Kalan Enterprises – Land Management Planning

Southern Kaantju lands broadly extend through the central region of Cape York Peninsula, from around the township of Coen in the south and stretching around 100 kilometres north. Our eastern boundary includes the highlands of the McIlwraith Ranges and run west to the flats and lagoon country of the Archer River midlands. We call this area the traditional boundary of the Southern Kaantju.

Today, our lands are contained within a complex combination of land tenures, including pastoral leases, national parks and inalienable aboriginal freehold. We have been thinking about areas of our country that are within our lease at Geikie Station on the Archer River headwaters, KULLA National Park, KULLA Land Trust Aboriginal Freehold area and the Oyala Thumotang National Park that have been somewhat neglected because of their remote location with poor road access and their sensitive cultural areas that we haven’t yet planned how we will look after and share these places.

Through some projects being carried out on nearby Southern Kaantju lands, we feel it is time to do healthy country planning for our eastern country that is predominantly represented by the water courses of the western slopes of the McIlwraith Ranges. This will help us to work out the things we should be doing. We are looking at this planning from the perspectives of preserving and strengthening our rich cultural heritage, conservation economics and establishing sustainable livelihoods.

Kaantju Planning Logic

“We want to prepare a plan for our country so that one day we can manage it like it was before, to look after the country our way, the right way.” - Jennifer Creek, Kaantju Traditional Owner, Kalan Director

Our plan is our clear set of ideas that we own. It sets direction for us and helps the people we work with to understand our priority concerns and our aspirations for the future. We want to show why we are doing things and how effective our efforts are in relation to the purpose and objective of each project. Having a plan helps us to measure the effectiveness of our work and tell us Southern Kaantju is getting healthier and if our threats are reducing.

“We will know our plan isn’t working if we’re still sitting here in five years or so and we don’t have any proper living areas out bush.” - Jimmy Shaka Bero, Kaantju Traditional Owner, Kalan Director

This statement of Shaka’s gives an insight into how we will measure the success of our plan. It also helps to describe the logic of the plan, which is to develop clear ideas that we feel are achievable and will have positive impact on our targets.

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For more information on Kalan Enterprises, contact our head office in Coen on phone (07) 4060 1038 or email office@kalan.org.au

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