Indigenous governance, GIS, and the context-driven modelling of values, concerns and seasonal uses of Country within the Yawuru estate

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) which capture, store, query, analyse and display geospatial data (Chang, 2016:1) have begun to play a key role in facilitating indigenous governance and land claims across the globe. This thesis examines the use of GIS as part of broader Indigenous efforts to achieve self-determination, particularly in relation to Australia's native title system. It explores the impact that context-grounded GIS can play in this space and positions GIS as an analytically powerful art of the contact zone which can be effectively used by indigenous peoples to grapple with the entity-based spatial narratives commonly employed by settler states. The research presented in this thesis is part of a broader GIS partnership between the Yawuru people of Broome, Western Australia and the Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University (ANU). Yawuru people hold native title over the area in and around Broome, in north-west Western Australia and have developed a strategic knowledge vision to guide their governance following native title recognition. This study feeds into the Yawuru strategic knowledge vision by extending on previous approaches to fuzzy index modelling in a post native title environment (Potter, 2013; Potter, Doran and Mathews 2016). It uses sketch mapping interviews with Yawuru people to produce collective models of values, concerns and seasonal uses of landscape for two sites within the Yawuru estate. It also draws on qualitative analysis to contextualise Yawuru governance bodies' GIS use. GIS models produced in this study include areas valued for access to traditional resources and heritage. These vary spatially, often in relation to access regimes. Models from this study also show that participants' concerns for valued sites are exacerbated by development and management proposals. Finally, they demonstrate the seasonal nature of site use, particularly in the peri-urban environment of Crab Creek. Qualitative analyses presented in this study show how Yawuru people resist settler colonialism and engage in the complexities of their environment following native title recognition by practicing culture, moving in space and time, and directly engaging with challenges which confront them. These analyses also reveal the ways that Yawuru people influenced the research through their engagement in the interview space. This thesis presents examples of how models from this thesis may be applied by Yawuru people within their estate. It also draws on settler colonial theory and Pratt's conception of the contact zone to contend that Yawuru governance bodies may employ outputs from this research to locally engage with, and perhaps undermine, settler structures. Importantly, it argues that Yawuru governance bodies should continue to retain close control over outputs from GIS and apply diverse strategies for engaging in challenges across their estate as part of their broader knowledge vision. This thesis also demonstrates how applying GIS approaches using Yawuru traditional knowledge required technical innovation and the use of qualitative observations. It outlines the extent to which these techniques can be further refined and transferred beyond the context in which they were created, and makes several recommendations for policy and future research.