Crown and country: Negotiating the one space

Abstract

The concept of ‘Country’ is central to Aboriginal culture and has sustained the Quandamooka Peoples (the Quandamooka) of South East Queensland (SEQ) for 40,000 years. On 4 July 2011, the Federal Court of Australia determined that 54,500ha of exclusive and non-exclusive Native Title rights over land and waters, occupied continuously and managed sustainably by the Quandamooka Peoples, be legally vested in these Peoples. This formal recognition, of tenure under Australian law, marked an important milestone for the Quandamooka, and offered the opportunity to re-assert Quandamooka lore, customs, culture and sovereignty, over these lands and water, which are pillars to the concept of ‘Country’. Today, two Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) operate in Quandamooka lands and waters, assisting parties to negotiate future actions through a complex multi-layered planning system, all of which affect ‘Country’. Achieving these outcomes may require the incorporation of ‘Country’, as a traditional planning framework, into this Eurocentric planning system. Thus, embedding Quandamooka recognised title rights and interests into conventional local land use planning frameworks to align and maximise land use planning outcomes that benefits the local community, particularly Traditional Owner groups. In a narrative summary, this paper examines and reviews the major land title transitions of Quandamooka ‘Country’ and identifies a possible role that ‘Country’ can play in innovating a new way of addressing Indigenous values of ‘Country’ in the Australian planning system.