The uluru/kakadu model—anangu tjukurrpa. 50,000 years of aboriginal law and land management changing the concept of national parks in Australia

In 1978 the first Australian Aboriginal‐owned and jointly managed national park, Kakadu, was established in the Northern Territory. Since that time the Aboriginaliza‐tion of national parks has gathered pace in the Northern Territory and an Uluru/Kakadu model of park management has evolved, which in recent times has spread to parks under state jurisdiction. One estimation is there will be upward of 30 Aboriginal‐owned and jointly managed national parks by 1995. A number of policy issues are foremost in this process, including subsistence, ecotourism, ethnoecology, and employment and training. Should these changes continue then they will have a profound impact on the culture and nature of protected area management in Australia. They could also contribute to achieving social justice for Aboriginal people.

Keywords:

• Aboriginal‐owned national parks
• Australian national parks
• comanagement
• cultural diversity
• ecotourism
• ethnoecology
• joint management
• social justice
• subsistence