The latest debate over whether to remove the structures at the Sandon Point tent embassy has highlighted ongoing divisions between the Aboriginal groups appointed to manage the site.
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At this week’s Wollongong City Council meeting, two senior indigenous figures called into question the validity of the historic Sandon Point Joint Management Agreement.
Set up in 2016 after years of negotiations, the agreement allows five groups to make decisions on the use of Sandon Point Aboriginal Place and Plan of Management Area.
Any proposed uses or developments require the support of the majority of the agreement partners, according to Wollongong council.
Three of the five groups voted to ask the council to step in and remove structures at Sandon Point, as part of a last ditch attempt to move on an individual who does not have support of the site’s custodians.
However, former Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council CEO Sharralyn Robinson and the son of the embassy’s founder Jade Kennedy have now expressed concern about the legitimacy of the agreement.
Mr Kennedy, who represents the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy (which is one of the five partners), said he believed the management agreement has pitted Aboriginal groups against each other.
He also believed some of the decision makers “had never even set foot on that site” and said the broader Aboriginal community had not been properly consulted on the decision to remove structures from the embassy.
“Aboriginal people across all of this entire country, Yuin country, recognise and claim ownership of that site,” Mr Kennedy said.
“It is part of all of our heritage and not up to the decisions of coerced and disengaged factional Aboriginal groups.
“It’s not fair that through this process we’re pitted against each other. The council is supposed to be utilising this function for us to be working together and that’s not the reality.”
Asked by Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery if he believed the management agreement was “null and void”, Mr Kennedy said: “From my perspective, 100 per cent”.
“From where I stand, I don’t believe myself to be in joint management because I don’t enjoy any mutual benefit,” he said.
Despite these views, Cr Bradbery said he hoped the agreement had a future, especially in working towards the establishment of a Keeping Place at Sandon Point.
“It has a future because it is enshrined in the National Parks and Wildlife Service listing and was put in place by the Land and Environment Court,” he said. “And it has a role to determine the future Keeping Place on site.”
Likewise, at the end of a fraught council meeting, Labor councillor David Brown said he hoped all groups would be able to keep working together, both in the development of a keeping place and installation of signage to help foster a better understanding of the embassy’s significance.
“I know that there has been some dissent, so to speak, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” he said.
“We don’t expect other communities to speak with one voice, so why can’t the indigenous community can have a diverse view as much as anybody else.
“This might make it harder for us, but that’s what democracy is – sometimes it’s messy, sometimes it’s a bit scrappy, and you don’t always win.”
The Mercury contacted the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council, which made the request to remove structures, for comment.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
