A Community-Integrated, Fuzzy Spatial Model of Tourism Potential on Roebuck Plains Station

Abstract

Indigenous tourism on Roebuck Plains Station is part of the Yawuru community’s vision for sharing their culture, protecting their Country and pursuing economic development. Strategic planning is necessary to ensure that tourism developments are appropriate and beneficial for the Yawuru community. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are commonly used to support environmental and tourism management but are rarely used to plan Indigenous tourism according to the community’s aspirations and using Indigenous knowledge. This study aims, firstly, to construct a preliminary spatial model of tourism potential on Roebuck Plains Station based on Yawuru knowledge and, secondly, to integrate this model with existing datasets for analysis. The model is assessed with respect to how it could support Yawuru peoples’ goals for tourism and economic development. This study drew on Indigenous methodologies and the principles of community-integrated GIS. Spatial data collected from Yawuru people during sketch mapping interviews were synthesised into a spatial tourism potential model. The model was overlayed with existing datasets and incorporated into a multi-objective land-use allocation (MOLA) using GIS. This thesis presents the spatial outputs from these procedures, the aspatial results of sketch mapping interviews and a critical evaluation of the model. The preliminary model of tourism potential, overlays and MOLAs are powerful visual tools that display complementary and conflicting land-uses. They provide information that could help to plan tourism developments that are sensitive to existing activities and values on the station. The maps presented are, collectively, a spatial representation of aspects of the Yawuru hybrid economy. Collating different economic land-uses into an analytical, spatial model can suggest a pattern of land-use to optimise the capacity of the station to sustain Yawuru culture and facilitate economic development. This thesis presents the first MOLA produced in an Indigenous context. This research challenges current trends in both Indigenous tourism literature and tourism planning literature by placing Yawuru concerns, worldviews and knowledge at the centre of a spatial model of tourism potential. This study contributes to the field of Geographic Information Science by challenging the idea that Indigenous knowledge should not be incorporated into GIS and demonstrating that sketch mapping and fuzzy logic can be used to appropriately collect and display Indigenous knowledge for land-use planning. This approach to spatial modelling could empower Indigenous Peoples to produce maps, based on their knowledge, to strengthen Indigenous voices in planning and multi-stakeholder negotiations. The data collection and modelling approach demonstrated in this research could be used with other Indigenous communities seeking to manage a range of social, cultural, ecological and economic considerations on their traditional lands. Further research should monitor the use of spatial models produced during academic research with Indigenous communities and work with communities to support their sovereignty over data, decision-making and economic development. Show more