The trouble of bringing parties together

In business, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal parties have a history of not trusting each other.

“Historically we have encountered a perceived lack of good governance that has held back some banks and other financiers from getting involved because of the fear working with the blackfellas will all be just too difficult,” says Bruce Martin, chairman of organisation Aak Puul Ngantam (APN) Cape York. [10]

“And conversely lots of people within our community have been held back by concerns that every whitefella in the investment community is a snake oil salesman come to rip us off.”

Forming good mutual relationships is a prerequisite for economic development. About 20% of Australia’s land mass is owned under native title, a wealth market estimated to be worth $10 billion in 2014, and tipped to quadruple in the next few years [10].

Without closer ties to the banking and finance sector the economic development of Aboriginal communities continues to depend on decisions made in Canberra and not Aboriginal offices.

Consultation is key when doing business, even if you create an Aboriginal-themed product yourself.

Underwear manufacturer AussieBum had to learn this the hard way after an Australia Day underwear collection with Aboriginal imagery caused offence. The chief executive of AussieBum, Sean Ashby, promised his company would seek Aboriginal community consultation for future Aboriginal-themed collections.[13]

Money must be made, not received

Dr Warren Mundine estimates that around a third of government funding for Aboriginal programs “doesn’t even make it past the front doors of office buildings” in Australia as it passes through several layers of bureaucracy and other administration [6].

But avoiding bureaucracy is not an option either, he says.

“Poverty isn’t solved by giving communities money. Poverty is solved by economic development, by communities making money.”

An economic pathway which starts with education, leading to jobs and being able to participate in business and commerce is my idea of a real future for Indigenous Australians and importantly the means to participate in the mainstream economy.—Ron Morony, General Manager Indigenous Business Australia [1]

How Aboriginal people helped build Australia

If it wasn’t for the many Aboriginal people who helped the first settlers, Australia would have been developed in a much longer time.

There were numerous challenges to overcome for the white people, and Aboriginal experts helped them in all of them:

• Crossing mountains. The Darug people’s local knowledge helped Archibald Bell find access to the Blue Mountains (NSW) along Bilpin Ridge, now the location of Bells Line of Road. [11]
• Crossing rivers. There weren’t any bridges across rivers which could flood, and settlers didn’t often know how to swim. Entrepreneurial Aboriginal people knew how to sell their know-how and their navigational skills to get them from one point of the river to the other. They used their bark canoes to transport goods and people, including surveyors and explorers, stock, feed and food. [12]
• Transport. Aboriginal elder Bryon Powell recounts that the Victorian gold rush depended upon Aboriginal people assisting with transport. “If it wasn’t for my family, my old people, the gold rush probably would not have happened and the miners would not have survived,” Mr Powell said. [12]
• Navigation. Aboriginal people possessed extensive knowledge of the environment in terms of navigation.
• Survival. Aboriginal people knew how to manage the landscape in times of disaster, such as flood, fire and famine, and how to construct shelter. Numerous explorers and settlers owe their lives to the expertise of Aboriginal guides.

They really helped settle the newcomers in the new land; they contributed in many ways and that contribution hasn't really been recognised.—Dr David 'Fred' Cahir, historian and Associate Professor in Aboriginal Studies [12]

In a really crucial way, Aboriginal people were part of the foundation and the mapping out of Victoria as we know it today.—Lucinda Horrocks, filmmaker [12]

Documentary: Seeing the Land from an Aboriginal Canoe

This short documentary film film, made by Lucinda Horrocks and Jary Nemo, explores the little known contribution Aboriginal people made in colonial times by guiding people and stock across the river systems of Victoria.

Aboriginal drivers

In the NRMA’s Open Road magazine I came across the following statistics: Aboriginal people make up 2% of eligible drivers, but only half a per cent of actual drivers. NRMA CEO Rohan Lund finds this has “a big impact on employment”. [14]