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Burning Desire
Monday, 9 November, 2009
With home ownership in Queensland Indigenous communities often mired in complex webs of regulation, the people of Mapoon in the state's far north have turned to international development agency World Vision for help.
Watch online: Burning Desire
"[Home ownership would be] like a legacy for my children. It's always going to be there, this is always going to be home", Mapoon resident Sandra Ase told Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster.
But it's finding a few obstacles in its path.
Living Black travelled to Mapoon to report on the attempt to resurrect of home ownership in this Aboriginal community.
TRANSCRIPT
KARLA GRANT: Tonight on ‘Living Black’ - the precious collection of Aboriginal artwork that’s in desperate need of a new home.
GORDON SYRON: You know, I often wonder if we put some of the most – well, the ‘Mona Lisa’, or something like that – we put that in here there'd be an outcry, like, you know?
KARLA GRANT: The Tasmanian farm training Aboriginal people to become farmers.
MICK GRAHAM: They‘ve all left and gone shearing in bigger crews throughout Tassie and Australia.
KARLA GRANT: And we meet Indigenous fashion photographer Michael Cook.
Hello and welcome to ‘Living Black’. I'm Karla Grant. The Australian dream of home ownership for Aboriginal people in remote communities may soon become a reality. Tired of waiting to own their homes, the community of Mapoon in Queensland has asked an international aid agency for help, and it’s talking directly to all levels of government to help locals cut threw the bureaucracy. SBS Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster filed this story for ‘Living Black’.
VOICEOVER: The Aboriginal mission of Mapoon on Cape York in Far North Queensland in the 1950s. In many ways it was like any other mission, except in Mapoon families were home owners. This song recalls how that all came to an end in 1963 in an incident known as The Burning. It’s the start of Sandra Ase's working day in Mapoon. The 32-year-old and her husband are both employed and rent a council house, but they’d like something more.
SANDRA ASE, MAPOON RESIDENT: You know, just having to own it and have something there. It’s like a legacy for my children and their children and, you know, it’s always going to be there, this is always going to be home. So I’m really looking forward to actually owning my own home.
VOICEOVER: That could soon again be a reality in this community of about 280 people.
PETER GUIVARRA, MAPOON MAYOR: This was happening 100 years ago. This is only a continuation of that. Our, you know, great aunties and great grannies and what have you, they owned their own homes here and we want the same.
VOICEOVER: Mapoon is on Aboriginal trust land very NEAR to the tip of Cape York. Here everyone lives in public housing. Despite Federal and State government talk of Indigenous home ownership in communities, there’s none in Queensland. It’s caught up in a complex legal, regulatory and financial web. Mapoon people have turned to an international development agency for help, and are now involved in a 3-year pilot project.
TIM COSTELLO, CEO WORLD VISION: The plan’s to actually get everybody signing off on a consensus - the traditional owners, the Cape York Land Council, the Queensland Government, the local council - because native title is a complex issue to work through and native title hasn’t delivered home ownership. So it’s really saying, “Let's all get on the same page here to make this happen.”
VOICEOVER: On the Mapoon Presbyterian Mission, Aboriginal people were allocated one-hectare blocks of land. For decades, people worked in local industries and used their meager wages to build houses. That’s until Mapoon was shut down to make way for a bauxite mine and the people forcibly removed by police to other Cape York missions. As they departed by boat at night, Mapoon people watched as their homes and possessions were burnt to the ground by order of the State Government.
The mine was eventually located elsewhere. Over the years Mapoon people returned to their old family blocks and helped rebuild the community. Their hard work was recognised in 1999 by the State Government, when Mapoon was given Community Council status.
SANDRA ASE: I’m really proud of the elders coming back and rebuilding this community again after what we‘ve been threw and it’s just, you know, special that we‘ve all come back and picked up our culture and, you know, fighting for what we believe in.
VOICEOVER: Potential home owners like Sandra Ase will be able to borrow money from a federal lending agency.
SANDRA ASE: If we’re going to own our home we’ll have to deal with the maintenance ourselves and, you know, having to budget. Budget is the main thing, so we have been starting to do that and we think we have a fair chance of that.
VOICEOVER: But there’s a major hitch - the State Government is valuing houses at the cost of construction.
PETER GUIVARRA: Can't be paying in excess of $400,000 for a house. If that’s going to be the price – well, home ownership cannot be a reality here, unfortunately. You know, government is always saying that they want Aboriginal people to buy their own homes and they want the possibility of, you know, Aboriginal people buying their homes in communities. I think here is a real chance for government.
VOICEOVER: World Vision’s project is based on a federal valuation model and it’s been lobbying the Queensland Government.
TIM COSTELLO: We’ve done five case studies to say, “Look, between $150,000 and $180,000 is achievable for them. Come on State Government, Queensland Treasury and Housing - let's put an affordable valuation on this.”
VOICEOVER: And the good news is the Queensland Government says it’s viewing the project favourably, which could bode well for other Indigenous communities across the State.
TIM COSTELLO: Every Indigenous community is different and the context varies enormously. Here is leadership, there is hope, there is the knowledge that they have done it before and they can do this again, so Mapoon has some ingredients that are special, which is why, if we can pull this off here, I think it gives other Indigenous communities hope, also.
VOICEOVER: There are still many issues to be worked out before the Ase family realise their dream. Federal and State housing ministers will discuss Indigenous home ownership again at a meeting in December. World Vision hopes there will be some progress – enough, at least, to help meet its goal of having the first home owners in Mapoon next year.
Source: Living Black SBS
Watch online: Burning Desire
"[Home ownership would be] like a legacy for my children. It's always going to be there, this is always going to be home", Mapoon resident Sandra Ase told Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster.
But it's finding a few obstacles in its path.
Living Black travelled to Mapoon to report on the attempt to resurrect of home ownership in this Aboriginal community.
TRANSCRIPT
KARLA GRANT: Tonight on ‘Living Black’ - the precious collection of Aboriginal artwork that’s in desperate need of a new home.
GORDON SYRON: You know, I often wonder if we put some of the most – well, the ‘Mona Lisa’, or something like that – we put that in here there'd be an outcry, like, you know?
KARLA GRANT: The Tasmanian farm training Aboriginal people to become farmers.
MICK GRAHAM: They‘ve all left and gone shearing in bigger crews throughout Tassie and Australia.
KARLA GRANT: And we meet Indigenous fashion photographer Michael Cook.
Hello and welcome to ‘Living Black’. I'm Karla Grant. The Australian dream of home ownership for Aboriginal people in remote communities may soon become a reality. Tired of waiting to own their homes, the community of Mapoon in Queensland has asked an international aid agency for help, and it’s talking directly to all levels of government to help locals cut threw the bureaucracy. SBS Queensland correspondent Stefan Armbruster filed this story for ‘Living Black’.
VOICEOVER: The Aboriginal mission of Mapoon on Cape York in Far North Queensland in the 1950s. In many ways it was like any other mission, except in Mapoon families were home owners. This song recalls how that all came to an end in 1963 in an incident known as The Burning. It’s the start of Sandra Ase's working day in Mapoon. The 32-year-old and her husband are both employed and rent a council house, but they’d like something more.
SANDRA ASE, MAPOON RESIDENT: You know, just having to own it and have something there. It’s like a legacy for my children and their children and, you know, it’s always going to be there, this is always going to be home. So I’m really looking forward to actually owning my own home.
VOICEOVER: That could soon again be a reality in this community of about 280 people.
PETER GUIVARRA, MAPOON MAYOR: This was happening 100 years ago. This is only a continuation of that. Our, you know, great aunties and great grannies and what have you, they owned their own homes here and we want the same.
VOICEOVER: Mapoon is on Aboriginal trust land very NEAR to the tip of Cape York. Here everyone lives in public housing. Despite Federal and State government talk of Indigenous home ownership in communities, there’s none in Queensland. It’s caught up in a complex legal, regulatory and financial web. Mapoon people have turned to an international development agency for help, and are now involved in a 3-year pilot project.
TIM COSTELLO, CEO WORLD VISION: The plan’s to actually get everybody signing off on a consensus - the traditional owners, the Cape York Land Council, the Queensland Government, the local council - because native title is a complex issue to work through and native title hasn’t delivered home ownership. So it’s really saying, “Let's all get on the same page here to make this happen.”
VOICEOVER: On the Mapoon Presbyterian Mission, Aboriginal people were allocated one-hectare blocks of land. For decades, people worked in local industries and used their meager wages to build houses. That’s until Mapoon was shut down to make way for a bauxite mine and the people forcibly removed by police to other Cape York missions. As they departed by boat at night, Mapoon people watched as their homes and possessions were burnt to the ground by order of the State Government.
The mine was eventually located elsewhere. Over the years Mapoon people returned to their old family blocks and helped rebuild the community. Their hard work was recognised in 1999 by the State Government, when Mapoon was given Community Council status.
SANDRA ASE: I’m really proud of the elders coming back and rebuilding this community again after what we‘ve been threw and it’s just, you know, special that we‘ve all come back and picked up our culture and, you know, fighting for what we believe in.
VOICEOVER: Potential home owners like Sandra Ase will be able to borrow money from a federal lending agency.
SANDRA ASE: If we’re going to own our home we’ll have to deal with the maintenance ourselves and, you know, having to budget. Budget is the main thing, so we have been starting to do that and we think we have a fair chance of that.
VOICEOVER: But there’s a major hitch - the State Government is valuing houses at the cost of construction.
PETER GUIVARRA: Can't be paying in excess of $400,000 for a house. If that’s going to be the price – well, home ownership cannot be a reality here, unfortunately. You know, government is always saying that they want Aboriginal people to buy their own homes and they want the possibility of, you know, Aboriginal people buying their homes in communities. I think here is a real chance for government.
VOICEOVER: World Vision’s project is based on a federal valuation model and it’s been lobbying the Queensland Government.
TIM COSTELLO: We’ve done five case studies to say, “Look, between $150,000 and $180,000 is achievable for them. Come on State Government, Queensland Treasury and Housing - let's put an affordable valuation on this.”
VOICEOVER: And the good news is the Queensland Government says it’s viewing the project favourably, which could bode well for other Indigenous communities across the State.
TIM COSTELLO: Every Indigenous community is different and the context varies enormously. Here is leadership, there is hope, there is the knowledge that they have done it before and they can do this again, so Mapoon has some ingredients that are special, which is why, if we can pull this off here, I think it gives other Indigenous communities hope, also.
VOICEOVER: There are still many issues to be worked out before the Ase family realise their dream. Federal and State housing ministers will discuss Indigenous home ownership again at a meeting in December. World Vision hopes there will be some progress – enough, at least, to help meet its goal of having the first home owners in Mapoon next year.
Source: Living Black SBS
