Indigenous Community Governance Project Understanding, Building and Sustaining Effective Governance in Rural, Remote and Urban Indigenous Communities Aboriginal governance in settled Australia: Examples drawn from the southwest of Western Australia   Manuhuia Barcham Aboriginal peoples in settled Australia confront developmental difficulties unlike those faced by remote Indigenous communities. The fact that much governmental policy regarding Indigenous Australians is still heavily focussed on remote communities means that those groups and individuals that dwell in settled Australia tend to ‘fall between the cracks’. The problems within the urban environment are further exacerbated due to the fact that Indigenous people in settled Australia can be split into two groups. The first group consists of the descendants of the traditional owners of the lands on which the various towns and cities were built. The second group consists of historic peoples of Aboriginal descent who have, for various reasons, moved from elsewhere to these more settled areas. These groups do not necessarily have the same developmental or cultural objectives as one another and conflicts can ensue. This project has two inter-related aims. a) to explore the particular developmental and governance problems faced by Aboriginal communities in settled Australia (drawing on examples from Southwest Western Australian e.g. South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council, which is the native title representative body for the traditional Noongar owners of Australia’s south-west); and b) to explore the tensions inherent in the interaction between traditional owners and historic peoples. This research project will lead to a number of research outcomes including: a) a more concrete understanding of the different governance structures being utilised by Aboriginal groups and communities in Southwest Australia; and b) recommendations on how governments’ Indigenous policy could be better crafted to suit the particular needs of Indigenous Australians living in settled Australia. Research on this project to date has included research trips in December 2004, and July and December 2005. Research outputs so far include a working paper (see link below), which is being reworked as a journal article. Current research is focussed on looking at ‘whole-of-government’ approaches to Indigenous Affairs in urban and regional Australia and the issue of Indigenous community policing, with fieldwork on these two issues being conducted in July 2006 and February 2007.   Papers by Manuhuia Barcham arising from this research include: 'Regional governance structures in Indigenous Australia: Western Australian examples', CIGAD Working Paper Series No. 1/2006, CIGAD, Massey University, Palmerston North. [287 Kb PDF document] Click here to download document.