History of sacred sites protection in the NT

The existing Northern Territory Aboriginal Sacred Sites Act is the culmination of a long period of social and legislative development over the past 50 years, not just in the Northern Territory but around Australia.

From the 1960s onwards Commonwealth and State legislators came to appreciate the importance of sacred sites, and legislation began to be put in place to protect ‘cultural relics’ such as rock art, burials and artefacts. Much of this legislation was based on the desire to preserve historical evidence of Aboriginal peoples’ long occupation of Australia, but there was little or no acknowledgment of Aboriginal peoples’ continuing connection to land and culture.

It was only with the landmark Gove Land Rights case in the early 1970s and the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972 that serious efforts were made to acknowledge Aboriginal peoples’ ongoing land and cultural rights, eventually resulting in the passage of the Commonwealth’s Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) 1976 Act.

The Aboriginal Lands and Sacred Sites Bill (NT) 1977 was the first law protecting sacred sites in the NT to be drafted under the terms of Section 73(1) of the Land Rights Act, creating two categories of sacred site – sites on Aboriginal land trusts or Aboriginal freehold land, and sites not on Aboriginal land trusts or Aboriginal freehold land. Limited powers were granted to Aboriginal custodians to safeguard sites on Aboriginal land trusts and Aboriginal freehold land but there was little custodians could do to protect sites outside these areas, other than request the Administrator to protect them.

The obvious shortcomings in this legislation led to an inquiry by a Parliamentary Joint Select Committee, which produced a report (the Bonner Report) setting out draft guidelines for reformed sacred sites legislation in the NT.

When the NT achieved self government in 1978, one of the first pieces of legislation to be introduced into the new Legislative Assembly was the Aboriginal Sacred Sites (NT) Bill 1978. This became law on 19 November 1978 and led to the establishment of a permanent Aboriginal Sacred Sites Protection Authority a year later – the precursor to today’s Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority.

With the new law it became an offence to enter, remain, carry out works on or desecrate a sacred site anywhere in the NT. Other enduring aspects of today’s legal protections for NT sacred sites were also established, such as a board largely made up of Aboriginal custodians nominated by the NT’s Aboriginal Land Councils, and the core definition of a sacred site.

Further significant changes were made to the Sacred Sites Act in 1989, including:

•    The establishment of the AAPA to replace the previous Aboriginal Sacred Sites Protection Authority;
•    A stipulation that equal numbers of male and female custodians be included within the membership of the AAPA Board; and
•    A requirement that the AAPA Chairman and Deputy Chairman be of opposite sex.

The changes ensuring equal gender representation reflects gender restrictions in Aboriginal customary law – only women can speak for women’s sites, and likewise only men can speak for men’s sites.

Although further amendments have been made to the Sacred Sites Act since 1989, the ethos of legislation to protect sacred sites has remained largely unchanged since then.