From Dispossession to Compensation: a political ecology of the Ord Final Agreement as a partial success story for Indigenous traditional owners

ABSTRACT

The recent digging of a new channel for water delivery to expand irrigation in the Ord provides a good opportunity for unearthing the native title agreement that allows for intensification of agriculture there. Initial irrigation development in this north-eastern Australian catchment did not include recognition of, consultation with, or distribution of benefits to Indigenous people impacted by dam creation and land flooding. Forming agreement between those affected by previous dispossessions, and associated accumulation of wealth via mining and irrigation, with those initiating such activities was an important and challenging process. The Ord Final Agreement (OFA), formalised in 2006, came from negotiations between Miriuwung and Gajerrong traditional owners and government and private interests. Through qualitative research, I dissect the context and content of the OFA to identify the strengths and weaknesses therein. While the agreement does allow for co-management of significant land- and waterscapes, it does not provide for Indigenous water rights, showing one instance of loose ends and missing links within the Ord.

Keywords:

• Ord Final Agreement
• Indigenous water rights
• political ecology
• Indigenous people
• co-management

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on doctoral research, undertaken with a scholarship from the University of Sydney. It was supported, essentially, through a research agreement with traditional owners of the Kimberley Land Council, and an ‘exchange of effort’ underpinned its success. KLC helped me by providing contacts and research space; I helped KLC by volunteering in multiple roles. Thanks to my supervisors, Bill Pritchard in Sydney, and Des Hill in Kununurra, and my family and friends who all facilitated this research.

Notes

1. The data sources for this analysis include legal documents, fact sheets, media reports and evidence gathered from field research in the Ord Valley. This field research was based in Kununurra where I worked with Aboriginal organisations as a volunteer. I began travelling to the Ord Valley in 2001 for honours research, returned in 2005 for a scoping trip to negotiate a research agreement with the Kimberley Land Council, and spent 6 months spanning the wet–dry seasons in 2006 working within the terms of that research agreement.

2. Western Australia does not have an Aboriginal land rights regime.

3. Such as me when approaching the KLC to formulate a research agreement for my thesis submitted in 2009.