Two and a half acres, which is zero point zero zero two percent of the land mass of Tasmania, returned to the people that never ceased sovereignty, and were the victims of a cultural genocide, feels like a lot less space. This is not to take away from the significance of the victory, it is nonetheless significant, but rather, it is my way of saying let’s, as a Country, give land back a whole lot more.
In Tasmania, the Indigenous Land and Sea Council (ILSC) has supported the purchase of nineteen-thousand hectares, which totals at a little over zero point two percent of our country's largest island. The reconciled land in the north-east that gives me reason for this piece, was financed through a partnership between the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC), Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) and the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC). A lot of acronyms, and numbers, I know.
Among deals such as these, there has also been a sum of private land returns which is becoming a prominent way of returning land to the Antarctic-nearing island’s true custodians. In fact, one of the first significant private land returns in Australia was in Little Swanport, just above Hobart, in 2019, in which one-hundred and ten hectares was given back.
“Reconciliation is great but it’s so much talk, so many documents and no action. This is just a symbol of action. This land will relink us all, it’s already relinking us.” – Jane Teniswood, who shared the land with her husband Tom.
In the far north-east, within the land that Alec has captured the images published here, there was another returning gesture of significance in December of last year. This was one of abalone, in which the Land and Sea Aboriginal Corporation Tasmania (LSACT) secured a long-term lease and buy back arrangement of forty abalone units at Musselroe Bay, returning sovereignty to the food that sustained the Palawa people. Steps like these are imperative to keeping Indigenous people out of incarceration, and ultimately closing the gap (reduce the disparity between indigenous and non-indigenous people in Australia).
On my notes, scribbled among ‘Sam and Alec’, ‘Six women survived colonial devastation, six aunties are keeping the tradition alive’, ‘The women on this Country are the divers, they would rub seal blubber on themselves to catch one seal a year. Tribes here, alike Indigenous cultures the country throughout, hunt at a sustainable rate, with greed seen as evil in lore and dreamtime stories’ and ‘Shells, they only take one percent’, was ‘Women's business–I should do the walk!’ Fittingly, because I have not yet followed my emphatic note, I have opted to keep my words limited. I believe the photographs Alec has given to this piece speak mountains. I will say this:
What the Palawa people have done with land rights in Wukalina to Larapuna returned, marks how custodianship, guided by reciprocity, respect and relationality, is the way to heal. To heal the land, its people, and our connection to it. The depth of awe, gratitude and spirit that Alec spoke with of his time with the Palawa aunties on Country, is resoundingly reminiscent of this sentiment.
The Wukalina walk can be found here. Notably, I found the Language, and the Our People pages insightful.
Also of note, in a piece full of notes:
The initiative to establish a market for cultural fisheries in Tasmania is titled Wave to Plate.
Closing the Gap.
Tasmanian Aboriginal Center, of which you can find Palawa-Kani language guides. A lot of effort has been put into reviving language here.
Land Back Factsheet from ANTAR, a national advocacy organisation dedicated to achieving rights, justice and respect for the First Nations Peoples of Australia.