THE MEDIA & YORTA YORTA LAND JUSTICE

1. THE MEDIA & YORTA YORTA LAND JUSTICE Case Study: Media Representations of Indigenous People in Regional Victoria Dr Wayne Atkinson, Department of Political Science University of Melbourne

2. Focus of Study: Media Representations of Indigenous people in the Murray Goulburn Region (Study Region) • Ways in which the local media perpetuate, negative images of Indigenous Australians in the Murray Goulburn Region (Study Region) • McPherson Media’s control of local newspapers in the study area http://www.mcmedia.com.au/aboutus.asp • Analysis of local papers that reported on most of the activities in the towns where Yorta Yorta Native Title took place-Riv Herald, Echuca and the Shepp News, Shepparton

3. Content Analysis: Framework for Analysing Media Representation of Indigenous people • A quantitative (based on amount or number of something) method which can be used to: • analyse media representations • Identify trends and assertions made about textual structures ( Deacon, D., [et al], (1999), Researching Communications: A practical guide to methods in media and cultural analysis, Arnold, London, p 117).

4. McPherson Media: Newspapers in Study Area 1. Shepparton News-Shepparton* 2. Country News- Shepparton. Links with major vested interest groups including Victorian Farmers Federation; Dept Primary Industry; Rural Industries Research& Dev Coop; Australian Dairying Corporation; Grains Research & Dev Coop; Land & Water Authorities. 3. Benalla Ensign-Benalla 4. Cobram Courier-Cobram 5. Deni Pastoral Times- Deniliquin (NSW) 6. Southern Riverina News-Finley (NSW) 7. Kyabram Free Press-Kyabram 8. Riverine Herald-Echuca* 9. Campaspe News-Rochester 10.Seymour Telegraph-Seymour. * Location of papers that reported on YYNTC

5. Region of McPherson Media

6. Yorta Yorta-Bangerang Country

7. Political Profile of Region • Federal: Murray Electorate represented by Dr Sharman Stone (Lib) who won seat from National Party & Susan Ley (Lib) Farrer Electorate NSW • State: District Electorates of Rodney, Noel Maughan, Shepparton Benalla, Dr Bill Sykes and Murray Valley, Ken Jasper (all National Party). • State: Provinces of North East (a) North East (b) held by Bill Baxter NP and Wendy Lovell Lib

8. Key Political Players & Interest Groups • Political Parties, Local Government, Environmentalists , Media. • National Farmers Federation, land, water & irrigation interests. • Dairy, Food Processing, Fruit & wine Industries. • Hospitality Industries, Tour Operators, Food Providers. • Wood Logging Industry. • Recreational Users of Natural and Cultural Resources. • Indigenous Organisations-Binjirru Regional Council: ATSIC. • Rumbalara Football & Netball Club

9. Economic Profile • Is economically prosperous, often referred to as food bowl & tourist centre of Victoria (‘All the Rivers Run TV Series’). Extensive irrigation agriculture, wine, fruit, pasturage, seed cropping and timber production • Cattle grazing and logging in designated State Forests • Hosts extensive tourism & hospitality industries (mainstay of local economy. Echuca-Moama Tourist facilities: 6250 visitor beds 109 properties from motels bed and breakfasts to units, caravan parks and houseboats (RivHerald,20Sep04) • Has major secondary industries related to food processing, manufacturing, farm machinery and transport.

10. Indigenous Profile: Population • Estimates from Yorta Yorta Native Title Claim, ABS & RAC put size of local Indigenous community at approximately 5000-6000 people. Nucleus of Indigenous Pop located in major centres: • Shepparton/Mooroopna 4,000 = 10% of population. • Echuca/Moama (850) • Deniliquin (381) • Cummeragunja (300) • Barmah (150) • Nathalia (50) • Kyabram (50) • Cobram (25) • Wangaratta (50)

11. Indigenous Profile (cont) • Koori community barely participates in the mainstream economy of the region and experiences familiar patterns of disadvantage, including poor school retention, low employment rates, and poor health. • Unemployment is estimated to be 80 per cent which does not include those working on CDEPs. • Barriers to employment identified are: lack of skills and experience, community attitudes, including racism (Alford (2002)

12. Key Political Players & Interest Groups • Political Parties, Local Government, Environmentalists , Media. • National Farmers Federation, land, water & irrigation interests. • Dairy, Food Processing & Fruit & wine Growing Industries. • Hospitality Industries, Tour Operators, Food Providers. • Wood Logging Industry. • Recreational Users of Natural and Cultural Resources. • Indigenous Organisations-Binjirru Regional Council: ATSIC.

13. Murray Darling Produce

14. Natural & Cultural Profile • 60,000 years of Indigenous occupation use & enjoyment of land and waters. • Cultural heritage & local histories • Natural features: Forests, Rivers, Lakes and Wildlife of International Significance- Barmah-Millewa Forests • Contribution to local economy: Natural & Cultural Assets still to be fully developed for social, cultural-economic returns.

15. Yorta Yorta Sites: Victoria & NSW, 1999

16. Yorta Yorta Sites Recorded at 1999 ( From: Management Plan for Yorta Yorta Heritage, Yorta Yorta Nations Inc,1999:38-40)

17. Barmah-Moira Lakes

18. Barmah Lakes-Replenishment 1992

19. Local Indigenous Heritage

20. Art and Story Site Protection Food Gathering Areas Occupation Sites

21. Lynch Cooper 1930s Maloga: 1874-88 Cummeragunja: 1889-2004 Aboriginal Leaders 1930s

22. Cultural Continuity: Art, Music & Dance Wally Cooper & Sony Cooper: Yorta Yorta Dance Group Lyne Onus: Jimmys Billabong Lou Bennet & Tiddas Jimmy Little

23. Social-Cultural Development • Sport: Rumbalara Football-Netball Club • Education: ASHE: Academy of Sport Health & Education, Cultural Centers: Dharnya Centre, Bangerang Cultural Centre, Oncountry Learning, Uni of Melb • Bangerang Aboriginal Keeping Place, Shepparton. • Community gatherings & Cultural Tourism

24. Local Indigenous Organisations: Rumbalara Aboriginal Coop (Uni Melb, Oncountry Learning Course Visit, 2004)

25. Question and Issues of Media Analysis(Derryn Schoenborn, Honours Thesis, Department of Political Science, 2003: 31,41-43) • How is it that non-Indigenous people who have grown up in the area aware of the presence of the Indigenous population can remain ignorant even of the most elementary information about Indigenous culture & history? • Study examines the ways in which the practices of the local media are shaped by, and perpetuate, systematic exclusion of Indigenous people in study area • Thesis asserts that the lack of awareness of non-Indigenous Victorians of the existence of the Yorta Yorta as a cultural group evidences the extent to which the Indigenous population has been excluded from mainstream non-Indigenous discourses of identity, society and history

26. Conclusions of Study • Local papers are written primarily of, about and by the non-Indigenous community, and hence can only really, despite any allusions to objectivity, be expected to represent the interests of that part of the community. • Regardless of the particular issues being covered, whether an article is positive or negative, whether it is about the native title claim, community development or local leaders, there are discursive regimes at play which structure representations of the Indigenous community in ways that marginalise their voices and interests. • This community affiliation can be traced through the way that people outside the newspapers’ perceived readerships, in this case Indigenous people, are always labeled according to identity, while members of the accepted community of readers remain unmarked (whiteness is not a racial construct). • This can also be seen in the priority given to the views of non-Indigenous actors in articles concerning the Indigenous community. • In the process of labeling and speaking for Indigenous people, certain constructions of Indigenous people are promoted in the imaginations of these papers’ readers.

27. Shepp News & Riv Herald • The Shepparton News and the Riverine Herald are primarily institutions of the Murray & Goulburn Valley’s non-Indigenous community. • These papers are characterised by systems of reporting and of information production which are inherently biased. • Because of the extent of media control in the study area, local media has assumed a powerful role in constructing images of and shaping attitudes towards Indigenous Australians.

28. Conclusions (cont) • During the native title claim local media outlets were used as a political tool for fighting change and for fighting the claim. • McPherson Media became an avenue for non-Indigenous community apprehension and anti-claim expression. • Media was part of the barrier to Yorta Yorta social justice & land rights aspirations.

29. Binary of Them & Us Perpetuated by Media • The data collected suggests that the conceptual binary of them and us is very much in use in these two newspapers. • Problems arise when one starts to include notions of objectivity, and democracy, part of which includes the logic that representations of Indigenous people have been racist in the past, therefore, we should go about representing them better, or even include them in the processes of representing themselves. • Little thought, is being given to the structures of representation, how the us and them are constructed and the way cultural values, and modes of expression are represented. • Newspapers are assumed to be inclusive, objective imparters of information about the community, rather than as tools for the creation and maintenance of the status quo within that community. • There is very little realisation, that inclusion of a minority group within that mode of knowledge formation is often a process, not of reconciliation, but of more articulated exclusion.

30. Domination of Majority Group • The domination of the majority group and their way of maintaining their identity will never be seriously threatened, if ‘others’ being included in public discourse are always labeled for easy identification. • Might see an increase in the inclusion of Indigenous actors, yet these actors will always be tagged as Aboriginal, Koori or Indigenous. • Thus, if their ideas about the nation or the community clash with those of the non-Indigenous readership they can easily be dismissed as not being the ideas of ‘one of us’.

31. Political Role of McPherson Media • As editor-in-chief, McPherson admitted in court that his personal opinions in relation to the claim were being given prominence. • He also indicated that he saw the paper as being a service to the community, a community that, as is apparent from his comments in court, he saw as non-Indigenous. • That a person who was officially opposed to the claim as a respondent to control the region’s local media outlets is noteworthy. That that person was, by self-admission, willing to promote his own anti-claim opinions through newspaper content is an obvious demonstration of the political role of the media (Shoenborn, 2003: 6).

32. Prominence of YYNTC as a news item during Mediation Period-1994-95 was substantially less than of other Indigenous issues