In 2008, Desert Knowledge Australia developed a remoteFOCUS initiative to look at what had been identified as a crisis in remote Australia and the apparent failure of Australian governments to govern and engage adequately with the country’s arid and tropical regions. As part of the broader remoteFOCUS project, the Pilbara was identified as an area of particular concern because of the current hyper-development that is taking place. One part of this Pilbara project has been to engage with Aboriginal people in terms of how they are experiencing the boom, particularly in the context of the impact on them of previous resource booms; what are their priorities; where they are situated in relation to the State’s Pilbara planning, particularly for Pilbara Cities. In this seminar Dr Edmunds will present some of the findings from this research, including the work being undertaken by Pilbara Aboriginal organisations. Suggesting that, while in some respects, Aboriginal people could be seen yet again as merely subject to a hegemonic state apparatus that privileges resource development at the expense of social life and values, the evidence indicates that Pilbara Aboriginal people are negotiating their own place within the wider maelstrom of development activity.

Mary Edmunds is an anthropologist who has carried out research on social change in Thailand, Spain, and Aboriginal Australia. She was a foundation Research Fellow of the Native Title Research Unit of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and subsequently AIATSIS Director of Research. She was a member of the National Native Title Tribunal for eight years, a member of the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Committee, and a Senior Research Fellow at the ANU’s Centre for Cross-Cultural Research. From mid-2006 to early 2009, she acted as Rio Tinto’s lead negotiator for the Rio Tinto Pilbara Native Title Agreements Project. She is currently an Acting Commissioner for the NSW Land and Environment Court for applications under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act.