Larrakia

Larrakia Culture, Larrakia Traditional Owners

Larrakia are the traditional Aboriginal people of Darwin including across the Darwin Harbour to Cox Peninsula and also the outer Darwin region. Larrakia Aboriginal culture and identity is rich and vibrant best described by the most senior knowledgeable Larrakia Traditional Owner and Elder for Larrakia Country, Raylene Singh who was born and lives in the Belyuen Aboriginal Community across the Darwin Harbour. Raylene holds the knowledge and cultural authority for all Larrakia Country and has the responsibility to carry on the traditions.

“I am strong in my culture and my Country is my life - the way I was taught by my mother and my father and my Grandfather and Grandmother. We Traditional Owners know this land and  know how to look after it and we know what our Country wants. Our Country our, waters and everything that lives here - our people, the fish, the birds, the animals, insects plants and landscape have to be looked after; this is our Country that we were born into and have lived here for many, many generations. We can not talk about some things that are sacred but we teach that to all our children to learn and carry on our culture because it is our law. We have the most beautiful places and sacred sites that we look after to make sure everything is protected and safe from people who don’t know our Country. We look after Country the proper way that we were taught. You have to ask us first if before you do anything on our Country to get our permission so we can let Country know what is going on otherwise it will cause trouble for everyone and everything. To go onto Traditional lands you have to get a permit for the Traditional Owners to authorise which me, my brother and sister have responsibility to do so, but I am the senior one that the land council and the government  ask for permission too.

My Mother (Olga Singh) taught me cultural knowledge to look after my country and not to let anyone or anything destroy it. It is very special to be taught so much and I must respect that and do the right thing by all my ancestors and my family. I am the eldest of the Traditional Owners for Larrakia and the judge even recognised that in our land claim we won after a very long time giving our evidence. It took over thirty years and we are still waiting for our land hand back to us the Traditional Owners. My mother gave her knowledge in the evidence in the land claim to win Kenbi for us Traditional Owners including my brother and my sister and she got it from her mother and my grandfather Imabulg, who is Tommy Lyons. We are the Tommy Lyons Group that won the Kenbi Land Claim after all the years of proving who we are and that we are Larrakia and that we live on our Country to protect it. My father fought to protect our rights as the Traditional Owners and he would be so proud how we are looking after everything. My Father also started the KENBI DANCERS and we still have our dances adn our corroborees that belong to us. There is so much to protect and only we have the knowledge to do that. Nobody else can do that but Traditional Owners”.

As the senior Larrakia Elder Traditional Owner, Raylene Singh heads up the Cultural Awareness Program "ASK FIRST" at Radio Larrakia. Part of Cultural Awareness training is cultural day on her Country. This includes Larrakia, non-Larrakia Indigenous and the wider community, corporate groups, community groups and organisations. The cultural training days are an integral part of Raylene’s role at Radio Larrakia as an Indigenous broadcaster and who importantly guides the Radio Larrakia Cultural Protocols and Ethics in broadcasting media.

Raylene hosts participants on a four wheel drive tour and shares cultural knowledge about caring for country, fire stick farming ‘burning off’, sacred sites and places, fishing techniques, hunting, bush tucker, cooking in a relaxing and culturally enriched environment. 

Larrakia Traditional Owners - Kenbi Land Claim

Larrakia traditional ownership has survived Darwin’s contact history with the first Europeans and colonial rule, world wars and the struggle for Aboriginal rights, voting rights, land rights and native title, and generations of Aboriginal dispossession, disparity and impoverishment. In 1971, the Northern Territory Gove Land Rights case in 1966, led to the Woodward Report and the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976 (Cwlth). With the ever-decreasing reserve land in Darwin, Bobby Secretary led Larrakia people and other long-term Indigenous residents of Darwin in a series of protests under the banner of ‘Gwalwa Dariniki’, ‘our land’. Across the Darwin harbour Larrakia were preparing for the fight for land rights in what became the Kenbi Land Claim (Kenbi).

Kenbi was the first land claim to be lodged under the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act 1976 (Cwlth) and having run for nearly thirty years is the longest running in Australia's history of Aboriginal land rights.

The Kenbi Land claim Kenbi is the most contentious in Australia’s history for dividing Larrakia in three distinct groups; the named Larrakia Traditional Owners of the Tommy Lyons Group,; the custodians of the Belyuen Community and the larger, Wider Larrakia Group comprising 1600 people from eight different family groups of mixed descent and urban living Larrakia community. The Tommy Lyons Group proved traditional ownership under the definition of the Act whereas the Belyuen custodians and the wider group were unable to prove traditional owners according to the Act.

As Justice Gray handed down a positive recommendation in 2000, finding in favour of the six descendants of Tommy Lyons (Gray J 2000). The decision, though successful, was devastating for the approximately 1600 Larrakia.

Whilst the Land Commissioner made his positive recommendation in 2000 the grant of title by the Federal Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, now Jenny Macklin,  has not occurred to date, however, this may change with the Australian Government's social justice agenda for Indigenous Australian.

 Larrakia Native Title Claims: Contested Larrakia Identity

In 1996 the wider Larrakia group lodged native title claims over all vacant crown land and reserve land in Darwin. It was the first such claim over an Australian capital city. Larrakia claimants sought to assure the residents of Darwin that their aspirations for public beaches and reserves concerned Larrakia involvement in the management of these culturally important areas, not the exclusion of non-Larrakia (Carey and Collinge 1997).

Heightened awareness and recognition of prior Indigenous occupation nationally meant that there was an increased demand for Larrakia people to open events with a Larrakia Welcome to Country for conferences, art exhibitions, and festivals. At a number of these occasions Larrakia individuals publicly contested each other’s affiliations and therefore challenged the  rights of individual Larrakia family representatives of the Wider Larrakia Group in such forums.

At an organisational level, a number of competing Larrakia organisations, whose membership was based around family and historical association, competed for the authenticity of their memberships in the arena of native title consultative processes. In 1997 the newly formed Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation (LNAC) was established by the Northern Land Council to facilitate the Wider Larrakia Group families, individuals and factions, with the primary purpose of providing a 'native title' corporation for Larrakia against increased pressure from external agencies to ‘identify’ the Larrakia community. Mansfield J, in his assessment noted ‘it is clear that the decision making process among the Larrakia people has been largely transferred to the Larrakia Nation. Its composition is not traditional’ (Mansfield J 2006: [832]).This clearly established the difference between Larrakia Traditional Owners and non- Larrakia Traditional Owners.

Larrakia Incorporation and Corporations

In 1998 Radio Larrakia was established to give a voice to Larrakia to 'promote Larrakia culture and language to the Darwin and surrounding region through broadcast media. From 2006 Radio Larrakia commenced broadcasting in over twenty six Indigenous languages providing twenty fours hour a day of Indigenous community information, interviews, community services, music and programming. Radio Larrakia developed and implemented the Indigenous Broadcasting Training Program to provide training and full time employment opportunities for Indigenous people in the Darwin Northern Territory region. 

Click here to visit the website - www.radiolarrakia.org

Radio Larrakia in conjunction with Larrakia TV was launched in 2008 to extend its broadcasting media opportunities and services to the Larrakia and wider Indigenous community to 'promote Larrakia culture and language to the Darwin and surrounding region' and all Indigenous community media  through television, film and documentaries. Larrakia TV will provide twenty four hours a day of Larrakia and wider Indigenous of television, films and documentaries through the Indigenous Broadcasting Training Programming providing training and full time employment for Indigenous people.              

Click here to visit the website - www.larrakiatv.org.au