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Australia to return contaminated Aboriginal lands

Australia's Federal Science Minister Peter McGauran says he is confident of soon handing back land affected by British atomic bomb tests to its traditional owners, despite concerns about what it will cost the Commonwealth.

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South African bushmen hail drug deal

South Africa's indigenous San peoples have signed a deal ensuring they will profit from a diet drug being developed from a plant they have used for generations.

Under the terms of the agreement, the San people will receive regular fees as the drug - developed from a plant used to suppress the appetite - passes various stages on the way to market.

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Land case dashes Aboriginal hopes

Friday December 13, 2002. Australia's longest-running Aboriginal land rights claim collapsed 12. december when the high court delivered a judgment regarded as the death-knell of the native title system.

The claim of the Yorta Yorta people covered about 2,000sq km of tribal land along the Murray river, on the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

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The lost tribe of Tasmania

Only a handful of native Tasmanians escaped being slaughtered by the English in the 19th century. Now a bitter row has broken out between the many people - some black, some white - who claim to be their descendants. Acclaimed author Richard Flanagan asks what it really means to be an Aborigine

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The ‘New Taiwan Person’

TAIPEI, Taiwan — For years after 1949, families who had lived in Taiwan for generations before Nationalist rule found themselves shunted aside by the mainland’s great ideological battle. Children were educated in Mandarin, the language of the newcomers; local mother tongues were banned in schools. But today, local Taiwanese culture is experiencing a renaissance and with it is emerging, in the words of President Lee Teng-hui, a “New Taiwan Person.”

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Doubts over Bangladesh rebel accord

Five years ago a long-running insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in the south-east of Bangladesh came to an end. A peace treaty was signed between the government of Bangladesh and a rebel group made up of indigenous people called the Shanti Bahini.

But indigenous people in the area say peace has not brought with it all that was promised. The Cittagong Hill Tracts is a current member of the UNPO.

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Read more from the UNPO homepage

The New Zealand Maori people - first indigenous people to have their own domain

A new domain has been launched on the worldwide web in what is believed to be a first for indigenous people.

Maori have just launched the address: .maori.nz.

It is the first time in six years the Internet Board in New Zealand has allowed a new domain name.

Most addresses in the country end with .co.nz or .com.nz.

Now, interested individuals, businesses or educational institutions will have the choice of listing a site at .maori.nz.

Maori Internet Society chairman, Karitiana Taiuru, says he hopes other indigenous people will follow suit and apply to register their own domain name.

(ABC news 10.10.02)

Torres Strait indigenous group declares independence from Australia

In Torres Strait, at the northern tip of Australia, a group of indigenous people has become so frustrated with their administrative bodies that they've declared themselves independent.

The Kaurareg people are traditional owners of almost half of the Torres Strait Islands. Kaurareg traditional owner, Isaac Savage, says neglect and poor governance has created serious problems on the islands and community elders have decided to go it alone.

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New coastal management plan for Port Gregory

The Australian Shire of Northampton, has received a $15,000 grant to prepare a coastal management plan.

This will include plans for Port Gregory which is the closest port to Hutt River Province as well as Sandalwood Bay, and revise existing plans for Horrocks.

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the funding would help the Shire of Northampton to manage the impact of increasing tourism.

The shire's chief executive, Gary Keeffe, said to ABC News 8. October that he is concerned about possible environmental problems, with the increasing numbers of visitors to previously little known areas along the new road between Port Gregory and Kalbarri.