Barunga, Northern Territory: A year ago, directors of Bagala Aboriginal Corporation launched a project to improve health and create jobs: a robust local public laundry. The Aboriginal community of Barunga is 80 kilometres south-east of Katherine. It’s famous both for the Barunga Statement (calling for a treaty) presented in 1988 to then prime minister Bob Hawke, and as home of the Barunga Festival of music, sport, arts and culture.
Tennant Creek, Northern Territory: Patta Warumungu people were the first Aboriginal group in Australia to negotiate a consent determination within a township. In that sense, Patta Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC has always been at the intense edge of the interaction between western law and Aboriginal law. Then and now, Aboriginal governance structures have been at the centre of all decision-making processes. The corporation is working on reinforcing these processes by having them reflected in their rule book.
