PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION Jodetluk outstation, which will be receiving new solar street lights as part of the Homeland Project.
IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR REMOTE HOMELAND COMMUNITIES by Bethany O’Sullivan, Roper Gulf Regional Council
Roper Gulf Regional Council is a remote local government located in the Northern Territory, overseeing a land mass nearly three times the size of Tasmania and home to eleven remote outstations (or homelands), three of which will be upgraded with new solar powered infrastructure and water tanks, thanks to support from Council and funding from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA).
T
hose who have not lived in the Northern Territory before may have never heard of a remote outstation or be able to imagine what one would look like. An outstation, or homeland, is a small, remote satellite community of a larger Indigenous Australian community, composed of Indigenous people who have chosen to take up residence on that land due to its cultural and spiritual significance. Outstations are rich in culture and provide significant value to Indigenous Australian life in the region and the Northern Territory as a whole. These remote communities are not without their challenges, and that’s why the Roper Gulf Regional Council, in partnership with the Northern Land Council, scoped the work that needed to be done at these outstations, and applied for funding from the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) through its Aboriginal Benefit Account (ABA) Homelands Project. Their application was successful, with the region being awarded a total of $1,123,583 through the Homelands Project to go towards improving the living conditions of these remote outstations.
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Winter 2022 // ISSUE 3
Roper Gulf Regional Council Chief Executive Officer, Marc Gardner, outlined the importance of outstations as part of Council’s operations. “These places are very significant for people to maintain cultural ties to their land and home, and important for maintaining a good quality of life,” Mr Gardner said. “Residents value an ability to live, work and play in areas where their families have lived and belonged to for generations.”
LIFE IN THE OUTSTATIONS Within the Roper Gulf region, there are approximately 300 people living across the eleven outstations that the Council services, with the largest outstation population being approximately 60 people. These figures are approximate due to the transient nature of these locations and the seasonal variations that occur due to wet weather restricted access. That said, it is not only extreme weather conditions that bring challenges to the residents of outstations. The Roper Gulf Regional Council local government area spans 201,000km2 – almost three times the size of Tasmania
– making its operational footprint one of the largest in the Northern Territory. Within this area are just 16 remote townships and communities, and eleven remote outstations, with a total population of 7,458. The remoteness of the area means that common living benefits that are afforded to the rest of Australia are not available for people that live in these locations. Access to electricity from the main power grid is not available to outstations, thus requiring residents to run critical electrical appliances with power sourced from diesel-powered electrical generators. There can be anywhere between five and fifteen houses running off one generator. Fresh water is sometimes sourced from nearby springs where bore water or town water cannot be sourced, however the water being pumped from the spring is at risk of contamination, or can dry up due to the lack of rain during the dry season. Spring water is often pumped through a diesel-powered generator as well. If the generator breaks down, residents may have to walk for kilometres in extreme heat to the nearest boundary fence where the spring is located, to
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