In the early 1970s as the outstations movement gathered momentum in central Arnhem Land, Aboriginal people were increasingly empowered to return to live on their traditional lands. The exodus from Maningrida was one of the most significant from the NT’s centralised Aboriginal settlements in population terms (see CAA 1976; Meehan 1982; Altman 1987). Government policy at that time supported decentralisation and this in turn required organisational support, especially in the delivery of basic services: fortnightly delivery of social security cheques and commodities from the Maningrida store; assistance with basic external communications and the marketing of arts and crafts; and assistance with establishing rudimentary water reticulation in some situations. In those days, there were no standard western housing or ablution facilities at outstations.

Initially, this basic support was provided by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, then by the Maningrida Progress Association, and then from 1976 by a branch of the Maningrida town council, called the Maningrida Outstation Resource Centre (see Gillespie, Cooke and Bond 1977). The resource centre was staffed by three non-indigenous men—Dan Gillespie, Peter Cooke and David Bond— assisted by a number of local men, some now deceased. Gillespie and Cooke had lived in the region for some years and were strong advocates for land rights, the outstations movement and Aboriginal self-determination. At that time, a political dispute emerged within the Maningrida Council between these white staff of the resource centre dubbed ‘progressives’ and other ‘conservative’ senior staff of the Maningrida Council. While this division was between balandas (non-Aboriginal people) and was along party political lines, it also reflected a tension in the region between the township and outstations, and between those adhering to the old ‘assimilation’ regime that still had considerable influence in the township and those committed to the new ‘self-determination’ policy introduced in 1972.

The political rift within the Maningrida Council came to a head in 1978 when, on the advice of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Ian Viner, ordered the sacking of key members of both factions and the revocation of their permits, an action that he was empowered to make as Maningrida township was not yet part of the Arnhem Land Aboriginal Land Trust. Subsequently, Gillespie, Cooke and Bond challenged the Minister’s decision in the NT Supreme Court and his decision was judged illegal and overturned. It is noteworthy that there was strong community support for Gillespie, Cooke and Bond, and after the decision Cooke and Bond went back to again work to support outstations. An insightful account of this episode is provided by MacCallum (1978).

As a consequence of this episode, there was recognition by the Department of Aboriginal Affairs that a separate incorporated entity was needed to support outstations, and so BAC was established as a purpose built ORA during 1979 by its inaugural executive officer, Ian Hughes. BAC was incorporated under the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 (Cth) in October 1979. The name Bawinanga was a composite of three language names from the hinterland, as then spelt: Barada (Burrarra) in the east, Gunwinggu (Kuninjku) to the west, and Rembarranga (Rembarrnga) to the south.

BAC operated successfully as an outstation service delivery organisation, both from the perspectives of funding agencies and its membership, from 1979 to the late 1980s. It was mainly funded by the Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs because, under a Memorandum of Understanding between the Commonwealth and a self-governing NT, the Commonwealth agreed to meet this responsibility (see Altman 2006). BAC gained a sound reputation as an efficient service delivery agency that was effective in supporting a population in the bush. Some of this status was linked to BAC also running Maningrida Arts and Culture (then Crafts) as a high profile Aboriginal arts centre that operated for both township and outstations artists. This was an important service, which provided BAC with some experience in running a cultural enterprise that made a significant difference to local people’s livelihoods. From late 1980, David Bond took over as chief executive officer of BAC and remained with the organisation in that capacity until 2005; Peter Cooke ran Maningrida Arts and Crafts from 1979 to 1982, and subsequently retained strong personal and professional links with BAC.

From 1989, BAC expanded to also become an organisation that administered the CDEP scheme. The growth of BAC as a CDEP organisation has been covered in some detail elsewhere (Altman and Johnson 2000). This was an historic moment that marked a fundamental change in the nature of BAC for a number of reasons. First, while its early CDEP engagement was limited and mainly oriented to provide income support to outstation residents, its corporate robustness meant that this role expanded rapidly. This was especially the case after 1997 when BAC was invited by ATSIC to take over the Maningrida Council’s CDEP scheme participants, owing to Council problems with maladministration at that time. Running CDEP meant that BAC had to rapidly expand its administrative and project management capacity, especially when it took over administering township based participants. Second, CDEP provided BAC with discretionary administrative and capital resources that it incrementally invested in developing a number of business and service arms. As a consequence of both these developments, BAC attained a far more visible Maningrida profile. Its earlier reputation as a best practice resource agency was now matched by a high reputation as a CDEP organisation, with associated external bureaucratic and political support.

From the late 1990s, about a decade after it gained access to the CDEP scheme, BAC entered another phase as a regional development agency. This phase is less easy to demarcate because it was linked to a gradual expansion of the organisation, which was largely overseen by a senior project officer, Ian Munro, appointed in 1991. Munro subsequently became BAC’s deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and from August 2005 its CEO. An analysis of BAC’s consolidated financial accounts shows fairly marked increase in organisational turnover in the late 1990s, including in the administration of some significant grants for housing and infrastructure development at outstations, as well as a steady increase in the proportion of total income from trading activities (as distinct from CDEP grants from ATSIC). Organisational scale appears to have taken BAC onto a new level after its income exceeded $10 million in 1997–98 and then expanded by another 50 per cent by 1999–2000.

The fundamental changes in organisation were recognised in 1999 with a modification of its constitution to provide greater emphasis not just on service delivery functions, but also to support Aboriginal cultural priorities, promotion of the management and sustainable use of Aboriginal-owned lands and resources, the welfare of its members, and business opportunities and economic independence.

Recently, BAC (2005a: 4) defined its mission in accord with its constitution in the following terms:

The maintenance of land, language(s) and culture, the sustainable use of natural resources and the creation of viable enterprises employing Aboriginal people are central themes in all of BAC’s activities.

Its mission statement demonstrates that BAC recognises its evolution into an organisation that serves members living in both Maningrida and outstations, and often residing flexibly between the township and various locations in the hinterland. This in turn makes its goal of acting as a force for political integration highly problematic, as the basis, authority and contexts for such a role are largely undefined, and the political interests of its membership are highly variable.

Even at an organisational level, BAC is diverse and complex for an Aboriginal entity as Fig. 7.2 illustrates. BAC has 20 formal business and service arms, with many combining the provision of services with a focus on commercial objectives and economic development possibilities.

A quick summary of BAC’s published annual reports and audited financial statements for the last three years, 2004–05 to 2006–07, indicates that BAC employs over 500 CDEP participants—making it one of the country’s largest CDEP organisations—and engages over 50 mainly non-Aboriginal salaried staff. Its turnover exceeds $25 million per annum, with well over 50 per cent generated from trading income and the balance coming from a number of external grants, the most significant being for the operation of CDEP (see BAC 2005a, 2005b, 2006a, 2006b, 2007a, 2007b).

Source: Fogarty and Paterson 2007