Northern Territory

Around 80 people attended a rally in Alice Springs calling for the removal of a four metre high statue of explorer John McDouall Stuart, the first European to traverse the continent from south to north in 1862.
A letter was also distributed, written by the elders directly to John McDouall Stuart, accusing him of not asking permission to enter the land and of killing Arrernte people. "You came to Mount Hay and you killed our mob," it stated. [node:read-more:link]

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Darwin has been focusing on abuse of children at the Retta Dixon home, which mainly housed Aboriginal children between 1946 until it closed in 1980.
There was clearly evidence to support charges against convicted sex offender Donald Bruce Henderson, who had numerous claims of child abuse against him dropped in 1976 and again in 2002, the head of an inquiry says. [node:read-more:link]

A Territory government drive a train through the Land Rights Act if the Federeal government handed it over to them.

'So what', you may think, Land Rights as we know it is a farce, you might say. Well, thats all very well, but many of our brothers and sisters are locked into these contracts, and while they stay on country, they can't do anything about it. This article has some invaluable insights into how it was much better before John Howard smashed it, and how it can get much worse. [node:read-more:link]

Many people in Australia are in the hunt for millions of dollars as the government searches for a place to dump 14 tonnes of nuclear waste, just for starters

The waste the government is 'talking up' will be returned to Australia by the end of next year following treatment in France and the UK.

It has been reported that some First Nations people in the NT are squabbling over hosting the nuclear waste in their land. [node:read-more:link]

An Alice Springs-based group of Aborigines is pushing to revive plans to host Australia's nuclear waste 30km north of the town, with help from the Northern Territory and federal governments. The proposal has become entwined with ructions inside the powerful Central Land Council (CLC) that have seen chairman Maurie Ryan suspended for the second time this year.

Members of the group said they were recognised as traditional owners at a full CLC meeting they attended at Mr Ryan's invitation. [node:read-more:link]

There has been regular trading along the northern coast of Australia with other countries for many centuries before the British arrived. Here is an interesting find that puts some further light on the trading lines.

The coin was found on a beach on Elcho Island, part of the Wessel Islands off the coast of Arnhem Land, NT, during an exploratory expedition of scientists in consultation with the local traditional owners. [node:read-more:link]

Yolngu Nations Assembly (YNA) urges the Commonwealth Government and Indigenous communities to consult carefully before considering entering into 99-year township leases ... The Traditional Owners only made an agreed to negotiate. "When Yolngu say, 'yes, we understand' that doesn't mean 'yes, we can go ahead'."

To force our people to accept 99 year leases for their land as the only way for them to achieve any form of economic advantage from their homelands is a crime. [node:read-more:link]

In outback Australia, many young First Nations people aspire to work in the cattle industry and it is local employment. Here is another example of the Indigenous Land Corporation (ILC) leaving our First Nations youth high and dry and continue to employ non-Indigenous people. The young people are being deliberately excluded by the ILC who are deliberately sidestepping our First Nations people and employing non-Indigenous people, often on a contract basis. Here is a story by an insider of the treachery involved. [node:read-more:link]