Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2024

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are Australia’s original farmers. For millennia they have managed and shaped landscapes for a range of purposes, including the production of food and fibre.

To celebrate NAIDOC Week and its Blak Loud and Proud theme, we will be shining a spotlight on a number of amazing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander primary producers.

Each enterprise, in its own way, is making important contributions to our primary industries while caring for Country, tapping into a unique and incredibly valuable set of practices, skills, knowledge and values.

Roebuck Plains Station

Roebuck Plains is a successful Indigenous-owned cattle station in Western Australia.

The Yawuru people are the traditional owners of the lands and waters in and around Rubibi (the town of Broome). The Yawuru language name for the land on which Roebuck Plains Station is located, is Gumaranganyjal.

Gumaranganyjal covers 276,000 hectares, including Roebuck Export Depot. It’s strategically located for the export market, on a rich marine floodplain, just 30 kilometres east of Broome, with the capacity to support a herd of up to 18,000 head of cattle.

The Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) purchased Roebuck Plains Station in 1999.

In 2006, Yawuru were granted native title over 530,000 hectares of land in and around Rubibi, including the station and the depot.

The station and the depot were divested back to Yawuru in 2014, recognising Yawuru’s traditional ownership of the area, with the ILSC managing the station and the depot via a lease agreement.

In February 2022, Yawuru took over the pastoral operations of the station, and will work with the ILSC to transfer operations of the export depot in the future.

The station uses a shared management model to balance Yawuru cultural values and sustainable land use. The station provides expansive training and employment opportunities to the local community. Moving forward, the station is looking to expand its operations and diversity across tourism, hunting and resource collection, minerals exploration and carbon offset market opportunities.

Learn more about Yawuru, and Roebuck Plains Station via www.yawuru.org.au

Black Duck Foods

Black Duck Foods is an Aboriginal social enterprise in Mallacoota, Victoria, committed to traditional food growing processes that care for Country and return economic benefits directly back to Community.

Over the past 12 months, Black Duck Foods have harvested and milled with their own hands the Mamadyan ngalluk (Dancing Grass), Burru ngalluk (Kangaroo Grass), Myamba (Wattle Seed) and Mitchell and Button Grass flours. Bakers are now baking bread with these native grains, chefs are cooking with it in their restaurants, and everyday Australians are using it to make food for their families.

Black Duck Foods wel­comes the sup­port of com­mu­ni­ties, researchers, vol­un­teers and vis­i­tors to assist with its busi­ness, both on and off the farm. For more details or to make a donation, visit www.blackduckfoods.com.au

Aboriginal Sea Company

The Aboriginal Sea Company (ASC) gives Indigenous people and Traditional Owners an opportunity to advance themselves, become owners and operators in their own right and be in charge of their own destinies.

Not only does the ASC provide more jobs within its community, it is also providing a sustainable economic future for First Nations People.

For example, the ASC owns 11 commercial mud crab licenses, expanding its reach in sustainable seafood. With the acquisition of Bevwoods Crabbing, they’re catching, processing and shipping the finest mud crabs throughout the NT and across Australia.

Dive into their journey by following Aboriginal Sea Company on Facebook https://bit.ly/3y3LaT4 and Instagram.

Indigenous Agricultural Product Framework project

During NAIDOC Week, the National Farmers’ Federation released the first progress report for the Indigenous Agricultural Product Framework project. This milestone marks a significant step in elevating opportunities for Indigenous agriculture. View the report here.