The capacity for Aboriginal workers to transgress government protection and assimilation policies, was ultimately at the will of the pastoralists’ jurisdiction. As long as pastoralists were dependent on Aboriginal labour, Aboriginal rights would be accommodated. However, once their labour value diminished, so did their rights. Therefore, the suggestion by cultural historians that Aboriginal rights on cattle stations indicate ‘agency’ must be considered within the context of the pastoralist’s jurisdiction. Because the pastoralists had land and capital, they were able to dispense with the relationship of mutual dependence as it suited them. This rendered Aboriginal workers’ land connections vulnerable to pastoralists’ authority and legal rights to land.

This is starkly apparent in light of the mass retrenchments in the 1970s, and the removal of Aboriginal communities from station properties across northern Australia. This was precipitated by the Equal Wage decision of 1966 and the pursuant Pastoral Award 1968, which pastoralists claimed made Aboriginal labour unaffordable. However, it was not the only factor. The introduction of motorcycles and helicopters to mustering practices had already begun to undermine the role of Aboriginal stockworkers on horseback.^[138] Peter Yu described the Aboriginal expulsion from stations as breaking ‘the back of the feudal relationship between station managers and Aboriginal families … precipitat[ing] a refugee crisis of enormous proportions’.^[139] Lawford explained that the expulsion did ‘a lot of damage up here; it really disrupted our communities’.^[140] Their rights to their land were restricted as the feudal land tenure system prevailed.^[141]

For Aboriginal people to transgress ongoing government attempts to assimilate Aboriginal communities, they need to establish their own jurisdiction on their land. This could require resources to run their own cattle stations and other sustainable industries.^[142] Former stockworker John Watson laments the destructive practices of aerial mustering to the land, which would be better protected by Aboriginal people.^[143] He states, ‘The Aboriginal people have an intimate understanding of the natural environment, but we haven’t been given the opportunity to apply that knowledge in modern jobs’.^[144] The development of sustainable industries in northern Australia could revitalise the historic labour contribution of Aboriginal cattle workers. This form of economic self-determination would offer more than a fragile right to their culture and land. Rather, if appropriately supported by governments, it could create a long-term platform for Aboriginal rights and reconciliation.