and cultural heritage

Session 2

Tegen Scott: The ‘I’ in Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC): Using technology to inform consultations

Session 3

Gareth Lewis (consultant): Measuring Damage and Loss in Aboriginal Australia: a comparative approach to sacred site damage issues as indicators of loss in Native Title compensation matters

Session 4

Panel session: The role of anthropologists engaged by resource companies in WA

Daniel Bruckner (Integritat): Anthropology and the resources sector in the post Juukan aera and proposed legislative changes

Dirima Cuthbert: Social Surroundings Assessments in Western Australia’s Pilbara Region

Corey Herrmann and Amy Usher (YMAC). A Critical reflection on the role (or not!) of an anthropologist in Social Surroundings – traps for new players

Day 2

 Session 1

Joe Firinu (NLC), David Trigger (CNTA co-Director) & Susan Donaldson (consultant) in conversation:

Joe Firinu & David Trigger: Sands of time – The tension between claim research and contemporary claimants, particularly in relation to conceptualizations of Land Tenure and decision making

Sue Donaldson (consultant): Interpretative Reports: what did the old people say, what we say – Preparing Interpretive Reports for PBCs which feed into a broader process of engagement around decision making.

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 2

Sam Williams (NLC): Issues around succession and decision-making for applied anthropologists. A pre-recorded video introduction by Sam

Panel Discussion: Gareth Lewis (consultant), Emma King (NLC) 

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 3

John Morton (consultant): What is ‘The Indigenous Estate’?

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 4

Kevin Murphy (CYLC): At the intersection of the legal definition of native title rights holder and the practice of authority to exercise rights

Panel Discussants: Luis Lopez (NQLC) and Tony Redmond (consultant)

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Day 3

Session 1

Richard Martin (UQ): Rights and their exercise: On the State’s attempt to restrict the right to access and take resource for any purpose in the Kurtjar people’s native title claim

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 2

Peter Murray & Damian Hastings-James (KLC): How useful are native title materials in managing the Indigenous estate?

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 3

Courtney Boag (FNLRS): The language of compensation research in south-eastern Australia

Panel Discussion: Wendy Asche (consultant), John Morton (consultant), & Sturt Glacken (QC)

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 4

Queensland South and CLC Community development: Fit for Purpose: Community Development models

Ian Sweeney (CLC CD): Community Development Work at the CLC

Felicity Thiessen, Carmen Cooms-Delaney and Joyce Gehir (QSNTS): People, Place and Partnership (PPP) – A model for leveraging and governing native title

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site

Session 5

Panel Session: Louise Allwood, Pascale Taplin (NQLC) & David Martin (consultant): Mentorship in representative bodies – New opportunities for Professional Development?

Notes on this session can be downloaded from this site