Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002:front:0:p9
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2016L00002
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 25478–28348

custom and involves making important decisions about the management of country such as protecting resources and sacred sites. While a person belongs to the clan of their father they still have responsibilities to their mother's clan estate. Both men and women may be acknowledged as senior traditional Aboriginal owners.
   'These laws need to be explained to non-Aboriginal people in the same way it is taught to children so we can all hold on to it and teach it to children who will grow up learning about their land with this law.'
Jacob Nayinggul, Manilikar clan

Language and language groups

Creation Ancestors were also responsible for the various languages that exist in the Park. These languages are associated with different tracts of land and the people who are the traditional owners. The traditional countries of some language groups are large and divided into distinct estates, others are smaller.

Making decisions about country

Bininj/Mungguy who have cultural responsibilities for management of a clan estate are key people in the planning and management of the park. Everyone who lives, works in or visits Kakadu must respect Bininj/Mungguy rules and it is important that these rules are passed on to young Bininj/Mungguy.
   'When I want to do something on country I have to ask the right person. To go and burn country or do weed control I have to ask the right person, traditional way, because there's many important sites there or whatever. This is our way.'
Bessie Coleman, Wurrkbarbar clan

     1.3                 Establishment of Kakadu National Park

Background

Kakadu National Park (Figure 2) was established at a time when the Australian community was becoming more interested in the declaration of national parks for conservation and in recognising the land interests of Aboriginal people. A national park in the Alligator Rivers Region was first proposed in1965. Over the next decade several proposals for a major national park in the region were put forward by interested groups and organisations. One of these proposals suggested the name 'Kakadu', after the Gagudju people, for the national park. 'Kakadu' was the original spelling of the word as given by the biologist and anthropologist W Baldwin Spencer in 1912.

In 1973, the Australian Government set up a commission of inquiry into Aboriginal land rights in the Northern Territory. This commission considered how to recognise Aboriginal people's land interests while providing for conservation management of the land. The commissioner in charge of this inquiry, Mr Justice Woodward, concluded: 'It may be that a scheme of Aboriginal title, combined with national park status and joint management would prove acceptable to all interests' (Woodward 1973).

In the early 1970s, significant uranium deposits were discovered in the Alligator Rivers Region at Ranger, Jabiluka and