The South East Queensland Traditional Owner Consultative Committee: A Case Study for Effective and Sustainable Aboriginal Community Engagement Frameworks

William MJ¹*

1. Jagera Assoc. Inc. & SEQTOCC Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Until 1994 the Traditional Custodians for the SEQ Region did not have input into major regional planning schemes, nor was there recognition of the need to preserve the cultural history of the region. This was due largely to the reality that there was either little or no knowledge of who the Traditional Custodians were or how to access them. Instead, it was normative behaviour to engage any prominent Indigenous person or organization.

The absence of representation of Traditional Custodians in regional planning for the sustainable management of natural resources was an obvious indicator of an existing vacuum in the effective engagement of Traditional Custodians in planning and decisions undertaken within their own traditional homeland estates. Furthermore, there was no understanding that the continued lack of involvement of Traditional Custodians in planning decisions over their traditional homeland estates would have social and economical impacts on their community.

In response to the vacuum in Traditional Owner engagement, the Traditional Groups within the South East Queensland Region developed their own sub-regional to regional framework and mechanism for engagement called the South East Queensland Traditional Owner Consultative Committee (SEQTOCC).

I will use the SEQTOCC as a case study of a Traditional Owner Community developed and driven engagement framework (that is designed to reflect their cultural protocols and social landscape), its ongoing success story in meeting the need for sustainable engagement structures in the region & how the development of the engagement structure provides a mechanism for meeting the needs of both government and the community.