The 2025 Centre for Native Title Annual Conference
Venue: Royal on the Park Hotel Brisbane
152 Alice Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000
6-7 th February 2025
Day 1 – Anthropology and the native title workforce
9.00-9.15: Welcome from CNTA Directors
Housekeeping Julie Finlayson Research Fellow CNTA
Session Facilitator: Petronella Vaarzon-Morel
9.15-9.50: Keynote speaker: Lee Sackett: As the ad says: “JUST DO IT”
Lee Sackett lectured in the Anthropology of Aboriginal Australia at Adelaide University for 20 years. Following this, he for three years was Manager of Land Tenure at the Central Land Council. There, in addition to heading up the organization’s team of anthropologists, he researched and reported on three Aboriginal Land Claims. Then, for 25 years he worked as a Consultant Anthropologist, specialising in Native Title Claim research. In this capacity, he worked on Native Title Claims in the Pilbara, the Western Desert, Central Australia, Northwest Victoria, the Gulf Country, the Mount Isa Region, northwest New South Wales and Southeast Queensland.
Lee reviewed claim materials for several Representative Bodies, for the states of Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, and for the Federal Court. He appeared as an expert witness in numerous contested claims. He retired last year (2023) but continues to keep an eye on happenings in the Native Title arena.
9.50-10.30: David Trigger (outgoing Director) CNTA: Native title professional practice in the context of national trends in anthropology teaching and research.
David Trigger’s research interests encompass the different meanings attributed to land and nature across diverse sectors of society. His work on Australian society has included projects focused on a comparison of pro-development, environmentalist and Aboriginal perspectives on land and nature, in both remote and urban settings.
Of particular interest are the issues of ‘nativeness’ and ‘invasiveness’ as understood in both nature and society, with implications for issues of land, cultural identity and environmental management. In Australian Aboriginal Studies, Professor Trigger has carried out more than 40 years of anthropological study on Indigenous systems of land tenure, including applied research on resource development negotiations, land claims and native title.
10.30-11.00: Morning Tea
Session Facilitator: Richard Martin
11.00-11.30: Nicola Colbran Experts and the Federal Court
This presentation will provide an overview of, and discuss, the processes of experts conferences and concurrent evidence (or ‘hot tubbing’) in the Federal Court. It will also raise for consideration possible alternative ways of preparing and presenting expert material in the Federal Court. Finally, it will provide an overview of some professional development sessions the Court intends to conduct which are designed with young lawyers in mind, including in relation to their work with anthropologists.
Nicola Colbran is the National Judicial Registrar for Native Title at the Federal Court and in this capacity manages the Court’s native title team nationally. She also works on native title matters in the Northern Territory, and previously in South Australia and Queensland. In her capacity as Registrar, she has reviewed and analysed expert reports and conducted multiple conferences of experts.
11.30-12.30: Your workplace/workforce- what remedial steps can you take to “grow your own” (small group discussions)
12.30-1.30: Lunch
Session Facilitator: Michelle McCann
1.30-2.30: Panel session with 2 managers describing what we have been doing to ‘grow our own’ workforce.
Amy Usher, Research, Country and Culture Services Manager Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC).
Emma King is the Manager, Anthropology Unit, North Queensland Land Council NTRB Aboriginal Corporation.
Session Facilitator: Kim McCaul
2.30-3.00: Corey Herman: Operating in the PBC space
Corey Herrmann is a Senior Anthropologist at Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation, the Native Title Representative Body for the Yamatji and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Anthropology and Archaeology (received with honours from the University of Queensland) and Creative Industries (from the Queensland University of Technology).
Corey has spent the last ten years working primarily in the Pilbara, undertaking native title research, as well as working with Traditional Owners on environmental and cultural heritage management projects and social impact assessments.
He has experience providing advice to Prescribed Bodies Corporate on matters that impact Country and native title. Corey is a member of the Australian Anthropological Society.
3.00-3.30: Afternoon tea
Session Facilitator: Dirima Cuthbert
3.30-4.00: Kevin Murphy, Sarah Bell, Kim McCaul. Transitioning to consultancy.
Kevin Murphy After completing a BA(Hons) in Anthropology at Adelaide University in 1995, Kevin Murphy was employed as a research assistant for six months on the Commonwealth Hindmarsh Island Inquiry led by Justice Jane Mathews.
From 1996 until 2001 he was employed as a staff anthropologist, first at the Central Land Council in Alice Springs, then at the Torres Strait Regional Authority – Native Title Office (TSRA-NTO) on Thursday Island. He enrolled in the PhD program at ANU in 2002. Following completion of his doctoral fieldwork in PNG in 2005 he was approached by the TSRA-NTO to provide evidence in the Torres Strait Regional Seas native title claim as a consultant. He continued working as a consultant anthropologist, mainly but not exclusively on native title claims until 2020, when he was the manager of Anthropology and Research at Cape York Land Council. In 2024 he returned to working as a consultant.
Sarah Bell has worked as a consultant anthropologist since 2018. Prior to this she had a 20- year career working mainly for Land Councils and Native Title Representative Bodies/Service Providers. Sarah worked as a staff Anthropology in the Northern Territory for the Central Land Council, and in WA for Ngaanyatjarra Council Native Title Unit, and its successor Central Desert Native Title Services (CDNTS), the Southwest Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) and Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC).
Since commencing work as a consultant Sarah has undertaken a range of native title projects across WA, the NT and Queensland, and Aboriginal heritage work in WA and the NT.
Kim McCaul provides anthropological and linguistic expertise to native title and heritage matters across Australia. His work includes connection reports, desktop assessments, peer reviews, responsive reports for matters in litigation and assessments for negotiation purposes.
His post-determination work includes assessment of cultural loss for compensation issues and supporting PBCs with their membership processes. Kim also has a long-standing interest in cross-cultural mediation and relationship building and conducts community consultations and meeting facilitation.
4.00-4.30: Julie Finlayson (Research Fellow CNTA) – From whence we came to where we go: anthropology in the native title era.
The CNTA survey 2022, including reports from the Federal Court, suggest the anthropological workforce in native title is facing pipeline challenges in sustainability and reproduction. What exactly do research managers in our sector know about this, and what solutions are they exploring.
Julie Finlayson has worked in several Federal Government agencies focused on Indigenous programs, has been an academic and a consultant in applied anthropological work. Over the past 9 and a half years she has had the pleasure of advancing the interests and engagement of native title anthropologists through the Centre for Native title Anthropology based at the ANU.
4.30: End of day.
7.00pm: Dinner (venue TBC)
Day 2 – Diversifying the anthropological contributions to post-determination work
Session facilitator: Diane Smith
9.00-9.30: Kevin Smith: Preservation of Cultural Knowledge (Abstract to come)
Kevin Smith is the inaugural First Nations President of the National Native Title Tribunal (NNTT). Kevin has over 28 years of experience in First Nations and native title law, and has held senior positions in several organizations, including Queensland South Native Title Services.
9.30-10.00: Michael Lucas: Native title corporations: insights and learnings from the public data
The focus in this presentation is on what public data insights tell us about native title corporations. He also has expertise and knowledge in Indigenous nation building practices and American Indian tribal governments. His doctoral research investigated the economic, development, and governance aspects of native title corporations using public datasets.
Michael Lucas is an anthropologist and engineer working in his early years as a consultant. Michael recently returned to Australia after completing his PhD at the University of Arizona. Whilst in the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar, Michael was also a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Ash Centre for Democratic Governance and Innovation, which houses the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development. Prior to moving to the U.S., Michael worked for the Central Land Council as the work area clearance anthropologist, and as a project manager for the Indjalandji-Dhidhanu peoples on their spinifex grass commercialisation projects.
Session Facilitator: Tegan Scott
10.00-10.30: Carmen Cooms-Delaney and Diane Smith: Bridging Knowledge: Empowering Native Title Governance through Collaborative Facilitation and Evaluation of the PPP Program.
Carmen Cooms-Delaney, a proud Quandamooka woman from Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), has been a vital member of the Queensland South Native Title Services (QSNTS) team for over nine years, working out of the Mount Isa office. In her roles as a First Nations Engagement Advisor and Development Facilitator, Carmen has an unwavering dedication and passion for her work.
A 2020 graduate of the University of Southern Queensland with a Bachelor of Human Services, majoring in Indigenous Studies, Carmen seamlessly integrates her academic knowledge with her lived experience as a Traditional Owner. Her deep connection to her heritage drives her commitment to guiding and empowering clients through every step of their native title journey, ensuring they receive the support they need to achieve their goals.
Diane Smith is an Anthropologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Indigenous Policy, Polis, College of Arts and Social Science, Australian National University, Canberra. She is currently undertaking a 2-year collaborative evaluation of QSNTS’s People, Place and Partnership Program.
10.30-11.00: Morning tea
11.00-12.30: Workshop Options
Please sign up for a workshop of your choice by emailing Julie Finlayson (Julie.Finlayson@anu.edu.au)
Workshop No.1 – Eddie McDonald/Dirima Cuthbert – Cultural heritage in WA: Foregrounding the cultural heritage landscape – opportunities and constraints in the sector
In this workshop we identify the critical pressures in this sector- such as that from mining companies, pay scales and finding staff. We also discuss the seemingly endless work opportunities, legislation, methodological possibilities and limitations which bring their own issues.
Dirima Cuthbert is Principal Anthropologist at Dortch Cuthbert Heritage Futures, having worked with First Peoples and proponents in the state’s South-West, Goldfields and Pilbara regions for almost three decades. Dirima also has training and experience in Environmental Design, which brings a greater understanding of cultural landscapes to her anthropological work. Together, the two disciplines help her to embed cultural heritage in projects in innovative and meaningful ways. She is Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia, Vice President of the Anthropological Society of Western Australia, and a Member of the Australian Anthropological Society.
Eddie McDonald is the principal of Ethnosciences (2003-present) and formerly Managing Director and principal anthropologist of McDonald, Hales and Associates (1986-2003). He has 47 years’ experience in applied anthropology, undertaking research and evaluation in a range of settings, including Aboriginal and youth homelessness/housing, welfare delivery, juvenile justice, foster care, day care, community relations, and work organisation in heavy industry. Since 1988 Edward has worked in Aboriginal heritage and native title in Western Australia.
Workshop No. 2 – Scarlett Cheeseman and Lionel Buzzacott (PBC Project Officer) – Central Land Council. (PBC mob) – Developing a mobile phone app & resource booklets to make native title information accessible to First Nations people in Central Australia.
The Central Land Council (CLC) region covers the southern half of the Northern Territory, a region of almost 777,000 square kilometres that has 15 language groups. Members and directors of the 35 prescribed bodies corporate’s (PBCs) in the CLC region are often fluent in multiple Central Australian Aboriginal languages and speak English as a fourth or fifth (or more) language.
Since 2018, CLC has been producing easy-English booklets that introduces native title and PBCs for native title holders.
However, in 2023 CLC launched the multilingual mobile app PBCmob for native title holders, members and directors of PBCs in the CLC region.
PBCmob is an engaging, visual app that is simple and easy to navigate with audio translations of CLCs Native Title Story and Native Title on Cattle Country booklets in six Central Australian languages (Arrernte, Alyawarr, Kaytetye, Pitjantjatjara, Warlpiri and Warumungu). PBCmob gives native title holders access to resources produced by CLC, information from the government and service providers, and key public documents available on the ORIC website without needing proficient English and digital literacy skills.
Lionel Buzzacott is an Arrernte man from Alice Springs, he has worked at Central Land Council in the PBC Support Unit since 2022. Lionel speaks four central Australian languages, Eastern Central Arrernte, Western Arranta, Alyawarr and Anmatyerr and understands Pintupi-Luritja and Pitjantjatjara. Lionel is the Western Arranta translator on the PBCmob app.
Scarlett Cheesman is from Sydney, she moved to Alice Springs to work at Central Land Council in 2022 in the PBC Support Unit. Scarlett is currently the coordinator of the PBC Support Unit coordinating a team of six people to provide services to 33 PBCs and 4 corporations pre-determination in the southern region of the Northern Territory.
Workshop No.3 – Tony Eales – 3 ways in which AIATSIS can assist you as a researcher
Mr Tony Eales, an Assistant Director of AIATSIS’s Indigenous Country and Governance Unit (ICG) will speak about some of the work of the ICG relevant to native title researchers including:
* The nature and extent of the AIATSIS collection and how it can be accessed.
* An overview of AIATSIS’s Return of Native Title Material Guide developed with YMAC
* AIATSIS’s work with preservation of research material and the ALRA Transfer of Land Claims Material Guide.
Tony Eales has worked for a decade as consultant archaeologist in Qld and NSW and then as a native title anthropologist with QSNTS for 14 years before moving to AIATSIS in 2023
Workshop No. 4 – Conor Harrington- Diverse Contributions: Anthropology in a Gulf Country PBC
In this workshop participants will hear about the particularities of the Waanyi Native Title Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC, prescribed body corporate for the Waanyi people in Queensland’s lower gulf country. Learn the history behind the corporation’s first anthropologist role created through a historic funding agreement for the joint management of Boodjamulla National Park and gain insights into the diverse contributions this role has made to date. Participants will engage in discussion about the opportunities and challenges facing a small native title corporation in a unique post-determination setting.
Conor Harrington is an applied anthropologist with experience working in Queensland and the Northern Territory. He has previously held positions in the Queensland Government and the Northern Territory Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority (AAPA). In 2023, he transitioned to the native title sector where he continues to work for the Waanyi Native Title Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC in Queensland’s lower gulf country.
12.30-1.30: Lunch
1.30- 3.00: Workshop options
Please sign up for a workshop of your choice and email Julie Finlayson (Julie.Finlayson@anu.edu.au)
Workshop No.1 – Sarah Holcombe- Cultural heritage, the resources sector and critical minerals
Sarah Holcombe spent her formative years as a regional anthropologist for the two major Northern Territory Land Councils where she gained a grounding in social justice issues. Sarah was also a research-intensive academic at the Australian National University (ANU) for over a decade. In broad terms, Sarah’s engaged research interests focus on Indigenous human rights, the governance of difference and the on-going impacts of colonisation. Between 2012 and 2016 Sarah was the recipient of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship, an outcome of which was the book Remote Freedoms: Politics, Personhood and Human Rights in central Australia (Stanford University Press).
She has published widely and is currently applying her critical applied social science lens to the anthropology of the extractive industries and the political economy of mining at the University of Queensland.
Workshop No.2 – Kim De Rijke – Unconventional gas and other contested resource developments onthe Indigenous estate.
Across Australia, a range of contested resource developments present challenges for anthropological enquiry. These developments include controversial unconventional gas extraction in various parts of northern Australia, as well as other highly politicised offshore developments. Anthropologists may be asked to address matters related to rights and interests, heritage or social impact in the context of consultation, objections and/or agreement-making.
What kind of challenges are anthropologists commonly confronted with in such fraught circumstances, and what are the possibilities for, as well as limitations to, productive anthropological enquiry?
Kim de Rijke is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Queensland (UQ). He has worked on native title and related matters for more than 20 years. He currently teaches social impact assessment, environmental anthropology and ethnographic fieldwork at UQ.
Alongside applied work, including expert evidence in the Federal Court, his academic work has focused on water, emplacement and unconventional gas developments in Australia since 2012.
Workshop No.3 – Jamie Lowe – National cultural heritage legislation and policy reform.
Jamie Lowe (CEO National Native Title Council) Jamie is a proud Gundjitmara Djabwurrung man who first joined the NNTC as Chair in 2017. He has been CEO since 2019. Prior to joining NNTC Jamie was CEO of the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation in South Western Victoria, awarded Native Title in 2011and 2023 over the Great Ocean Road.
He was also an inaugural member of the historic First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, the representative elected body tasked with negotiating a Treaty with the Victoria Government.
Internationally, Jamie is the NNTC representative on the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) – a high-level advisory body to the New York based UN Economic and Social Council.
Session Facilitator: Ian Sweeney
3.00- 3.30: Petronella Vaarzon-Morel (Outgoing director CNTA):
From native title claims to the post-determination space: using anthropological expertise in environmental, cultural mapping and heritage landscapes.
Petronella Vaarzon-Morel is a consultant anthropologist based in Alice Springs.
3.30-4.00: Afternoon tea
4.00-4.30: Evaluation: Menti-meter How did we do?
My research interests intersect with Native Title through a commitment to ethical museum practices and Indigenous self-determination. I am particularly drawn to the role of material culture in land claims, cultural continuity, and policy development, advocating for community-led approaches to the management and interpretation of Indigenous cultural materials.
