Kathy Newnam & Owain Lewis-Jones, Darwin
One Mile Dam, an Aboriginal camp on prime land close to Darwin’s CBD, is under pressure to relocate to the fringes of the city. Developers plan to build up-market apartments in the surrounding area and want the camp to be replaced by parkland.
One Mile Dam is one of several leases around Darwin won in 1979 after an eight-year campaign for the right to live in camps around town. It is the only “legal” camp close to the CBD. The camp used to house 30 people but since 2003 the population has increased to over 100.
The camp provides a sanctuary for homeless Indigenous people, giving an alternative to living on the streets, providing shelter and basic facilities. It functions in a way that makes Aboriginal people feel welcome and accepted.
The planned development in the area surrounding the camp follows from the Northern Territory government’s securing of a new location for the neighboring tank farm.
In February, NT transport and infrastructure minister Chris Burns told parliament that the relocation was “excellent news for territory contractors, the real-estate industry and small business”.
He continued, “this will free up a major parcel of land, some 25 hectares adjacent to the CBD ... The landscape of inner Darwin will be improved, a major new land release will become available adjacent to the CBD from 2007 onwards, leading to investments of many millions of dollars in the future residential and commercial developments.”
His only comment, under questioning, about the One Mile Dam community was that the government would “be bearing in mind their welfare and housing in any decisions about the future of the area”.
As part of the ongoing struggle for conditions in the camp and against any future attempts to move it, a new association has been established by residents of the One Mile Dam camp. The Kumbutjil Association will assist in the development of the basic needs of the camp, which according to residents have been neglected by the Aboriginal Development Foundation, which holds the perpetual special-purpose lease on the land.
The Kumbutjil Association is seeking broad community support for its work and against any plans to relocate the camp. David Timber, a resident of the camp for 18 years, told Green Left Weekly that residents would not be forced out by the planned developments. “We’re not moving”, he declared.
[To lend your support to the Kumbuntjil Association, email <stella@dcls.org.au> or visit <http://www.onemiledam.org>.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 7, 2004.
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