South East Queensland Traditional Owners Alliance (SEQTOA)
SEQTOA is a not-for-profit group formed by South East Queensland's Traditional Owner cultural groups.
Formerly known as the South East Queensland Traditional Owners Land & Sea Management Alliance (SEQTOLSMA), the group was formed to represent and advance the interests of Traditional Owners in cultural and natural resource management.
SEQTOA is recognised as the peak body for Traditional Owner consultation in cultural and natural resource management in SEQ.
Membership
The cultural groups represented by SEQTOA include:
- Yugambeh (Ngarang-Wal/Kombumerri & Mulinjarlie)
- Quandamooka (Noonuccle, Ngugi, & Gorenpul)
- Jagera (Jagera, Yuggera, & Ugarapul)
- Jinibara
- Gubbi Gubbi
- Kabi Kabi.
These groups comprise almost all the native title claimants and registered cultural heritage bodies in the region. Membership is open constitutionally to the groups that do not currently participate.
Aims
The primary aim of SEQTOA is to develop wider engagement of Traditional Owners in cultural and natural resource management. An example of this engagement is the group's involvement in the Healthy Country project.
The group is promoting Indigenous work teams for on-ground NRM works funded by SEQ Catchments, the Department of Environment, Water, Heritage, and the Arts, and other partners.
Another aim is to establish independent revenue sources which can replace the present government-provided operational funding. The group will undertake a feasibility study, develop business and marketing plans, and an investment proposal for a cultural training enterprise.
Projects
SEQTOA is working on the following projects:
- forming Indigenous work teams to undertake on-ground works under the Healthy Country project and under contracts with other land management agencies
- working with Associate Professor Darryl Low Choy to clarify Indigenous values in landscape for input to future planning documents
- filming Traditional Owner engagement in the SEQ regional planning process
- establishing data sources and indicators for the monitoring of Traditional Owner engagement in cultural and natural resource management
- coordinating the review of the SEQ regional plan's desired regional outcome - 7: Engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- participating in coordinating regional trails and sourcing archaeological profiling of the landscape.
- gathering Traditional Owner knowledge of wetland species values as part of the EPA's Queensland Traditional Owners Wetlands Cultural Values Mapping pilot program.
Partnerships/engagements
SEQTOA uses its involvement in a range of state and regional planning and consultative processes as a means to promote Traditional Owner knowledge, values, and priorities to the wider community.
The group has regularly engaged with:
- SEQ Catchments' board and its constituent bodies - NRM SEQ and SEQ Western Catchments
- the SEQ Regional Coordination Group
- the Queensland Government's SEQ CEOs' NRM committee
- the Regional Landscape & Open Space Advisory Committee
- the Brisbane Valley Rail Trails regional committee
- the Environmental Protection Agency's SEQ Regional Nature Conservation Strategy and Moreton Bay Marine Park Plan review groups
- the Queensland Fishing Industry Research advisory committee
- the Statewide Murri Network
- the Healthy Country regional committee and the three local committees under that project
- the Traditional Owner Wetlands Cultural Values (Traditional Owners Pilot) program
- the State of Region Report working group.
To view the SEQTOA Traditional Owner Cultural Resource Management plan visit the SEQTOA download website.
Contact SEQTOA at:
PO Box 796
71 Frasers Road
Ashgrove QLD 4060
Phone: 07 3366 1116
Fax: 07 3366 1115
Email: info@seqtoa.com.au
Last updated 12 February 2009