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Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Monday, the twentieth of October. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy FitzSimons. This week marks forty years since a major milestone in Aboriginal land rights history. In October nineteen eighty five, the Federal government returned the title Deeds of Ularoo cart Tudor National Park to the traditional custodians of the region, the Unaknew people.
I know a place in the hands of the Ularu cade Tutor Aboriginal Land Trust. The title deeds.
Four decades on. Celebrations began in London last week, where King Charles met with First Nations leaders ahead of more anniversary plans on country this week. Today, we are going to take you through what led to the nineteen eighty five handback, its significance and where thous Nations issues stand. Four decades on.
M Ularu is an iconic landmark. It attracts thousands, maybe millions, I'm not sure, but thousands of visitors definitely every single year to Australia to kind of set the scene here. Do you want to tell us about the cultural significance of Ularu?
Yeah, absolutely so. Ularu or Ularu Katujuda National Park is this massive, massive site in Australia's Red Center. It covers thirteen hundred square kilometers and within that park are two geological rock formations, two very large rock formations, I should say Ularu which is three hundred and forty eight meters high and Katajudah which is a group of thirty six domes with the highest formations rising to around five hundred meters.
So these really remarkable natural formations and these are sacred site rights to the traditional owners, the Unknew people who have lived in the area for more than thirty thousand years. Now, two years after it was returned to the first peoples of the area, the handback were discussing today. The park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in nineteen eighty seven, and that's significant because it basically guarantees the protection of this site as a significant natural and cultural area.
And what do we know about Ularu prior to it being returned to the traditional owners.
So the land was taken over by the South Australian government in eighteen seventy three, and in nineteen fifty eight the area was declared a National park by the Commonwealth, and that was a declaration that happened without consultation with the traditional owners Ularu. The rock, though, was called Ularu long before colonization, but in eighteen seventy three an explorer by the name of William Goss renamed it Airs Rock.
That was after the former South Australian Premier so Henrys, and for the better part of a century, Airs Rock was the most widely used name for this sacred site. I'm sure a lot of people have heard it referred to as Rock, but in nineteen ninety three it was officially renamed airs Rock slash Ularoo. It was the first NT landmark to actually be given dual names. Little interesting
bit of trivia there. And then in two thousand and two these names were reversed and the rock took on the official name of Oolaroo slash airs Rock, which it still has today, but more and more over recent years, as Rock really feels like a name that has been a lot more phased out. Ularoo is I'd say that the most prominent name that we call it these days, and if you ever visit the area. All the traditional owners of course, will call it Boolaro as well.
So its name was returned to Ularu after it went through this handback process. I want to go back to the handback process because that's what the anniversary this week is, do you I want to tell us more about what led to that handback.
Yeah. So this was a culmination of years and years of advocacy by traditional owners who were fighting to regain ownership of this sacred area, their sacred lands. So it was a long campaign, but a key moment came in nineteen seventy nine. That's when the Unknew people presented a
claim to the Aboriginal Land Rights Commission. Then we had six years of extensive hearings, investigations, and eventually a High Court judge, a justice by the name of Leslie Touhey, ruled in favor of the traditional owners and recommended the
land be returned to them. That recommendation was accepted by the federal government and after negotiations, a formal handback ceremony happened on the twenty sixth of October nineteen eighty five, and that was when the Governor General at the time returned the title deeds for Ularu Cutajutor to the traditional custodians of the area.
So by no means it was an easy process. The government did try to fight the traditional owners through this.
There was I suppose controversy around the process. Nineteen eighty five might not sound so long ago, but in terms of the discussion about Aboriginal rights, it was certainly divisive in some parts of the country for a time.
And the site, now, like I said before, it's such a popular tourist destination for so many people, you know, Australians as well as people coming from overseas. How does that work the tourism side of it.
Yes, So this is a really interesting part of the story. So during the same ceremony where ownership was returned to the traditional owners, they actually signed a joint management agreement to lease the park back to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. So the traditional owners agreed with this government agency that they would work in partnership together to
care for and manage the park. And that includes, you know, managing the tourism trade in the area and maintaining culturally sensitive practices for people who do visit that sacred site.
And what does that agreement look like now in I guess practical.
Terms, yes. So obviously there is this symbolic significance when we're talking about the title deeds being returned to the First Nations people of the area. But this also really gave the unnew people legal ownership and a genuine say in how their sacred lands are managed. So, for example, under this joint management model, the traditional custodians have input
into all major decisions about the park. They're employed as rangers, they conduct cultural tours, and they've really been able to implement important changes that respect their cultural values so that you know, the rest of the country and the world can continue to enjoy that site alongside them.
And we're going to keep discussing more about Uluru, but first here is a quick message from our sponsor and so. And we're talking about it today because it is the forty year anniversary this week. I don't think it's exactly today, but it is the week, yep.
How is it being commemorated, So celebrations started early, you're correct. The anniversary officially is the twenty sixth, but last week there was a service in London that was attended by King Charles that was held at Australia House and a group of nine traditional owners from the Red Center were there to speak with the King.
Just to clarify Australia House in London.
Australia House in London. This is the High Commission, Australia's High Commision in the UK. And there was one un anew woman Alison Carroll, who was among the leaders that spoke, and she reflected on the significance of the King's presence at this event and her words were translated by a fellow and a new representative, Harry Wilson, but basically she described the handback process as one that gives the first peoples of the area a sense of belonging, ownership and control.
She reflected on growing up seeing monarchs like the Queen and how times have shifted for her people. The nine representativetives who were there speaking to the King, they'll make their way back to Australia now and they'll be on country celebrations later in the week. That includes a public celebration concert on Saturday, which will feature traditional dance, live performances, and the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanzi is expected to attend some of those celebrations.
I was going to ask, as the federal government said much about this yet.
Yeah, So during that service with King Charles in London, there was a video message played from Anthony Albanesi and the Prime Minister called the nineteen eighty five handback a milestone in Aboriginal land rights in Australia. He called it
a powerful moment in the story of our continent. He also thanked the traditional owners who made the long journey to share their cultural history in the UK, as well as the King for quote taking this opportunity to meet with traditional owners ahead of what is a deeply significant anniversary. He added, in Australia, Ularu stands as a monument to our people's love for the country and their determination to seek justice done.
One thing that I remember became a huge moment and in recent memory when it comes to Uluru is the ban on people walking over it. Do you remember that? Yes? I think it was twenty nineteen.
It was twenty nineteen, really great memory.
How can you tell us about that?
So this is a direct outcome of the nineteen eighty five handback, a really significant outcome at that. So, yeah, in twenty nineteen we saw that change after decades of tourists climbing the rock despite it being a sacred First Nation site, and essentially after the traditional owners regained ownership, they really pushed for and were finally able to close
that climb years of requests for that to happen. And I also think it's interesting to reflect on the legacy of forty years since this agreement, which has also been replicated in other national parks across Australia, so it's influenced quite broadly how we think about land rights and First Nations participation in land management and how the government interacts with traditional owners in those situations.
Here we go, I want to ask you how First Nations issues have changed in the decades since the handback, because it was October two years ago when the Voice referendum happened as we know it failed. How have First Nations issues changed and developed in the decades since the handback?
Yeah, I think it would be remiss of us not to describe the decades since as a really mixed picture. As you mentioned, it was the two year anniversary just a few days ago, on the fourteenth of October of the failed Voice referendum, so that was the day in twenty twenty three when Australia rejected that proposal to recognize First Nations peoples in the Constitution to establish a voice
to Parliament. Just four of the nineteen closing the Gap targets are on track to be met, and many of the fundamental challenges First Nations communities face remain deeply entrenched.
You know.
Just last week as well, we saw the New South Wales Coroner announced that they're been a record number of First Nations deaths in custody so far this year in the state. The coroner, Theresa O'Sullivan, called that a profoundly distressing milestone. And of course that kind of coincided almost to the day of the referendum failure, which means, you know, there's been a lot of reflection. There is always a lot of reflection at this time of year. But despite
the referendum's failure. I wanted to quote Alira Davis from the Ularu Youth Dialogue. She spoke to the AAP last week and said that even though the referendum did fail, it started millions of conversations and changed the landscape of
Indigenous affairs in real ways. She said, quote people who have never thought about certain parts of Australia's history, or about how power is distributed, or about who makes decisions for First Nations people, and now having these important conversations because of the referendum, I just want to finish on this line that she added, change in this country takes time decades in our case, but history tells us it always begins with persistence.
A powerful quote to end on a really important story, and like we said, one that we're going to be hearing a lot about this week as it is the anniversary. Thank you so much for explaining.
Thank you, Billy, and thank.
You so much for listening to this episode of The Daily Oz. We'll be back this afternoon with your afternoon headlines, but until then, have a great day. My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Chalcuttin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present,